The Mensch & Bauer collection that was auctioned by Leu over the space of several months featured a stunning selection of coins of Gallienus, which included plenty of coins that stood out due to rarity and attractiveness; as expected, most of them realized high prices, but luckily a few slipped through the net, and I am happy to have acquired one of these coins at what I consider to be a very fair price: Roman Empire, Gallienus (253-268), Antoninianus, Rome mint. Obverse: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate head right; Reverse: CONSERVAT PIETAT, Emperor standing left, extending right hand and holding long sceptre in left hand, kneeling figure to the left, XII in exergue; RIC V 171; MIR 648a; While this coin is by no means rare (Wolkow in his book lists 307 examples of this particular variant), this certainly does not seem to be represented in the coin market, as only around a dozen examples show up in the main auction archives, combined with a handful more from other websites - none have ever been posted on this forum, as far as I know. Moreover, most of them tend to suffer from a combination of poor strikes, small flans and lack of silvering, so, without sounding too prideful, I think mine might qualify as one of the best preserved ones. Unlike other emissions that I have written about in the past, though, this one does not feature many varieties: besides a few that concern the positioning of the officina mark, the only ones that are worth noting are a relatively common one with a cuirassed bust rather than the standard head, and a unique coin with the longer legend IMP GALLIENVS AVG which came from the Cunetio hoard: (Image courtesy of cgbfr.com) However, I usually tend to focus on coins that stand out for their historical value and their uniqueness, rather than their beauty, and this antoninianus ticks those boxes as well, as it features an interesting mystery: who is the small kneeling figure that the emperor is tending a hand towards? As far as I know, no definitive answer has been given, though, considering that this coin belongs to Gallienus' penultimate emission from Rome and was issued from the twelfth officina, which due to its lower output when compared to the other ones from this issue, appears to have been opened shortly before the mint switched to the emperor's final issue, the so-called "Zoo Series", my guess would be that the figure is a personification of the Roman People, with Gallienus portraying himself as the preserver of piety, a message that he would concentrate upon even more in his following issue, which was focues exclusively on that, due to the presence of most of the traditional deities of the Roman religion. That's all for now; post your coins related to PIETAS, your coins of Gallienus from Rome, or anything else you feel like might be relevant !
Fun new coin! I to believe in conserving pies. Here's one of my few Gal pals that aren't part of his jungle:
Nice new pickup @Claudius_Gothicus , that’s a great example. I added a Gallienus from the Mensch & Bauer collection at the same auction…I thought it was a really impressive group. I got lucky and landed this one at a very low bid. Gallienus, Antoninianus ( 21 mm, 4.51 g), Rome, 260-261. GALLIENVS AVG Radiate and cuirassed bust of Gallienus to right./ Rev. VIRTVS AVG Mars standing front, head to left, holding globe in his right hand and spear in his left; in field to right, RIC 321. From the E. Mensch & A. Bauer Collection of coins of Gallienus.
Earlier this month I came across this Milan issue from ca. 264-5 for around 9EUR delivered. Not rare, but a bit particular type, with Diana and the hound, a representation that was usually seen on colonial issues in the first part of the 3rd century.
Nice new coin with a sharp strike Claudius. Since you know my fixation, here are two Victorinus with Pietas on the reverse. One is veiled and one diademed.
I'm glad you were able to snag one from this collection! Congrats on getting something close to best-of-type. I wonder why Wolkow was able to list so many but so few appear on acsearch etc? Perhaps many of the ones he lists are from a couple specific hoards? I think your hypothesis about the identity of the figure is very plausible. I like these types that show the emperor raising up the "little guy." The size differential really shows what the emperors thought of themselves. Primus inter pares no more! Here's a quickie cell phone photo of my latest Gallienus: It's a sole reign sestertius that I spotted in a group lot. The rest of the lot consisted in very meh coins, but sole reign sestertii (near the denomination's end-of-life) are hard to come by. This is in decent shape for these. It's a bit better in-hand than the quickie photo.
It's good to read another thread of yours, @Claudius_Gothicus! That's a nice pick-up! Very nice example of that coin. Well-preserved for the type and the era. My only Rome mint officina XII of Gallienus is this zoo issue:
On the small-figured theme...great OP coin by the way with a very interesting reverse, conservator of piety or something like that... Ex-Marc Breitsprecher. I rather like the portrait which shows a martial Gallienus holding spear and shield, celebrating victories over the Germans early on in the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus. It celebrates the acclimation of Gallienus as Germanicus Maximus for the fifth time. Since we all know what happened as the years went by in his reign, the initial successes did not last. Still however, the early part of his reign might not actually have been as disastrous as Edward Gibbon paints it, nor was Gallienus as inept and cowardly as he is described by sources such as Aurelius Victor. In recent years, scholarship has revised our picture of this emperor and his reputation has been somewhat rehabilitated by historians such as Harry Sidebottom. Here is a link to a recent paper on this topic. Date: 257-258 AD, AR antoninianus Obverse: GALLIENVS P F AVG, Radiate cuirassed bust left, holding spear over right shoulder, and shield at left shoulder Reverse: GERMANICVS MAX V, Trophy of armor with two bound captives seated at base Size: 23.31 mm Weight: 2.99 grams Attribution: RIC Vii 18, rare 3
Interesting OP and writeup, always glad to read them @Claudius_Gothicus A sestertius from Rome Gallienus, sestertius - Rome mint, AD 253-255 IMP C P LIC GALLIENVS AVG, Laureate and draped and cuirassed bust of Gallienus right CONCORDIA EXERCIT, Concordia standing left, holding double cornucopia and patera. 18.5 gr Ref : RIC # 209, Göbl # 15dd, Cohen #132, RCV #10467 Q
GALLIENUS Billon Antoninianus OBVERSE: GALLIENVS AVG, radiate cuirassed bust right REVERSE: LVNA LVCIF, Diana walking right holding torch in both hands, PXV in ex. Struck at Antioch, 260-268 AD 3.8g, 20mm RIC VI 609
A very interesting coin, @Claudius_Gothicus. Your interpretation of the small figure makes a lot of sense to me. Which Wolkow book are you citing? The one I own is devoted exclusively to the Zoo Series of Gallienus. Just about all of my Gallienus coins are from the Zoo Series, except for one or two -- including one from the "legionary series" with a bull on the reverse. But here is the very first Roman Republican coin to depict Pietas: Roman Republic, M. Herennius, AR Denarius, Rome Mint, 108-107 BCE. Obv. Diademed head of Pietas right, wearing single drop earring and pearl necklace, PIETAS (TA ligate) downward to left / Rev. Naked youth (one of the Catanaean brothers, Amphinomous or Anapias) running right and carrying his father on his shoulder to escape from erupting Mt. Etna, or Aeneas carrying his father Anchises to escape from defeated Troy, with his father looking back (towards Mt. Etna or Troy) and raising his right hand; M • HERENNI (HE ligate) downward to left, Control-mark • above C in lower right field.* Crawford 308/1b, RSC I Herennia 1a, Sear RCV I 185 (ill.), BMCRR 1258-1285 [No. 1261 has same control-mark], Sydenham 567a, RBW Collection 1149. 19mm, 4.0g, 7h. Purchased at JAZ Numismatics Auction # 181, Lot 6, April 2021; ex. Frederick B. Shore; ex. Stack’s Public Auction Sale, “A Collection of Ancient Roman Coins,” June 14-15, 1971, Lot 127, at p. 16 [not illustrated in plates] (see catalog at https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=516472#search).** [Footnotes omitted, except for a portion of the second footnote relating to Pietas.] **The obverse portrayal of Pietas is her very first depiction on a Roman coin. See Crawford Vol. II p. 866 (subject index); http://numismatics.org/crro/results?q=pietas; Jones, John Melville, A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins (Seaby, London, 1990), entry for “Pietas” at p. 243 (“Pietas (in the form of a female head wearing a diadem) first appears on Roman coins c. 108 B.C. on a denarius of M. Herennius”). As Jones points out, the concept of pietas has “a wider sense than in modern English, covering not only one’s duty towards the gods but also towards the State and one’s family.” Id. All authorities agree that the scene on the reverse illustrates pietas, specifically filial pietas. There are, however, two possible identifications of the scene depicted -- namely, [omitting discussion of Catanaean brothers vs. Aeneas & Anchises theories]. I have a number of Roman Imperial coins with a reverse legend relating to Pietas, but these are the only two actually to depict her personification (in each case, representing a living Augusta): Antoninus Pius Æ Dupondius, Rome, ca. 159-160 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Radiate head right, ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XXIII / Rev. Pietas [representing Faustina II] standing left, holding globe in extended right hand and infant in left arm, two children standing at her feet, one on each side , each with one arm raised [probably representing the Emperor’s three granddaughters then living, namely Marcus Aurelius’s and Faustina II’s daughters Annia Faustina (a/k/a Faustina III), Lucilla, and Fadilla; issued before birth of Cornificia in Aug. 160], PIET-ATI - AVG COS IIII, S-C across fields. RIC III 1035, Sear RCV II 4280 (ill.), Cohen 625. 25.5 mm., 15.57 g. [Ex. Naville Numismatics, Auction 28, Jan. 22, 2017, Lot 611, previously in Italian collection (with old ticket in Italian in name of “Antonino Pio”) Plautilla (wife of Caracalla) AR Denarius, 203-204 AD. Obv. PLAVTILLA AVGVSTA, draped bust r./ Rev. PIETAS AVGG, Pietas standing r. holding scepter & child. RIC IV 367, RSC III 16. 20 mm., 3.4 g.* *The depiction of Pietas (representing Plautilla) on the reverse holding a child is believed to have been issued to celebrate the AD 204 birth of a child who died in infancy.
While I have many nicer Gallienus and Salonina coins, I wanted to show here a few ugly ones that show Pietas. Gallienus - PIETAS AVG - Milan - RIC V-1 506kv - 266/268ad Salonina - PIETAS AVG - Siscia - RIC V-1 79 - 267/268ad Salonina - PIETAS AVGG - Rome - RIC V-1 35 - 256/257ad (joint reign) Note: notice the three little people.
I'd say my most unusual Gallienus is this one, looks normal but the extensive reverse legend isn't super easy to find.
Bronze Coin (AE Antoninianus) minted at Samosata during the reign of GALLIENUS between 255 - 256 A.D. Obv. IMP.C.P.LIC.GALLIENVS.P.F.AVG.: radiate, draped & cuirassed bust r. Rev. PIETAS.AVGG.: VALERIAN and GALLIENUS standing facing each other, sacrificing at altar between them, one holing eagle-tipped sceptre, the other parazonium. RICV #446. DVM #211. RCSVIII #10312
