Featured A Puzzling Provincial of Germanicus and Drusus

Among the earliest of my ancient coin purchases was a fascinating bronze of Germanicus and Drusus issued during the time of Tiberius and later overstruck by a creative proconsul, possibly during Caligula's reign. It appears to be the sole instance in which coins were later modified with special ring dies, preserving the central devices while creating a new legend. Recently I picked up a second example and a copy of an old Celator issue* which has an article about the type.

First, the coins:




LYDIA, Sardes (... or maybe not)
Germanicus and Drusus
Struck CE 23-26?
restruck by Asinius Pollio, proconsul of Asia under Caligula, CE 37-38?
Æ26, 13.78 gm
Obv: ΔPOYΣOΣ KAI ΓEPMANIKOΣ NEIOI ΘEOI ΦIΛAΔEΛΦOI; Germanicus and Drusus seated left on curule chairs, one holding lituus.
Rev: ΓAIΩ AΣINNIΩ ΠΩΛΛIΩNI ANΘYΠATΩ; KOINOY/ AΣIAΣ within wreath
Ref: RPC 2995, Sear 365

An example of the native coin without overstrike (from CNG's archives):

Theodore Buttrey's discussion of the coin in Greek, Roman, and Islamic Coins from Sardis (Harvard University Press, 1981) disputes the attribution to Sardes:

A CNG cataloger added: "Without a proper ethnic proclaiming the authority, they may be better thought of as Koinon issues."


Second, why was this done? Larry Devine, who proclaimed this coin "The Superstar of Restrikes"**, put forth a theory.

According to Devine in his Fountainhead catalog #10, 1977, the original coin was struck by Caligula to commemorate the opening of sacred games dedicated to the memory of Drusus Jr and Germanicus. The rest of the catalog listing discussing the original coin and its overstrike:

"[on the original coin's reverse] outside were the name and title of Alexander, son of Cleon, the magistrate who issued it, and the city-name. The Proconsul Caius Pollis, on seeing the coin and realizing its historical potential, and seeing a chance for posterity to note his name, did an amazing thing. He had his own name engraved on a circular ring, and the original obverse legend on another, then he had the coins restruck, only the outer edges of the coin, mind you, (the design was not to be effected [sic]) between them, thus obliterating the original circular legends on each side of the coin, and replacing it with his own.

The difficulty of this feat is mind-boggling, for the primitive equipment of the time. You can see how these rings would easily slip, even if just a fraction of an inch, and deface the figures of Drusus and Germanicus. Also, with some planchets being just a bit less wide than others, most of the new legend, even if there was no ring slipping, would be off the flan.

Yes, a far-sighted man, this Pollio, but in the face of all these difficulties (although the threat of a work-stoppage by the minters has not been sufficiently substantiated to take into account), he soon gave it up. Very few specimens with his full legend ΓAIΩ AΣINNIΩ ΠΩΛΛIΩNI ANΘYΠATΩ have survived, and it is believed that half of these are in the British Museum (they have three).† This one is BMC 106, and is one of the handful with full legends, still on the public market. 'The Superstar in ancient restrikes'. Redundant to say, it's of the highest rarity. Fine-Very Fine. Ex. Col. O'Sullivan Collection, $750." [the coin referred to in this auction catalog excerpt is the second coin pictured below]

I'm not sure I buy all of Devine's explanation. Buttrey (1981, citation as above) had this to say about the date and purpose of this unusual coin:

"Many of the known examples, including all the find pieces, are overstruck on the outer rim, cancelling the earlier reverse legend. C. Asinius Pollio was proconsul in AD 37-38, which provides a terminus ante quem for the original issue, which could date back to the appointment of Germanicus as supreme authority in the East in AD 17. There is no indication of the reason for the partial restrike, which may have simply been intended to honor Drusus and Germanicus on the occasion of Caligula's accession††. An elaborate restriking seems an unlikely response to the downfall of the original magistrate, Alexander. The high proportion of restruck pieces shows that a mint could call in a given type if necessary‡..."

So, where does that leave us?

1. Why did Pollio even do this in the first place? Why not just make completely new dies?
2. Did the government have a hoard of the original coins? Is that the source of the restrikes? Or, did they recall the original type? That seems far-fetched but some writers think that happened.
3. The date of striking of the original coin is in question. It is reasonable to think it could date as far back as CE 17.
4. The date of the restrike surely must have been during C. Asinius Pollio's proconsulship. I'm finding conflicting dates. Buttrey says CE 37-38; CNG puts it at CE 28-29. Caligula's reign was from CE 37-41. As far as I can tell, Caligula didn't have any active roles in the government in CE 28-29. He was only 16 in CE 28 and was living with his great grandmother, Livia. If the restrike was in CE 28-29, this coin has been repeatedly misattributed; it would have nothing to do with Caligula.
5. The location of issue is still not resolved.
6. I guess all of this typing really didn't really clarify anything .


* The Celator, Vol. 8, No. 11, November 1994. "The case of the curious coin of Caligula", pp 34-37.

** Technically, this is not a restrike. It is an overstrike.

† Obviously, more coins have come to light since Devine wrote his summary. I have searched all of the public-access databases I can find and have identified at least 24, possibly 28 individual examples. Who knows how many more are lurking in old private collections or yet to be discovered?

†† Germanicus was Caligula's father; Drusus (Drusus Julius Caesar) was Caligula's grandfather. For the complete and completely confusing Julio-Claudian family tree, click here.

‡ I have not surveyed databases for the original unrestruck coin but apparently there are fewer of those native coins. McKenna thinks that is the case. I will do a survey in the near future.

Here are all of the examples I've found so far:


edited because additional examples were found:



Congratulations! You made it through to the end of this very dry writeup and I don't even have a diorama, shrine, or animated gif as a reward .

Feel free to pile on! Since the odds are against any of you having this type of coin, post something related: Germanicus, Drusus, Caligula, interesting overstrikes, or theories. Or whatever, as usual .

 

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Your are both right and wrong. Right that I do not have anything like it, and wrong because it was not a dry write up at all. Extremely informative. So thank you for that.

 

Have to admit, I was expecting a little bonus at the end... Couldn't you at least have made an animated gif of the outer ring spinning around or something .

Jokes aside, this is a fascinating issue and another great write up. Pick up a couple more examples and you'll have more than the BM .

 

Okay, I'll see what I can do

You said that in jest but I might try to get more, if better ones come up.

 

Geat coins!!!!!!!!!!! i see double.

 

What? That's where I was dead serious .

 

Great article and research, TIF!

 

Want to bet we don't have it? Want to guess who was the underbidder on lot 371? I like your old one better. I have seen the unmarked coin offered once but it went way over my head.

 

Sorry about that, Doug. I really love these coins though If you don't mind, I'll add yours to the composite picture.

I think the new one is neither better nor worse than the old; each have their plusses and minuses.

Guess I should look for the original coin too.

 

I agree wholeheartedly with everyone else TIF----Fascinating subject and presented in a very readable and thought-provoking format!

I love coins with so much to read from them, but yours speaks volumes and is still a mystery with much more to be revealed.

To add confusion to the 'family' tree, I'll post Drusus the son of Tiberius---- not Caligula's grandfather but his cousin(??) And, I'll post Germanicus again as well :

 

Add away. I'll hope to get an upgrade someday from a show dealer who considers them damaged goods.

 

A very interesting read! I don't think it would have been difficult to create the overstriking dies with a lip around the edge (that would function much like a modern collar) and prevent slippage. We underestimate the ingenuity of our forebears.

 

But why do it in the first place? Years after the original issue was made did they look in their store room and say, "Whoops, look at all these RPC 2994 issues we forgot to disburse! Golly, the old proconsul is dead so we can't use them. Let's make some complicated dies, redoing only one of the legends, carefully reheat the flans, painstakingly position the ring dies, whack away, and then send them out good as new?"

It seems like it would be less work to just engrave completely new dies-- melt down the old flans if economy was the goal. Maybe there was something special, something nostalgic, or some political expedient that made re-using the old coins sensible?

I'd love to know the reason for the re-do as well as exactly how they did it.

As for a lip around the edge, based on the existing examples that wasn't how it happened. There was no collar. They had to deal with restriking coins of irregular flan shape, inconsistent size, and poor centering. Tall order!

I do agree with you on our tendency to underestimate the ingenuity and capabilities of ancient people though. Don't you wish you could go back in time and prevent the loss of the Library of Alexandria? Sigh.

 

Alternatively, the coins could have been placed in a depression to hold them in place while being restruck. But you're right - the more interesting question is WHY?

 

Frequently, looking for logic in the actions of government officials is an exercise in futility.

 

Thanks to an assist by @AncientJoe I have six more coins for the extant specimen list! That brings the count up to at least 24-28.

 

That's quite a long shopping list you have, then .

 

Thanks for the great thread TIF.

I've got a small collection of interesting overstrikes from the Central American Republic (CAR) and its member countries (Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, etc.). Many of the coins are countermarked by the particular government in order to make the coin(s) legal tender in the country. Here is one of my favorites. It is a cob (Lima I believe) which has been countermarked in 1848 for use as a 2 real coin.

 

Hold on. Excellent thread!

 

More information which could help with guessing a reason for the overstrike:

The proconsul, Asinius Pollio, was the half brother of Drusus Jr (the Drusus on this coin).

Maybe Pollio wanted emphasize his relationship to Drusus and Germanicus, perhaps pay homage or gain prestige. That's what Devine seems to think. Maybe he's right. If the original coin was struck for a popular event, something memorable, or happy times, I can imagine wanting to use that exact coin but with the addition of his name.

The original dies were probably long gone, necessitating use of the originally issued coins. This still doesn't satisfactorily explain why new dies weren't made, but maybe he thought the association would be stronger if he used those exact coins rather than new imitations.