A Group of Interesting Coins: Roman Edition

Last month I posted a Greek Edition of coins I found interesting but hadn’t yet posted to the forum. This month I have a group of Roman coins that fall into three of the most popular collecting themes in Roman numismatics.

• Hadrian’s Travel Series
• Falling Horseman
• Tetrarchy Folles

I hope you will all enjoy another vignette style write up.

A Less Common Travel Series Denarius!

Roman Empire
Hadrian, AD 117-138.
AR Denarius, 18mm, Rome mint, struck AD 134-138.
Dia.: 18 mm
Wt.: 3.15 g
Obv.: HADRIANVS AVG COSIII PP; Laureate head right.
Rev.: ITA-LIA, Italia standing left, holding sceptre and cornucopiae.
Ref.: RIC II 307; BMC 853; RSC 869
Ex DePew Collection

The “Travel Series” coins of Hadrian are a popular and well known series so I won’t rehash the background. I will say that the most popular types referring to Hadrian’s travels come in three forms: a personification shown with attributes of the region, the emperor lifting up the kneeling personification, and Hadrian’s ship. I have always found the personification with attributes (like the OP) to be particularly interesting.

The personification of Italy with scepter and cornucopia may seem like just another boring “someone standing there” type, but I find it interesting in this case. For one, Italy is not often shown personified in ancient art outside of coins. Second, the scepter is significant because it represents Italy’s sovereignty over the other parts of the empire. This is perhaps not as aggressive a message as some of the coins showing Italy literally sitting on top of the world but it does show the high esteem reserved for the capitol region of the empire at this time.

Left: A gold scepter from Southern Italy from the late Classical or early Hellenistic period. Scepters were commonly associated with kingly authority including Zeus and Jupiter (photo courtesy of the British Museum) Right: Italia holding scepter as mark of authority.

Just like he did in the provinces, Hadrian took a tour of Italy in ca. AD 126/7. While traveling he dispensed imperial favors which included construction projects, public works improvements and support for local religious sites all over Italy. During this time he also oversaw construction or completion of two of the most famous Roman buildings in Italy: the Pantheon in Rome and the sprawling villa that bears his name in Tivoli.



Pantheon, Rome: I took both of the above photos while in Italy in 2018. The facade of the Pantheon famously states that it was made by Agrippa but the reconstruction of the current building was actually finished by Hadrian after an earlier building was destroyed in a fire. The beautiful interior retains a lot of its ancient design elements due to the fact that it was consecrated as a Christian church in AD 609 and spared severe looting and destruction. (Author's photos)


Maritime Theatre (Hadrian's Villa): Hadrian had an eye for architecture and this building may be one of the best showcases of his style. This unconventional building is built around a circular, artificial island connected to the rest of the villa by bridges that Hadrian could remove if he wanted privacy. Access to this building was probably restricted to Hadrian and his inner circle (pun totally intended). (Author's photo)


Grand Thermae (Hadrian's Villa): This impressive structure is one of several baths constructed around the villa. The interior is one of the most impressive ancient spaces I have been in. (Author's photo)

Despite a bit of honest circulation wear, the above coin is a great example of the high quality artistic style that marks Hadrian’s reign. This is particularly true of the nice style portrait.


Bust of Hadrian: I took this photo at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. (Author's photo)

A Falling Horseman with Nice Detail

Roman Empire
Constantius II
AE Centenionalis, Heraclea mint, struck ca. AD 350-355
Dia.: 22.5 mm
Wt.: 5.3 g
Obv.: DN CONSTAN-TIVS PF AVG; Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev.: FEL TEMP RE-PARATIO; Γ in left field, SMH (?) in exergue; Helmeted soldier spearing fallen horseman who is reaching back. Hair in braids, no beard. Plain shields.
Ref.: RIC 82 Heraclea

The Falling Horseman type is one of if not the most common of all ancient coins and has a huge number of variations. It also has an interesting reverse design which is well showcased by a relatively large flan size. As such it is one of the most popular types to collect as can be seen by the number of CT members who specialize in it.

This coin cost me less than a meal at a fast food restaurant and yet still has plenty of nice detail. It lacks the mint mark which led me to have to do some research in order to make an educated guess about the mint and reference number. Two sources I found very helpful were Doug Smith's webpage and the Helvetica page (particularly the spreadsheet to help ID).

• https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/fh.html
• http://www.catbikes.ch/helvetica/feltemps.htm

I consider my horseman to be “hair in braids, no beard” and “reaching." Along with other details, such as the legend breaks, this helped me narrow this coin down to a few options. Based on the style (and the plain shields) I assigned this coin to Heraclea and even more tentatively to RIC 82. This was a fun and educational exercise made possible by a purchase of less than $10.

The other item that fascinates me about these is the ability to associate the horseman with a specific Roman adversary (i.e. Parthian, Germanic etc.). I have seen this alluded to in the sources above but I have not seen a study that lays this out clearly. I would be very interested to read such a study if it exists.

A Tetrarch and a Provenance Challenge

Roman Empire
Galerius as Augustus
AE Follis, Antioch mint, struck AD 309
Dia.: 24.7 mm
Wt.: 6.06 g
Obv.: IMP C GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS P F AVG; laureate head right
Rev.: GENIO IMP-ERATORIS; Genius, nude but for chlamys over left shoulder, standing front, head to left, holding patera from which flows in right hand and cornucopia in left; O over I in right field, ANT in exergue
Ref.: RIC VI Antioch 112a
Ex Minotaur Coins. Part of a Swiss collection formed in the 1960s and 70s with ticket

Folles of the tetrarchy are a fun collecting field because they are not very expensive, have a wide range of mints striking for multiple emperors and are great in hand because of their size. This coin was struck for Galerius at a time when the tetrarchy system had already started to break down.

One of the things that draws me to the coin is the challenge of finding a provenance. This coin was listed as coming from a Swiss collection formed in the 1960s and 1970s purchased from Numiphil Basel. Some of the tags from that sale had “Numiphil Basel” on them but this one did not. I have no knowledge of this auction house or dealer. Does anyone recognize the name of the auction house or the recognize the tag?



Any info would be much appreciated!

Please Pile On!
With these three popular coin types I am hoping it will encourage a fun pile on thread! Please feel free to post your;

• Hadrian Travel Series
• Falling Horseman
• Tetrarchy Folles
• Any coins related to travel / Hadrian / FEL TEMPs / old collector tickets...
• Or anything else you want to post!

 

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As always, thanks for sharing your exquisite taste
Stunning grouping of coins... but from @Curtisimo the GREAT, what else could we expect
Where to start...
Wonderful Italia Though I'm a long time admirer and collector of the Hadrian travel series, I'm still a very limited owner of coins from the Hadrian travel series myself:

HADRIAN
117-138 AD. AR Denarius (19mm, 2.77gm). Struck 134-138 AD. Head right / Egypt reclining against basket left, holding sistrum, ibis at feet. RIC II 297; RSC 99.
Ex-Savoca
"This coin commemorates Hadrian's visit to Egypt in 130-131 AD. It was while Hadrian was on tour in Egypt that his favorite, Antinoüs, "mysteriously" drowned in the Nile. So great was the emperor's grief that he commanded a series of religious rituals to be performed in the young man's honor, and, on the site where the body was recovered, Hadrian ordered the construction of a city called Antinöopolis in honor of the young man."

And my best portrait of the most traveled Roman emperor... in leisure that is:

HADRIAN (117-138). Denarius. Rome.
Obv: HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS.
Laureate bust right, slight drapery on far shoulder.
Rev: COS III.
Roma seated right on cuirass and shield, holding spear and parazonium; globe in exergue.
RIC 163.
Condition: Near extremely fine.
Weight: 2.86 g.
Diameter: 18 mm.

Maybe not A fallen horseman, I've a Constantius II of pretty remarkable craftsmanship and pedigree;

Constans AD 337-350. 20mm., 5,3 g. 6h; Antioch Follis Æ D N CONSTANS P F AVG, diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust left, holding globe in right hand / FEL TEMP REPARATIO, helmeted soldier, spear in left hand, advancing right, head turned to left. With his right hand he is leading a small bare-headed figure from a hut beneath a tree with single figs at the end of the branches. The spear points downwards, between the soldier's legs. ANΓ in exergue. good very fine RIC VIII Antioch 126; Sear 18700. Ex: JAZ Numismatics. Saturnalia 2020 gift from @Curtisimo

And you've got me as to the tag and house of that well patinated Galerius, and its a doozy as well

 

Probus the Equestrian Emperor

 

Just a fun coin from the Tetrarchy:


Galerius as Caesar 293–311 A.D. follis Ric VI 30b Carthago 293-305 Carthage laureate head right
MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES
SALVIS AVGG ET CAESS FEL KART
Carthago standing front, looking left, holding fruit in both hands. Mintmark Δ.
Sear 14411 Δ
28mm 8.07g 12h

 

Wonderful write-up! I love the photos of the various archaeological sites associated with Hadrian.

 

Lovely coins!

I have only three Hadrians, but these are the "top two"


Nothing too special about this coin, but I love how the patina sort of evokes green marble, similar to the serpentine stone often used in opus sectile mosaics, such as this fragment from one of Caligula's Nemi ships.


The second Hadrian is cool because it is one of those few coins that show a uniquely Egyptian motif - a mummy!


As for the ubiquitous FTR horseman, I have this one which is one of the finest pieces in my collection.

The barbarian on the back I describe as, "Michelin man; lobster claw."

 

My favorite travel series denarius is Alexandria (not the most common) but is special to me for its reddish tone.


More common is Aegyptos but this is my only travel sestertius.


I once had well over a hundred Falling Horsemen but have sold and given away nearly half of them. The ones I have left are 'better' on average but what I show here are not higher grade but just 'special' to my definition.

Good: Two by Constans
FH1 are the hardest to find of the four standard types of FH. To qualify to be FH1, IMHO, the horse's head must be pointed forward rather than tucked back as on the common FH4 coins AND the horseman needs to be making ground contact rather than just hunched over the horse's back. This Siscia has the forward head but the rider is questionably off the horse.


My Thessalonika seems to show the rider kneeling on the ground better. I really need a better example of an FH1 without question.


Better: Two by Constantius II
Rome mint with horseman struggling to his feet (FH4 1/2?) with a fancy shield held by the Roman


Antioch often has good style and many survive in good condition. This one has good 'stirrups' which Romans did not use but, I believe, the die cutter had seen used by barbarians. Some people say these are just pants decorations but I believe it shows a rope with foot loops (possibly sewn to the pants) that would allow the rider to stand and control the horse much as with modern stirrups. This coin and a few others with stirrups started my website in 1997 when I was becoming interested in FH coins through the late Victor Failmezger.


Best: Two by Constantius Gallus
A pretty example of the Aquileia issue marked as being struck 72 (LXXII) to the Roman pound of metal


All Amiens FH coins are worth keeping. This is doubly rare being a Gallus with the finest style portrait of that mint. Note the three part, banded mullet. The coin is also has clashed die reverse.


Impossibly 'more bester':
I do not have the super rare Magnentius FH coin. What I have is a dumpy, barbarous FH coin that is either Magnentius or Decentius. The letters are less than clear but counting the bumps make me think it is DN DECEN TIVS AVG??? If Magnentius, a letter seems missing. It makes no difference since the coin is obviously unofficial style.


Having shown nine coins above, I only have one slot left for a tetrarchal follis. Since Provenance is the rage at present, I's show a rather ordinary Galerius Caesar follis from Aquileia that earned its place here from being ex. John Quincy Adams (from a group lot purchased at that sale by Mendel Peterson). I wonder if the President was bothered by the flat strike on Genius' head. I am. (Call me a condition snob!) Otherwise, it is a decent coin. Note on the obverse there is a corresponding weakly struck place in the ribbon on the neck. In 1971, the Massachusetts Historical Society decided they needed money worse than to maintain his ancient and foreign coin collection that had been entrusted to them. I wish more museums would decide to clear out their vaults of worthless (to them) old coins.

 

Great article as always @Curtisimo.

Of the FH I have, (and I have quite a few), these are my favorites. One of these days I will get back to tidying them; but, for me, for now, they are clean enough. My next step is to definitively attribute them. When tidying crusty ancients I purchased a year or so back, I came across the bottom three coins below.

The top FH is a coin I found in a group of uncleaned coins @Victor Clark generously sent to me a few years ago. I only cleaned it enough to generally identify it. I like it very much. I do not think I ever shared this one with fellow CTers before. Thanks again, Victor.

I find the green and slightly rose patinas and the delta (I suppose that is a delta) on the obverse of the second coin attractive.

On the third coin, it looks like the horseman is hunched over and completely facing away from the swordsman. Definitely not reaching and looking back. I am not sure I ever saw one like this before. (but that is not saying much! :-D) I love when coins turn jet black like this.
Edited to add: Thanks Doug. So now I have seen another with hunched forward horseman.

I dig the style and patina of the bottom FH. Looks like the horseman is wearing Korean headgear from the Josean period:



Please excuse that these coins are not attributed.

 

Here's a Constantius II whose status eludes me. There are three options:
1. An official AE2 die struck on top of a small 17mm AE3 flan
2. A full size AE2 clipped
3. A typical undersized barbarous imitation.



The style looks prety=ty good, especially on the Roman soldier on the reverse. The portrait is a bit off, but looks reasonable.
The edes of the flan are sort of ragged, which would tend to preclude clipping. Also, who would ever clip a base metal coin?

So, I guess the most reasonable explanation is an official AE2 accidentally struck on an AE3 flan, OR an official AE2 that was accidentally made small. This is thick and heavy, at 4.2g, so I bet that's probably it.

 

I first visited Hadrian's Villa in 1966 (!), and then again 50 years later in 2016. I remember being awed by the entire villa, and especially this swimming pool:



Really, would it be that hard to get a pool service in to clean the water a little bit?

A few years ago I started adding Hadrian's travel series coins to my collection, which I've display here ad nauseum, but I'll reprise a couple of them anyway:



HADRIAN 117 - 138 A.D.
AE Sestertius (25.62 g.) Rome ca. 130 - 133 A.D. RIC II.3 1609
HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P Laureate head of Hadrian r. Rev. Africa, draped, wearing elephant-skin headdress, recl. L, r. hand holding scorpion, cornucopia behind



HADRIAN 117 - 138 A.D.
AV Aureus (7.20 g.) Rome ca. 130 - 133 A.D. RIC II.3 1492
HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P Bare-headed bust l. Rev. Africa, draped, wearing elephant-skin headdress, recl. L., holding cornucopiae and scorpion in r. hand;

 

They are absolutely fantastic pics, I couldn't get any where near as good a shot of inside the Pantheon as yours's, you are a real whiz with your photography skills Curtis. Hadrian's galley, Minted 132-4 AD, Sestertius, 26.18gm, RIC 11 706. Hadrian Sestertius Neptune foot on prow, Rome 126 AD, 22.2gm

 

Thanks for the kind words, my friend. That is a mighty nice Constantius II you got there! The FEL TEMPs all have really interesting reverse types. If the same designs were in silver (or gold) and a little less common they would be well out of reach for most collectors I'd bet.

Nice Aegyptos travel series as well! I also think these are neat but don't have too many of them. My AFRICA is one of my favorite denarii though.

Nice Probus! Thanks for the pile on Inspector!

That IS a fun coin! It is not a reverse type you see every day. The personification of Carthago is a great tie in for the thread. Thanks IMP Shogun!

Thank you my friend! Hadrian was a lover of architecture and really left his mark on the landscape of the empire. The Pantheon is my favorite place in Rome. I have been to Rome three times and on the last two trips I found myself eating gelato in the middle of the night, leaning against a column on the portico of the Pantheon the first night there. Great atmosphere. Hadrian's villa is a must see as well. I could take 1000 photos and still miss something cool.

Thanks for the kind words! I like that mosaic. I agree it is a beautiful shade of dark green.

Of your Hadrians I especially like your mummy example. Super cool!

 

10 excellent coins. I like your FH with the weight standard spelled out. It also has nice style and tone.

Your notes on the use of stirrups is particularly interesting. This is something that I will have to read more about. It would be fascinating if the Romans were aware of stirrups and still didn’t adopt them into their cavalry.

Your John Quincy Adams follis has an especially impressive pedigree and is a nice coin despite the flatness. I quite like finding older provenances for affordable coins. Seems more of a special circumstance that the history stayed with the coin.

I will mirror your good, better, best approach but with tetrarchy folles.

Good: One of the earliest post reform coins from Lugdunum.


Better: Well struck in nice style of Constantius as Caesar.


Best: An invasion of Britain Follis of Constantius. One of my favorite coins.


I’ll close it out with one of my better provenances in honor of your JQA. Ex Stoecklin and Naegeli Collections.

Roman Empire
Maximinus II Daia As Caesar
Æ Follis, Alexandria mint, 5th officina. Struck late AD 308-309.
Wt.: 7.12g
Obv.: GAL VAL MAXIMINVS NOB CAES; Laureate head right
Rev.: GENIO CA-ESARIS Genius standing left, holding patera from which liquor flows, and cornucopia; K-E/P//ALE.
Ref.: RIC VI 100a.
Ex Dr. Louis Naegeli Collection (1858-1951), Ex W. F. Stoeklin Collection (1888-1975). Obolos 9, March 25, 2018, Lot 437.

 

Lovely coins throughout. Not so lovely, but this gives me an excuse to post this - I just got my first "galley" type of Hadrian -


Hadrian Æ As
(125-127 A.D.)
Rome Mint
HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS, laureate bust right, slight drapery on shoulder / COS III above galley with four rowers right, [S C] in exergue.
RIC II.3 820 (RIC 673c/d) var. (drapery on shoulder; see note).
(10.33 grams / 25 x 23 mm)
eBay Sept. 2021
Note:
Bust right with slight drapery on shoulder; this occurs often but is rarely noted (including OCRE, which describes only "head"); but some sources note this; see
CNG Online e-Auction 58, etc.
Galley right indicates departure per CT post, Andres2 11/2017;
"Reverse refers to Hadrian's travels around the empire on his first great tour." Harlan J. Berk

 

I just realized I have an Antoninus Pius dupondius with a rather similar marbled mosaic-y look to it!


I have no idea, but the patinas are so similar that I have to believe they came from the same hoard.

I got them from the same lot, but these days that means nothing.

 

I am very jealous of your visits to Hadrian's Villa, especially 50 years ago. I bet it was a bit more wild and less manicured back then, just how I would have liked it.

I've read SO much about the Villa, but have never visited it. Basically an armchair expert here, unfortunately.
In Season 2 of Killing Eve, it takes place at the Villa. I paused the show and went on a 20 minute lecture about the site to my dad. Haha. He just wanted to get back to the show

 

It’s good to see you again @LaCointessa ! Thank you for the kind words.

Nice group of FH! I also find the wide brimmed hat type to be a strange and interesting choice of headgear. It would be interesting to know if all the design elements for the horseman are based on real world models.

That is an interesting coin HWE. The style looks pretty good. I have a few coins whose flan size is either atypically large or small and I always wonder what circumstances could have produced the difference. Interesting theory.

Those are all excellent coins @lordmarcovan . I especially like the canopic jar and the fantastic portrait Hadrian Sestertius. That obverse is of wonderful style!

I have a few sestertii of this time period but nothing quite so artistic. Though this sestertius is really nice in hand with a high relief.

You know I never thought about the pool being that green color until you just mentioned it. It would be interesting to see what it looks like with clear water.

Do you remember noting any major differences between the site in 1966 vs 2016? I bet at most sites back then you were allowed to explore more freely. Though in fairness I thought Hadrians Villa was better than most at not having too many places roped off. I went in 2012 and again in 2018.

You are too kind my friend. Thank you for the nice words about my photos. I know I’ve seen some great photos from your travels as well. Especially some of the ones from Sicily you’ve posted. I enjoy taking photos when I’m out at these archeological sites. I had just bought a new lens for my dslr camera before I went to Italy that I thought was versatile enough that I wouldn’t need to change lenses. I was pleased with the results for the most part. I still like my dslr best but phone cameras are getting good enough now that I don’t feel too bad leaving my camera in the hotel sometimes.

I really like your galley example AA.

 

I think it is going too far to suggest the Romans were aware of stirrups. These dies were likely cut by slaves or 'local talent' who had seen barbarians (or their people) who used the rope supports over the horse. They put them on the coins from mints far from Rome.