Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 7949733, member: 110350&quot;]Great examples of the rhino coin, [USER=82616]@David Atherton[/USER] and [USER=79213]@rg3[/USER]!</p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s mine, along with a few other pachyderms associated with the Colosseum:</p><p><br /></p><p>Domitian (son of Vespasian), AE Quadrans [1/4 As] 84-85 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. African Rhinoceros with two horns advancing right with head down/ Rev IMP DOMIT AVG GERM (clockwise around starting at 1:00), S C across. RIC II-1 Domitian 249 (2007 ed.), Sear RCV II 2834, Cohen 673. 16.5 mm., 2.56 g.*</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/domitian-quadrans-rhinoceros-jpg-version-jpg.1289580/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>*This variety, with the legend starting at 1:00 on the upper right, rather than 7:00 on the lower left, is the rarer of the two varieties that depict the rhino facing right (there are also two with the rhino facing left). There are only four examples of this type at OCRE, eight at acsearch by my count, and none at the British Museum. See <a href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).dom.249" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).dom.249" rel="nofollow">http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.2_1(2).dom.249</a>. The number of examples with the legend beginning at 7:00 is far greater.</p><p><br /></p><p>The coin must have been issued after Domitian’s assumption of the Germanicus title in late 83 AD, but before the Consular date XI was added to his quadrantes in 85. It was possibly distributed as a token and/or souvenir to the crowds at the Colosseum, which Domitian completed in 82 by adding the uppermost story. See Martial’s <i>Liber De Spectaculis</i> (<a href="http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_on_the_games_of_domitian_01_text.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_on_the_games_of_domitian_01_text.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_on_the_games_of_domitian_01_text.htm</a>), which mentions Domitian&#039;s exhibition of a rhinoceros at the Colosseum, as well as the practice of showering the crowd with tokens. See also T.V. Buttrey, “Domitian, the Rhinoceros, and the Date of Martial&#039;s ‘Liber De Spectaculis,’&quot; The Journal of Roman Studies Vol. 97 (2007), pp. 101-112, at <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20430573?seq=1" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20430573?seq=1" rel="nofollow">https://www.jstor.org/stable/20430573?seq=1</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Titus&#039;s elephant, issued a few years earlier, supposedly to celebrate the opening of the Colosseum:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/titus-elephant-reverse-jpg-version-jpg.1289605/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Antoninus Pius&#039;s elephant, apparently issued to commemorate the games at the Colosseum celebrating Rome&#039;s 900th anniversary in 148 AD:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/combined-ant-pius-elephant-large-jpg.1289606/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Philip I&#039;s elephant and his wife Otacilia Severa&#039;s hippo, issued to commemorate the games at the Colosseum celebrating Rome&#039;s 1000th anniversary in 248 AD:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/philip-i-elephant-combined-image-jpg.1289607/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/otacilia-severa-hippo-combined-image-jpg.1289608/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in