ANCIENTS - Elagabalus Sacrificing

Here is a recent acquisition that I thought worthy of sharing.

Elagabalus Denarius
Obv:– IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate, horned, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:– INVICTVS SACERDOS AVG, Elagabalus standing holding patera over an altar and branch. Star in right field. Horn on ground to his left
Minted in Rome. A.D. 222
Reference– BMC 209 note. RIC 87 (where it is rated Common citing Cohen). RSC III 58. Cohen 58 (illustrated with star in right field) valued at 50 Fr. No examples in RD.
ex Numismatica Ars Classica NAC AG Sale 42, Lot 379, 20th November 2007, ex Barry Feirstein Collection, previously privately purchased from Harlan J. Berk.
Described as Lightly toned and good extremely fine by NAC.
21 mm. 3.11 gms. 0 degrees.

The coin would certainly seem to be scarcer than the "Common" rating given in RIC would imply. No examples in RD, only one example on acsearch (this coin). No examples on Wildwinds (the RIC 87 there would appear to be in error).

The star behind the emperor would appear to be an error. The examples with star behind the emperor tend to be rare and there are quite a few examples where a die with the star behind the emperor has been re-engraved to eliminate this star and place the star before the emperor.

The star apparently stood for his sun god, to whom the emperor was depicted sacrificing, and therefore it should have been placed before him.



Martin

 

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Very nice coin Martin. I especially like the detail on the reverse. The look on Elagabalus' face is intriguing as well. Look at the eyes. They seem to be drooping, almost as if the engraver was trying to portray his depravity (there's my imagination running wild again). Also, very interesting write-up. It made me go check my coins to see if I had an example of him sacrificing, but I don't.

 

One could build a collection of the varieties of these sacrificing types alone.

The SACERD DEI SOLIS ELAGABAL types give us the name of this emperor in the legend
There are portrait varieties which are "horned", like mine above or without the horn.
The reverse variety above with the "horn" in the right field is rare and there are more common variations of this tpe without the horn, others show a bull behind the altar.
Other reverse legends include SVMMVS SACERDOS AVG.
The emperor is shown holding a branch or a club on various types.
There are types with the addition of Standards.
Then there are also the dated types with reverse legends dated for TR P IIII and TRP V.

Martin

 

Here is a sample of what I mean from my own collection...

Obv:– IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:– INVICTVS SACERDOS AVG, Elagabalus standing holding a patera over an altar and a club. Star in left field. Bull behind the altar
Minted in Rome. A.D. 220-222
Reference– BMC 209-210. RIC 88. RSC III 61b



Obv:– IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate, horned, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:– SVMMVS SACERDOS AVG, Elagabalus standing half-left, sacraficing over a patera over an altar and holds a branch. Star in left field
Minted in Rome. A.D. 222 onwards
Reference– BMC 232. RIC 146. RSC III 276.

Remanants of star in right field. The die having been re-engraved to place the star correctly in front of the emperor.



Obv:– IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate, horned, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:– P M TR P IIII COS III P P, Elagabalus standing holding a patera over an altar and a branch. Star in left field
Minted in Rome. A.D. 221
Reference– BMC 339. RIC 177. RSC III 196

Remanants of star in right field. The die having been re-engraved to place the star correctly in front of the emperor.



Obv:– IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:– P M TR P V COS IIII P P, Elagabalus standing holding a patera over an altar and a branch. Star in left field
Minted in Rome. A.D. 222
Reference– BMC 341. RIC 181. RSC III 196



You can also see the progression of the beard over time.

 

Saw these on forvm. Nice little sub-set and good eye. I have seen a few with the star on the left with the INVICTVS SACERDOS but I tended to just dismiss them as another common variety.

Mine is pretty basic.

Everyone has seen my other one.

 

interesting bust on martins coin...looks like elagablus is puckering up for a kiss....and has 3 prominent mustache hairs.

 

What a great Elagabalus portrait! He looks positively loopy and seems to be sticking out his tongue.

 

Sweet addition, Martin ... I especially like the examples where he's horned (cool)

 

Since Martin mentioned these, I'll show them. I wonder if the star on the wrong side might have had something to do with the other type showing the emperor facing right. I do like these since they show the name ELAGABAL on the coin. This is unusual. There are no coins that read Caligula or Caracalla. What other nicknames are there?

 

Very nice!

 

Nice! I've been tempted to get a horned Elegabalus many times, just haven't for some reason yet.

 

Awesome coin Martin! I can't say I have an Elagabalus yet. That right one just hasn't popped up yet.

I really like the details on the reverse.

 

real nice coin and write up Martin!
Here is my only Elegabalus
.

 

Reviving another old thread I am afraid.

The coins with standards seem to slightly more tricky to track down than I had thought. The standards here are not like those we normally see and seem related to the Syrian cult in some way.

This coins isn't in great shape as it seems to have suffered from fire damage.

Elagabalus Denarius
Obv:- IMP ANTONINVS - PIVS AVG, laureate, horned, cuirassed and draped bust right
Rev:- P M TR P IIII COS - III P P, emperor standing l., sacrificing out of patera over altar and holding club on left, star to right, two standards to right.
Reference:- RIC 49. RSC 205.



Martin

 

Rats. Another challenge. Now I want to find one too.

 

Very interesting varieties, Martin. I have only a tangential contribution, this humble ant of Gordian III with emperor-sacrificing. The only reason I have for posting it is that I took new pictures yesterday. I have trouble imaging silver, and I've been working on my technique...

 

Sweet Elagabalus addition, Martin ... yah, that's a pretty standard-coin (nice standards)



Ummm, well if JA is gonna add-in a random offering, then I'm gonna grab onto his coat-tails and toss-in my only Elagabalus denarius, for as you all know I rarely follow standards!!

Elagabalus & Fortuna




... I hope that you're having a nice Easter weekend, Martin

Cheers

 

Can we be so sure of this....Elagabalus standing holding patera over an altar and branch.....

To me it looks like Elagabalus' Horseshoe victory...

 

Never seen that type before, very cool!

 

You don't mess around Martin, super coins, awesome!!

I have 2

Elagabalus.. 218-222 AD
Denarius,Rome.
19mmx 2.48g.



Ar Antoninianus
Rome,
22mmx 5.02g.


Roma not a happy lookin' camper!