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An interesting twin issue of Valerian and Gallienus from Viminacium
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<p>[QUOTE="Claudius_Gothicus, post: 7780094, member: 116315"]Thanks a lot for you very detailed answer, [USER=89514]@curtislclay[/USER]! Your contributions are always very thoughtful and enjoyable to read. I think that your reflections on the coinage attributed to this mint have a lot of value, and I'll certainly go look for the original thread in which you posted them, as well as any publication or article about these coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, I feel like I only agree with them partially: on the one hand, the Valerian antoniniani considered to be Viminacium's first issue don't really fit in with the following emissions, due to both the portrait style and the use of the dative and I've had some doubts about this classification too, so it makes sense, in my opinion, to believe that they were struck somewhere else; this is the first time, though, that I've seen them attributed to Gallus' branch mint, and I think it might be plausible on stylistic grounds, though it doesn't explain the use of the dative, which was never employed by Gallus but only by Volusian, and only at Rome and Antioch.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cngcoins.com/photos/big/3410398.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/first-issue-valerian-jpg.1334608/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><i>A comparison between a Branch Mint Gallu</i>s <i>(Image courtesy of CNG) andd [USER=84744]@Severus Alexander[/USER]'s Valerian I from "Viminacium"</i></p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/im-c-v-af-gal-vend-volvsiano-avg-aeqvitas-avgg-1-jpg.1293444/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><i>A Volusian from Antioch with dative obverse legend</i></p><p><br /></p><p>As for the other issues attributed to Viminacium, though, I think that it might not be such a far fetched hypothesis for them to have been struck there. While we might never get a definitive answer unless we find an antoninianus that explicitly names the city (however, it would be interesting to see if there were any hoards found in the region comprising mostly of these coins - it could be an important clue), I think that there's definitely some stylistic similarities between those antoniniani, the ones struck in the city by Philip and Pacatian, and the provincial bronzes of Viminacium; not only that, but a Danubian mint would make sense from a strategic point of view, considering the many times during which the limes in that region had come under attack - it would be necessary to be able to strike quickly when new troops were moved there. Finally, I think we should consider the very rare antoniniani with the first heroic bust: the provincials with this bust type were mostly made in Thrace and western Anatolia, so even if the mint was not located in Viminacium, it still must have been nearby, in an area where these provincials circulated and could have been handled by the engravers.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cngcoins.com/photos/big/4420642.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><i>A provincial coin of Gallienus from Perinthus in Thrace with an heroic bust (Image courtesy of CNG)</i>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Claudius_Gothicus, post: 7780094, member: 116315"]Thanks a lot for you very detailed answer, [USER=89514]@curtislclay[/USER]! Your contributions are always very thoughtful and enjoyable to read. I think that your reflections on the coinage attributed to this mint have a lot of value, and I'll certainly go look for the original thread in which you posted them, as well as any publication or article about these coins. However, I feel like I only agree with them partially: on the one hand, the Valerian antoniniani considered to be Viminacium's first issue don't really fit in with the following emissions, due to both the portrait style and the use of the dative and I've had some doubts about this classification too, so it makes sense, in my opinion, to believe that they were struck somewhere else; this is the first time, though, that I've seen them attributed to Gallus' branch mint, and I think it might be plausible on stylistic grounds, though it doesn't explain the use of the dative, which was never employed by Gallus but only by Volusian, and only at Rome and Antioch. [IMG]https://www.cngcoins.com/photos/big/3410398.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/first-issue-valerian-jpg.1334608/[/IMG] [I]A comparison between a Branch Mint Gallu[/I]s [I](Image courtesy of CNG) andd [USER=84744]@Severus Alexander[/USER]'s Valerian I from "Viminacium"[/I] [IMG]https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/im-c-v-af-gal-vend-volvsiano-avg-aeqvitas-avgg-1-jpg.1293444/[/IMG] [I]A Volusian from Antioch with dative obverse legend[/I] As for the other issues attributed to Viminacium, though, I think that it might not be such a far fetched hypothesis for them to have been struck there. While we might never get a definitive answer unless we find an antoninianus that explicitly names the city (however, it would be interesting to see if there were any hoards found in the region comprising mostly of these coins - it could be an important clue), I think that there's definitely some stylistic similarities between those antoniniani, the ones struck in the city by Philip and Pacatian, and the provincial bronzes of Viminacium; not only that, but a Danubian mint would make sense from a strategic point of view, considering the many times during which the limes in that region had come under attack - it would be necessary to be able to strike quickly when new troops were moved there. Finally, I think we should consider the very rare antoniniani with the first heroic bust: the provincials with this bust type were mostly made in Thrace and western Anatolia, so even if the mint was not located in Viminacium, it still must have been nearby, in an area where these provincials circulated and could have been handled by the engravers. [IMG]https://www.cngcoins.com/photos/big/4420642.jpg[/IMG] [I]A provincial coin of Gallienus from Perinthus in Thrace with an heroic bust (Image courtesy of CNG)[/I][/QUOTE]
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An interesting twin issue of Valerian and Gallienus from Viminacium
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