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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 8178255, member: 110350&quot;]I actually have four varieties of Trajan camel coins, but have written up only two of them, including the one I posted above in this thread with a Bactrian camel on the reverse.&nbsp; Here are the obverses and reverses of all four together: the two denarii on the top, and the two drachms on the bottom.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1429421[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1429422[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Note that the denarius on the top left has an abbreviation in the reverse exergue referring to the acquisition of Arabia (<i>ARAB ADQ = Arabia adquisita</i>); the one on the top right does not. Hence, the one on the right seems to have been minted earlier. See Bernhard E. Woytek and Kevin Butcher, <i>The Camel Drachms of Trajan in Context: Old Problems and a New Overstrike</i>, The Numismatic Chronicle Vol. 175 (2015), pp. 117-136 at p. 117. (<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43859784" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43859784" rel="nofollow">https://www.jstor.org/stable/43859784</a>). The article narrows down the dates of the various types at p. 118:</p><p><br /></p><p>“The reverse design of the imperial coins celebrating the annexation of Arabia differs markedly from the iconography of the Dacia capta coinage, in a structural respect. While the latter shows bound captives or the mourning Dacia as well as heaps of arms, the image of Arabia is a peaceful one: she is depicted standing to the left, holding a branch of a local plant, probably of the myrrh- or frankincense-tree, in the right hand and a bundle of <i>calamus odoratus</i> [a/k/a <i>acorus odoratus</i>; see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorus_calamus" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorus_calamus" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acorus_calamus</a>] in her left arm . Her attributes, local products widely known and used in the Roman world, convey a notion of the cultural and economic importance of the newly acquired territory. But the coins also depict the region’s iconic animal: to the left of the personification, there is a one humped Arabian camel. This depiction of Arabia and a camel not only occurs on imperial coins displaying some abbreviated form of the legend <i>Arabia adquisita</i> in the exergue, but also on Trajanic aureus and denarius types where the personification is unlabelled. The type seems to have been introduced on these unlabelled issues, which may broadly be dated to the years AD 108‒110, while the coins displaying an explanatory legend in the exergue were issued by the mint of Rome from about AD 111 to 112/113. [In the earlier issues] . . .&nbsp; the entire camel is to be seen to the left of the personification of the new province . . ., while later the animal is always partly hidden behind Arabia, and only its forepart (and the two forelegs) are visible.”</p><p><br /></p><p>And indeed, all four legs of the camel are visible on the top right, earlier denarius, as compared to only the two front legs of the camel on the top left, later denarius. However, I have no doubt that a camel was still intended on the later coin (not an ostrich!), given the clearly visible hump and (in my opinion) the camel-shaped head.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for the so-called &quot;camel drachms&quot; showing a two-humped Bactrian camel, like mine on the bottom left, posted earlier in this thread, those are addressed extensively in the Woytek &amp; Butcher article, with the authors concluding based primarily on stylistic reasons that they were minted not in Arabia Bostra but elsewhere, presumably in Rome or Antioch, etc.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for drachms like the one on the bottom right, with a reverse depicting the figure of Arabia with a small camel by her side, akin to the denarii in the top row, Woytek &amp; Butcher state the following at pp. 18-19 of the cited article:</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Under Trajan, at least six different types of silver coins with Greek legends in two denominations were produced for Arabia: not only two different types of drachms (one of them in three successive issues), which continued the preferred silver denomination of the Nabataeans, but also four types of larger silver coins with a target weight of about 10.6g, probably light tetradrachms. The earliest of all these issues ‒ and indeed the only ‘Arabian’ issue struck during Trajan’s fifth consulship (AD 103‒111) ‒ were larger silver coins copying the reverse type of the imperial issues celebrating the annexation of Arabia, described above. These coins are of fine Roman style and consistently show a die-axis of c. 6 o’clock. The</p><p>portrait type of the tetradrachms corresponds to portrait type D, according to the nomenclature of Trajanic coin portraits as laid out in one of these authors’ recently published systematic study of Trajan’s imperial coinage. This portrait type seems to have been introduced in c. AD 109, so that the Arabian tetradrachms featuring the personification of the province can be dated to c. AD 109‒11. They may thus be seen to have been issued concurrently with the earliest imperial issues depicting Arabia. Find evidence proves that these provincial silver coins circulated in the Levant.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>The theory that these drachms were issued concurrently with the earlier Arabia &amp; camel denarii is, I think, supported by the fact that (like those denarii), the drachms show all four legs of the small camel standing next to Arabia. At least, mine does!</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is a photo of my example of these drachms. As I mentioned, no write-up yet!</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1429438[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is my equivalent &quot;early&quot; Arabia &amp; camel denarius:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1429439[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The write-up:&nbsp; Trajan AR Denarius, AD 108-110, Rome mint. Obv. Laureate bust right, drapery over left shoulder, IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P / Rev. Arabia standing left wearing long hooded cloak, holding branch of myrrh or frankincense with right hand and bundle of cinnamon sticks (or <i>calamus odoratus</i>; see fn.) with left hand; at her feet to left, an entire Arabian (one-humped) camel walking left, COS V P P S P Q R OPTIMO PRINC. RIC II (old) 142, RSC II 89 (ill p. 86). 19 mm., 3.40 g. [Footnote re date of issue, citing Woytek &amp; Butcher, omitted.]</p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, the later type of denarius with the reference to Arabia in the reverse exergue (<i>ARAB ADQ</i>), and only the camel&#039;s front legs showing. No write-up. (Dealer&#039;s photo; I haven&#039;t tried myself yet except in the group photo.)</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1429440[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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