An Augustus coin with an interesting provenance

Just won this coin in the latest Savoca auction. It is not the type of coin I usually buy. It is quite worn and a bit chipped. However, I liked the portrait and I liked the provenance. The auction listed the provenance as CNG 188 Lot 183. Before I bid on the coin I looked it up on CNG and found a further provenance. It is from the collection of Richard Prideaux.

From CNG

"Richard Prideaux was born in Illinois sixty years ago. A dual national, he eventually moved to France, where he studied law and history, closing the loop opened by his ancestors the Prideaux Brothers, who crossed the Channel with William the Conqueror in 1066 before some descendants sailed to America eight hundred years later. Fond of "the first centuries" (BC and AD), he started collecting Roman coins in 1970, including a broad range of coinage from aes grave to Hadrian. Later, at the Sorbonne, when he was working on the military symbolism in Augustus' coinage, he focused his numismatic interest on the first emperor's issues, and over time assembled an extensive academic collection.

Richard Prideaux believes that understanding the mentalities of people living in the past is essential to appreciate generally how they lived, and specifically to understand their coinage. To address the questions of why, how, when and where the coins were issued, one must consider many factors, some of which may easily be forgotten or misinterpreted nowadays. He is now preparing a book about Augustus' coinage. His comprehensive study has enabled him to reinterpret various aspects of the coinage, and he has kindly communicated some of his insights which have served as the basis for notes in the following catalog."

I was the only bidder on this coin. I think I just bought something interesting for 10 Euro plus fees.

Please post your coins of Augustus or your coins of Edessa.





MACEDON, Edessa.Augustus.27 BC-AD 14. Æ
19mm (6.23 g).
Obv: Laureate head right
Rev: EΔEΣ/ ΣAIΩN in two lines within laurel wreath.
RPC I 1520; SNG Copenhagen -; BMC 17.
Near VF, glossy grayish-green patina, patina chipped around edges.
Ex: CNG 188 Lot 183
From the Richard Prideaux collection
Savoca coin Auctions Blue #11 Lot 1020
October 27, 2018

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Congrats Andrew, that is a terrific bargain!

 

nice provenance- cool coin Andrew.
Here is an outlier of these Augustus assarions of Antioch. Forgot who here at CT wrote this note about it when I posted it. It has a ten-leafed wreath instead of the usual 8 and the legend on the front is different. Never have found one like it yet.
"I didnt look as closely to your coin at first, now I think @TTerrier has it right and it probably is closer to RPC4247 as I believe the portrait is laureate. So, you might call it RPC 4247 var. (as yours have 10 leaves and not 8). Nevertheless, I think the number of leaves are akin to counting the number of bricks on a Constantinian campgate.
One possible reference for this one would be McAlee 192(a) from "The Coins of Roman Antioch", a great reference if you like coins of Antioch. The author notes that this would be RPC 4102 but that RPC has the legend wrong in that they omitted the IMP before the AVGVST. This coin has a bare head.
The other possibility is McAlee 206(a) which has a laureate bust, RPCSupp. 1 S-4247A.
There are differences in bust styles between the two but the easiest way to differentiate is whether there is a tie behind the head. There seems to be a hint of one on the OP but I'm not sure.
Interesting coin!"

 

Thanks Mike, your coin is very interesting. It is a lot of fun trying to find the references for these coins. For me it is one o the most interesting parts of collecting the coins.

 

A neat addition

 

A beautiful coin. Augustus looks as if he is smiling! Congrats Orfew, excellent choice and on top of it a wonderful bargain.

There seems to be lettering on the obv. behind Augustus head, compare to:
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/meepzorp/rp_macedon_pt02.htm

 

How can you go wrong? Great pick up Andrew

 

Fascinating coin and provenance, @Orfew , and an interesting personality.

 

My recent purchase from EBay, 3 known to exist ?

 

Not 3. And this is just what was sold by major auction houses in the past 15 years.
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=Avgvstvs dupondius CA 502&category=1-2&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&images=1&thesaurus=1&order=0&currency=usd&company=

I was an underbidder on that one myself. Congrats.

 

nice.

 

I like your coin, Mike! And it's variation is intriguing! I just picked up a similar coin with less defined legends (I see IMP and [P]OT), but near-matching obverse portrait, and my reverse is the 8 leaves style. I'll post it when I get it in hand.

 

I've got it in-hand now, and just photo'd.

26mm, 14g

Much like DR's coin... 8 leaves.

 

Yes, reverse like DR's and portrait like on mine. Snowfall patina. pretty little coin of the Caesar.

 

Struck in Apamea circa 4 BC, the following coin of Augustus has walking Nike on reverse.

 

Is that an actual patina type?

 

I don't know, but I like it - I've had several coins like that, and "snowfall patina" does a great job of describing them.

 

No. Its just a lot of small pits where the soil was not cleaned out, so they stand out against the natural patina. Still makes it look nice.

 

Cool coin a solid provenance @Orfew ! The chipping makes it like Augustus has some real gray!

None from Edessa, My AE provincial of Augustus...


RI Augustus 27BC-AD14 Æ20 5.5g 12h Apameia Phrygia Magistrate Attalos c 15BC Two corn-ears above maeander pattern RPC I, 3125 SCARCE

 

Thanks Brian. That is a nice one you posted.