Aurelian, Alexandria, Year 1

Nice bunch of coins, Martin! And those 2 RY1's are beautiful!


Aurelian, with Vaballathus, AD 270-275
AE Tetradrachm, Egypt, Alexandria
Dated RY 1 of Aurelian and RY 4 of Vaballathus, Struck 270/271 AD
Obverse: AK Λ D M AVPHΛIANOC CEB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Aurelian right, date LA at right, RY 1.
Reverse: IACO VABAΛΛAΘOC AΘHNO VA C P, laureate, diademed, and draped bust of Vaballathus right, wearing paludamentum and cuirass; L-Δ across field, RY 4.
References: Emmett 3914.1&4, Dattari 5422
Size: 21mm, 7.5g
Ex: The Reverend Willis McGill Collection (McGill was an American missionary stationed in Egypt, who started collecting there during World War I)

I have one much like yours!!!
Aurelian, Ruled 270-275 AD
AE Tetradrachm, Alexandria, Egypt
Struck Year 4, 272/273 AD
Obverse: A K Λ ΔOM AVPHΛIANOC CEB, Laureate, cuirassed bust right.
Reverse: Eagle standing left, head left, wreath in beak, Δ / L (RY 4 = 272/273 AD) in left field, star in right field.
References: (Savio) 5470-1; Milne 4381-2; Emmett 3922.4
Size: 21mm, 7.73g
Ex: The Bing Collection (February, 2019)


Aurelian, Ruled 270-275 AD
AE Tetradrachm, Egypt, Alexandria
Struck 272/273 AD
Obverse: A K Λ ΔOM AVPHΛIANOC CЄB, laureate and cuirassed bust right, slight drapery on shoulder.
Reverse: Eagle standing right, holding wreath in beak; star to upper left, date LΔ in right field (year 4=272/273 AD).
References: Emmett 3928, Dattari 5481, Köln 3074
Ex: Naville Numismatics, Auction 49, Lot #203 (5-12-2019)


Aurelian, Ruled 270-175 AD
AE Tetradrachm, Egypt, Alexandria
Struck 273/274 AD
Obverse: A K Λ ΔOM AVPHΛIANOC CEB, laureate and cuirassed bust right.
Reverse: Eagle standing facing wings open, head right, holding wreath in beak, ЄTOVC Є to right and left, RY 5.
References: Emmett 3924, Dattari 5490
Size: 20mm, 8.4g


Aurelian, Ruled 270-275 AD
AE Tetradrachm, Egypt, Alexandria
Struck 274/275 AD
Obverse: A K Λ ΔOM AVPHΛIANOC CEB, laureate and cuirassed bust right.
Reverse: Eagle standing left, head right, holding wreath in beak, ЄTOVC – S to right and left, RY 6.
References: Emmett 3924, Köln 3096
Size: 21.8mm, 8.3g

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

So, I finally got time to read this article.

I was looking to find out who held Alexandria when these Aurelian year one eagle coins were minted. Was it the short time that Aurelian was in control of the city in 270 (makes sense), or where they minted when Alexandria was under the control of Zabdas occupying the city for Vabalathus/Zenobia before minting the Vabalathus/Aurelian year 4/1 coins?

The paper lays out the timeline well but does not seem to directly comment on who was in charge when these were minted. Common sense seems to say that they were minted under Aurelian before the city was re-occupied by Zabdas.

Here's some quotes from the paper laying out the timeline in regards to these coins:

• Autumn 270 - Zabdas invades Egypt, probably shortly after Aurelian’s accession in October. The Roman governor Tenagino Probus briefly regains control of the province but is defeated and killed by the Palmyrenes in December 270. Mint of Alexandria strikes coins in names of Aurelian year 1 and Vabalathus.
• Zenobia’s general Zabdas conquered Egypt at about this time (October 270). Some of the sources (Zonaras 12.27, Syncellus 721; Dodgeon and Lieu 1991, pp. 86-8; Peachin 1983, p. 327, Watson 1999, pp. 61-2) place the Palmyrene invasion of Egypt early in Aurelian’s reign, although others (Zosimus 1.44, Historia Augusta, Claudius 11.1; Dodgeon and Lieu 1991, pp. 86-7) incorrectly place it in Claudius’s reign. Tenagino Probus, the Governor of Egypt and loyal to Aurelian, briefly regained Alexandria from the Palmyrenes in about November, before the Palmyrenes recaptured it, with support from within the city. Zabdas’s army subsequently defeated Tenagino Probus’s force, and Probus committed suicide (Watson 1999, pp. 62-3).
  
• The papyri provide more precise dating evidence for these events: documents from 12 October to 11 November 270 are dated according to ‘the consuls of the current year’, suggesting some confusion as to who was in authority, while twopapyri dated respectively to between 7 and 15 December and 27 December 270 and 25 January 271 are dated to Aurelian’s year one and Vabalathus, suggesting that the Palmyrenes had defeated Tenagino Probus by 15 December 270 (Rathbone 1986, p. 123).
• Aurelian’s reign began with a small issue of coins in his sole name dated Year 1 (September - c.December 270), and was succeeded by an issue with year one of Aurelian and no regnal year for Vabalathus (c.December 270 – c.March 271), followed by another in the names of Aurelian and Vabalathus dated Years 1 and 4 (c.March 271 - 28 August 271
• It seems that initally the Egyptian authorities placed Aurelian’s dies imperii after the start of the New Year on 29 August 270, and that coins were issued on this reckoning firstly for Aurelian alone (Year 1), then for Aurelian and Vabalathus (in Aurelian’s Years 1 and 2, December 270 - spring 272)...

With these comments, it seems that these year 1 sole Aurelian eagle coins were minted in October/November - early December 270 when Aurelian's forces controlled the city before Zabdas gained control back in December, then minting of the Vabalathus/Aurelian coins began.

Do I have this right? Thoughts?