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Message:: [QUOTE="Claudius_Gothicus, post: 7982715, member: 116315"]As the mother of their legenday progenitor Aeneas, the goddess Venus was very important for the Romans and appeared on plenty of coins in a variety of different forms; however, during the Roman Empire, she is usually found on the reverses of coins of empresses, and it is unusual to see her paired up with the obverses of male rulers. With the exception of Caracalla, as far as I know, the coins of the few other emperors who used her on their reverses are all quite rare, and amongst them there are also a few ones of Claudius II. Since his coinage has become and will continue to be my main collecting focus, I could not pass up on the opportunity to add this coin to my collection; it won't win any beauty contest, and I ended up paying more than I would've liked, but when you're dealing with the second known example of a variety of an already very rare type, I think we can all agree that you might have to make some compromises: [ATTACH=full]1385240[/ATTACH]Roman Empire, Claudius II (268-270), Antoninianus, Cyzicus mint.Obverse: IMP C M AVR CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind;Reverse: VENVS AVG, Venus standing left, holding helmet in right hand and transverse spear in left hand, shield to the right resting against her;RIC V 245, RIC V Online 874, La Venera 9862 While I do admit that the deposits on the reverse are quite annoying and detract a little bit from the overall beauty of the coin, I'd say that it was still a good purchase regardless of rarity: the greenish toning is quite pleasing, the details on the reverse are very sharp and the portrait is a splendid example of the style used in the early period of the Cyzicus mint. However, the reverse is clearly what's really important in this particular coin: VENVS AVG had been used initially as part of Claudius II's issue of antoniniani at Smyrna with the SPQR mintmark, which used the B1 and D2 bust types; these coins are quite scarce but not impossible to find, though I unfortunately haven't obtained an example yet: <img src="https://www.cngcoins.com/photos/enlarged/4540404.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />(Image courtesy of Classical Numismatic Group) However, as you've probably noticed, my coin has a very different portrait style and is also missing the SPQR in the exergue - these signs indicate that it belongs to the first emission of the Cyzicus mint; this variant, unlike its predecessor, is incredibly rare and was missing from both the Gysen and Johannessen collections, as the only other known example, a double die match, was part of the La Venera Hoard, and is now in a museum in Verona. Considering the fact that its quality is not stellar, either, I guess I can't complain too much about mine: [ATTACH=full]1385239[/ATTACH] The coins belonging to the first emission of the Cyzicus mint are, for the most part, extremely rare and often unique, and they are a really interesting field of study, as they usually copy the same reverses that were used at Smyrna (after all, the new mint was most likely staffed by the same people), and most of them were subsequently abandoned, replaced by types more common and more familiar to most collectors like VICTORIAE GOTHIC. While VENVS AVG was one of the reverses that suffered this fate, this depiction of Venus, with a different legend, was, interestingly, resurrected after Aurelian's rise to power: [ATTACH=full]1385277[/ATTACH](Image courtesy of Paul Francis Jacquier) Since this is the final stop of the journey of this reverse type (Venus with these attributes, but a different legend, was used for the last time by Magnia Urbica on her antoniniani), I suggest we retrace our steps and analyze the different phases of the VENVS AVG reverse legend before its appearance on Claudius II's coins. As far as I know, this reverse legend was first used on Roman Imperial coins on denarii of Julia Titi - while on these coins the goddess is already shown holding the attributes of "Venus Victrix", her posture is completely different: [ATTACH=full]1385280[/ATTACH](Image courtesy of Numismatica Ars Classica) The type then went on a very long hiatus until it was introduced at the Antioch mint to be used first by Salonina, wife of Gallienus, as well as, surprisingly, by Vaballathus, a few years later - the legend has now been paired with a representation of Venus Victrix that had been introduced on Caracalla's denarii a while earlier, though the replacement of the sceptre with the spear appears to be an Eastern innovation: <img src="https://www.cngcoins.com/photos/enlarged/3210558.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />(Image courtesy of Classical Numismatic Group)[ATTACH=full]1385278[/ATTACH](Image courtesy of Leu Numismatik) The same exact type was also imported to Smyrna and used for Salonina as well as her husband Gallienus, setting up the precedent for its usage by his successor Claudius II and also suggesting that the new mint was initially staffed by engravers from Antioch, which would explain the similarity in the portraits of the first emissions: [ATTACH=full]1385276[/ATTACH](Image courtesy of Paul Francis Jacquier) That's all for now; post your antoniniani of Claudius II, your coins from Cyzicus, your coins with Venus, or anything else you feel like might be relevant <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />! And while this rarity of Claudius II might have been quite mundane, I can assure you that my next one is going to be far more special <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> ...[/QUOTE]

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