Ancients: a call for unusual provincials

We see several postings of really interesting coins of Roman Alexandria and series from some other cities of note but Provincial coins were made in a huge number of cities in style ranging fro horridly crude to really fine. I'll post a couple of coins not exactly ordinary and ask the rest of you to show Provincials that are different (good, bad or whatever).
Anazarbus, Cilicia, Herrenia Etrucilla / Dionysos on panther AE29:


Claudius II, Antioch, Pisidia, AE25 standards, about as crude as my provincials get!


Macrianus, Nicaea & Byzantium AE24, wicker torches? or fish traps? (what are they?)



None of these are mint state, fine might be kind, but they are 'different'. Post your 'different' Provincials.

 

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I only have two provincials but my Nerva tetradrachm is more conventional than this Domitian obol:




Full thread here

I'll admit that I have mistakenly ignored provincials for quite some time. Seeing some of the artistic and historic designs on the coins acquired by members here has caused me to now start taking a much closer look.

 

Tyra - Antoninus Pius AE ca. 40AD



The ancient city of Tyra resides at the estuary of the Dnistr River in what is now Ukraine - the now known city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi covers the ancient city. A few years ago I had the privilege of touring the archaeological digs near the fortress of Akkerman that overlooks the Dnistr River. The city was founded approximately 2,500 years ago and issued coinage practically from the beginning, first as a Greek colony then as a Roman provincial mint.

The cool aspect of this coin is that the alphabet is still familiar to that part of the world - instead of the Roman alphabet this coin has the Greek alphabet that Cyrillic was derived from.

Despite the long history of Tyra/Akkerman/Cetatae Alba/Belgorod-Dnestrovsky/Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi coinage from the city is particularly scarce - but a fairly low interest in the coinage makes them affordable - if you can find them.

There is a museum in the City of Odessa that has numerous examples of this and the Olbian era coinage from what is now southern Ukraine. Unfortunately everytime I have been in Odessa the museum happened to be closed.

 

Unlike most coins from Markianopolis with snake reverses, this particular coin shows an asymmetric coiled nimbate snake:

MACRINUS Pentassarion AE28
OBVERSE: AVT K OPEL CEVH MAKREINOC K M OPEL ANTWNEINOC - confronted busts
REVERSE: VP PONTIAN-OV MARKIANO/ POLIT, Coiled serpent with radiate head
Struck at Markianopolis, Moesia Inferior, Magistrate Pontianus; 217 - 218 AD
12.6g, 28mm
Hr & J (2012) 6.24.22.6

 

Uh oh.

Can I interest you in collecting Late Roman Bronzes?

When it comes to Roman coins I gravitate toward provincials. The reverses are so varied; so many interesting stories.

Here are a couple of my favorites.

While the reverse of this one is not unusual, the obverse and overall design was appealing. It seems unusual to portray the deity larger than the emperor. I'd have thought emperors would use every tactic possible to appear powerful. The arrangement of busts on this coin gives more weight (and importance?) to Astarte.


PHOENICIA, Aradus
Trajan. CE 98-117
CY 375 (CE 116/7)
Æ22, 9.65 g
Obv: draped bust of Astarte-Europa right; before, small laureate and draped bust of Trajan
Rev: bull charging left
Reference: SNG Copenhagen 81; BMC 374


The next coin is remarkable because it was issued twice. Initially minted sometime during Caligula's reign, it was restruck with special ring-shaped dies. The obverse legend remained the same but the reverse indicated a different magistrate. How thrifty!



LYDIA, Sardes.
Germanicus, with Drusus
Struck under Caligula (reigned CE 37-41), restruck by proconsul Asinius Pollio some time later.
Æ29, 15.5 gm
Obv: ΔΡΟΥΣΟΣ KAI ΓΕΡMANIKOΣ KAIΣΑΡΕΣ NEOI ΘEOI ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦOI; Togate figures of Drusus and Germanicus seated left on curule chairs, one figure holding a lituus
Rev: ΓΑΙΩ AΣΙΝΝΙΩ ΠΟΛΛΙΩΝI ANΘΥΠΑΤΩ KOINOΥ AΣΙΑΣ; KOINOY AΣΙΑΣ in two lines within wreath; legend around
Ref: RPC 2995

Of course, the Elagabalus/Dido building Carthage I just posted here is one of my favorites too

 

I have a whole bunch of 'em, but I'm not exactly sure which ones are the ones that "you" will find awesome and "unusual" (I love all of my coins, so at times I get all scattered when I need to narrow them down and pick my favs) ...

unusual, eh? ... hmmm, that has several different slants on it ... but, I'm gonna assume that you mean that unusual is the few coins that are a bit "weird/off" rather than being rare? ... eh, whateva ... you know me => I'm merely gonna post a bunch and wait for the feedback ..

Oh, sorry Doug => I forgot to comment on how fricken awesome your three O/P examples are => all of 'em are extremely cool ... and yes, a bit unusual .. I love 'em all!!


SPAIN, Emerita. Tiberius, Æ Dupondius
14-37 AD
Diameter: 35 mm
Weight: 23.85 grams
Obverse: Laureate head left
Reverse: City-view seen from aerial perspective: city wall with five T-shaped crenellations fronted by main gate consisting of two arched bays flanked by two multi-story crenellated towers, each with arched window; gate inscribed AVGVSTA/EMERITA and decorated with four T-shaped crenellations




Antoninus Pius Æ drachm Roman Egypt (Alexandria)
138-161 AD
Year 8
Diameter: 34 mm
Weight: 23.14 grams
Obverse: Laureate head right
Reverse: Bust of Aphrodite (Venus) left above bull (Taurus) butting left; star above … Popular astrological type depicting Venus in Taurus



CILICIA, Ninica-Claudiopolis
Severus Alexander, with Julia Maes, Æ37
AD 222-235
Diameter: 37 mm
Weight: 17.83 grams
Obverse: , draped, and cuirassed bust of Severus Alexander right; c/m’s: Nike, holding wreath, standing right within oval incuse (3) and six-pointed star
Reverse: Laureate / Draped bust of Maesa right




Commodus. Æ Sestertius
177-192 AD
Rome mint. Struck AD 181
Diameter: 31 mm
Weight: 25.21 grams
Obverse: Laureate head right
Reverse: Commodus seated left on curule chair set on daïs; attendant standing behind him; before him, Liberalitas stands to left, holding tessera and cornucopia; citizen on left mounting steps toward platform


Volusian AE Sestertius
Date: 252 AD
Diameter: 27.3 mm
Weight: 13.7 grams
Obverse: IMP CAE C VIB VOLVSIANO AVG - Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Volusian
Reverse: IVNONI MARTIALI - Juno, holding patera and scepter, seated in domed distyle temple

 

I have a couple of provincials. I've always found them to be stylistically interesting. I don't know if they qualify as 'unusual'

Augustus/Octavian; 25 BC
AE 27mm/9.4 g Cyprus Mint, (Provincial)
OBV; CAESAR, bare head of Augustus right
REV: AVGVSTVS within laurel wreath.
RIC 486, BMCRE 731, RPC 2235.


Nero; AD 54-68
AE 20mm/7.2g Seleucis and Piera, Antioch Mint (Provincial)
OBV; CAESAR IMP NERO CL AV, laureate head of Nero right; lituus
REV; SC within wreath.
RPC I 4297, SNG COP.161.

 

There are enough different provincials that it sometimes seems hard to find two that match in our little group. I guess that is what we have to call a common coin. I have to like TIF's Aradus with the mismatched heads. That is really different.

 

Not too unusual, probably, not even sure if they are Provincial, but these coins of Syria are listed in both RIC and RPC. Take your pick. Probably minted in Rome for use in Syria. Tiberius also minted one of this type earlier , but I don't have one yet.


Vespasian RIC 798 / RPC 1983

Titus RIC 76 / RPC 1991



Domitian RIC 816 / RPC 2001

 

These are unusual for just that reason. If they had a city name, I'd call them Provincial. If they had SC, Imperial. As is, both seems like a good call.

 

I've always thought this coin was a little unusual in that there are two dimples on the reverse, but only one on the obverse. Septimius Severus, Nikopolis

None of which seem to line up with each other...?

 

this coin is somewhat weird, it's unlisted. not really all that strange in general, the elements of the coin themselves aren't unusual (radiate bust, prize urn with plam leaf).

 

Some good looking ancients. Although my main focus is in Greek coins, ocassionally I will pick up a Roman coin. Some of them looks pretty interesting.

 

MYSIA, Pergamum. Pseudo-autonomous issue. temp. Hadrian(?)


Trajanopolis, Phrygia, AE19, DHMOC, Bare-headed and draped bust of Demos right time of Hadrian

 

My unusual provincials are Arabian. The first is a drachm struck under Trajan in Bostra. I've posted this coin too many times, but here we go again. These are not rare, but they represent one of only four Roman types that depict a camel. For some reason they aren't collected much. (I'm surprised Steve, with his love of animal coins, hasn't acquired one yet.)

Provincia Arabia, Trajan, AD 98-117
AR Drachm, 17mm, 3.37g; Bostra: AD 114-116.
Obv.: [AVTOKP] KAIC NEP TPAIANW APICTW CEB ΓEPM ΔAK; Laureate, dr. and cuir. bust r.
Reverse: ΔHMAPX EΞ [VΠATO S]; Camel to left
Reference: SNG ANS 1058



This coin is among the earliest issues of Provincia Arabia, minted immediately upon Rome's acquisition of the Nabataean Kingdom in AD 106

 

This coin is not the least bit interesting, visually, but it was minted specifically for the Actia Dousaria, the festival of Dushares, which was held by the Nabataeans every year on December 25, long into the period of Roman rule. This example is quite worn, but you take what you can get with these coins, as they don't appear on the market very often. Unfortunately they are not dated, as some Actia coins are, so we can only give the range of Phillip's years of rule.

Provincia Arabia, Philip II
AE28, 14.85g; Bostra mint, 244-247 AD.
Obv.: [MARC IVL] PHILIPPOS CESAR; Radiate bust right.
Rev.: COL METROPOLIS BOSTRA; AKTI/A ΔOV/CAPIA in wreath.
Reference: Spijkerman 59, SNG ANS 1247-50.
Note: The ‘Aktia Dousaria’ was the festival in honor of Dushara, or Dusares, a Middle-Eastern deity worshipped by the Nabataeans at Petra and Madain Saleh.

 

This third coin is also boring, unless you specialize in Arabian provincial issues. It's minted under Julia Mamaea, also in Bostra.

Someone at FORVM commented that these were cast rather than struck. I'm not sure where that information comes from, but the evidence from the coins seems to corroborate it. They all have soft features. This example is actually one of the better ones. And every one I've seen appears to have come from the same hub. Pressing a metal hub into a plaster cast would not wear it down, so you could make thousands of matching coins without having to cut a new hub.

Provincia Arabia: Julia Mamaea, after 180 - 235
AE22, 4.3g, 12h; Bostra Mint, 222-235
Obv.: IVLIA MAMAEA AVGVSTA;Draped bust of Julia Mamaea right.
Rev.: COLONIA BO-STRA; Turreted bust of Tyche left, cornucopiae over left shoulder,
Reference: SNG ANS 6: 1231-1236

 

Here are two that I find quite unusual, but mainly when compared to each other. Both are from the time of Augustus, but where the first one shows 4 busts, the second one has none at all.



RHOEMETALCES I
Kings of Thrace
AE28, 13.51g
Late 1st century BC - 12 AD
RPC I 1708; Youroukova 182-4.
O: BASILEWS ROIMHTALKOU, Diademed head of Rhoemetalces and draped bust of Pythadoris, conjoined right.
R: KAISAROS SEBASTOU, Heads of Augustus, laureate, and Livia, conjoined right; to right, capricorn right playing with globe.



AUGUSTUS
AE, 5.69g, 21.5mm
MYSIA, Pergamon, 4 - 5 AD
RPC 2364; BMC 242 - 245.
O: SEBASTON DHMOFWN, Tetrastyle temple, with statue of Augustus standing facing within, in military dress, holding spear in right hand.
R: SILBANON PERGAMHNOI, Demos in short chiton, standing left, crowning with a wreath the Proconsul M. Plautius Silvanus who is standing, wearing toga and holding patera.

 

I have one last contribution to this thread, my other provincials being rather common. This coin is not unusual because of its type. Nikopolis issued thousands of coins of many emperors, and Hermes is no stranger to any of them. This coin is unusual because of its condition.

We are accustomed to Roman provincials being in rather decrepit states. Quality control at provincial mints frequently didn't compare well with imperial standards. The coins were used vigorously and experienced the concomitant wear. And many did not suffer the erosion of time particularly well.

Here we have a coin whose dies were engraved by a very talented artist - the style of the bust and Hermes is superb. And it was strongly struck, and it did not circulate, and it was obviously well preserved over its history, probably tucked away in the middle of an urn where little could disturb it. A small jewel among provincials, if you happen to like "nice" coins.

Septimius Severus, Nikopolis ad Istrum
Obv. AV KAI CE - CEVHROC; laureate head r.
Rev. NIKOPOLI - T. PROC IC; Hermes, nude, chlamys over l. arm, holding kerykeion in l. arm and purse in extended r. hand.
Reference: Hristova/Hoeft/Jekov (2013) 8.14.10.21

 

I don't really have any unusual ones to adds. Great coins all!