My platform coin

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Marsman, Oct 23, 2021.

  1. Marsman

    Marsman Well-Known Member

    I love those platform coins. These are the coins where the emperor is seated or standing on some kind of platform and is looking down to his citizens or his soldiers to adress a message or to give a donation.

    I have a few of these platform coins and this is my latest purchase.

    Hadrianus def klein.jpg

    It's a fascinating coin of emperor Hadrian.
    On the obverse his laureate head and a good beard. But of course I was more interested in the reverse of this denarius. The emperor has taken a seat on a chair on a platform and gives a donation to a Roman citizen who, as you can see very well on this coin, opens his toga to receive the gift.

    Beneath the platform you can read the letters LIBERAL AUG III.
    This is the commemoration of the third liberalitas (gift) by Hadrian.
    It was customary for the emperor to make a donation to the people (or to the army) after an important event. Denarii were scattered around in the streets of Rome in order to obtain goodwill among the people.
    In this case the important event was the commemoration of the Natalis Urbis (Foundation of Rome) on April 21, 753 BC. In celebration of this, games were organized in the Circus Maximus.

    I have no idea how many different types of platform coins exist, and therefore very curious about your platform coin or any other coin you like to share :)
     
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  3. JayAg47

    JayAg47 Well-Known Member

    Minted around 116 AD, this sestertius represents the peak of Roman hegemony!
    Obverse shows the bust of Trajan, laureate, draped, right, and the lettering: IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC PARTHICO P M TR P COS VI P P.
    Reverse depicts Trajan seated left on platform flanked by a prefect and a soldier, addressing the three kings standing before him, and assigning them kingdoms.
    regna.jpg
     
  4. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

    I've been searching for this type for some time.

    TRAJAN. 98-117 AD. Æ Sestertius (34mm, 19.94 g.)
    Rome mint, struck 115 AD.

    Obv. Laureate and draped bust right.

    Rev. IMPERATOR VIII SC, Trajan seated right on platform, placed on left, accompanied by officer and guard, addressing six soldiers (one with horse), three standards behind.

    RIC II 656

    VF+ / good VF,
    Attractive dark green patina.
    Very Rare

    trajan_sest.jpg
     
  5. Terence Cheesman

    Terence Cheesman Well-Known Member

    Sestertius of Antoninus Pius 147/148 AD Obv head right laureate. Rv, Pius seated left on dais. Libertas standing left holding abacus and cornucopia behind officer standing left. Below left citizen standing right holding out fold in toga. RIC 774 28.85 grms 32 mm Photo by W. Hansen piuss18.jpg This is a liberalitas scene where the Emperor is seen giving money to a citizen. What is interesting is that the citizen is depicted receiving the money which dropped into a fold in his toga.
     
  6. Pishpash

    Pishpash Well-Known Member

    That fold has a name. Saw it yesterday, will post a link if I can find it.
     
  7. Pishpash

    Pishpash Well-Known Member

  8. GinoLR

    GinoLR Well-Known Member

    trajan HS 2.jpg Platform coins:
    Sestertius of Trajan. The platform must be called a tribunal, I think... It is a pity the reverse legend is almost entirely rubbed off, it is REX PARTHIS DATVS, "a king given to the Parthians". Trajan had invaded what is today's Iraq and taken Ctesiphon, the royal capital of the Parthian Empire (Ctesiphon was c. 30 km south of today's Baghdad city centre). The Parthian king fled to the East, in today's Iran, where he hoped the Romans would never get him. Trajan occupied the whole Mesopotamia to the Gulf but some cities started to revolt, the Romans fought back to crush insurgencies but it was just an unwinnable war, the kind we know too well... In the end Trajan decided to withdraw his forces and leave in Ctesiphon a pro-Roman puppet-king, a Parthian prince named Parthamaspates. Of course, as soon as the Romans had all left, the former king went back, toppled Parthamaspates and restored his power. Trajan died on the way back to Rome.
    On this sestertius Trajan is seated on a curule chair on top of his tribunal, an officer (the Praetorian Prefect, probably) standing behind, and is crowning Parthamaspates dressed in Parthian clothes in front of an allegory of Parthia kneeling. Nice propaganda: for the Romans who got these new coins in Rome, the war was supposed to have been successful!
     
  9. GinoLR

    GinoLR Well-Known Member

    I have also this one, Commodus standing on a platform addressing the Praetorian guard. I like the ghostly aspect of this very worn sestertius... RIC III Commodus 468D
    Commode HS.jpg
     
  10. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    PLATFORM

    [​IMG]
    RR
    Mussidius Longus
    42 BCE
    AR Denarius
    Radiant Sol
    The shrine of Venus Cloacina; a low circular platform surmounted by two statues of the goddess, each resting right hand on cippus, the platform inscribed CLOACIN and ornamented with trellis-pattern balustrade, with flight of steps and portico on left; L•MVSSIDIVS•LONGVS above
    S 494 Cr494-42

    Comments: This denarius celebrates a shrine to one of the more unlikely patron deities of the Roman pantheon: Venus Cloacina - the Venus who protected the sewer system (the Cloaca Maxima) of Rome. The Cloaca Maxima was said to have been built under the Etruscan kings, Tarquinius Priscus and Tarquinius Superbus, as a means of draining the swampland around the city’s seven hills. In order to protect the drainage system the Sabine king Titus Tatius was said to have erected a shrine to honor Cloacina, the spirit of the sewer who came to be identified with Venus in the Republican period. By some bizarre twist, the composite goddess Venus Cloacina was ultimately recognized as having two spheres of authority: the protection of the sewers, and the protection of the marital bed.Apparently the Roman Republican mind spent more time in the gutter than is usually admitted
     
  11. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    This is my only "platform" coin. It looks like it might be the same type as @Marsman's.

    Hadrian, AR Denarius, AD 120-121, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate bust right, bare chest, slight drapery on far shoulder, IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG / Rev. Hadrian, togate, seated left on platform at right, extending right hand towards citizen standing right below platform, holding out fold of toga to right to receive gift from Hadrian, P M T - R P - COS III; in exergue, [L]IBERAL AV[G / III] in two lines. RIC II.3 Hadrian 309 (2019 ed.) [see http://numismatics.org/collection/1911.23.111 (ANS) for similar example]; Old RIC II 129b (1926 ed.); RSC II Hadrian 909; BMCRE III Hadrian 292 [matching rev. legend break]/293 [matching obv. portrait] at pp. 275-276. 17 mm., 2.96 g, 6 h. Purchased Jan. 6, 2022 from Roma Numismatics E-Sale No. 93, Lot 982. [Commemorates third liberalitas (gift or donation) by Hadrian to citizens of Rome, on anniversary of Rome’s founding.]

    Hadrian - Liberalitas (Roma).jpg

    Here is my question: you can see on my example that the citizen on the left is holding out his toga to catch something that Hadrian has just tossed to him, which is still in the air. Does anyone have any idea what it might be? A bag of coins? An ice cream cone? Yesterday's crumpled newspaper?
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2022
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