Coin from Nicaea

It was time to purchase another coin
This nice one was delivered a view days ago.
I bought this coin for different reasons.
In the first place, I simply love this portrait of Severus Alexander. The patina makes it even more beautiful......
In the second place, it's my first coin form the interesting ancient city of Nicaea.
This city is located within the modern Turkish city of Iznik (whose modern name derives from Nicaea's).
In the third place, the reverse for me is interesting with the three standards, and especially the ones with those capricons on top. This type with the capricorns on the standards is also a bit rarer than the ones without the animals....

Always nice to see other coins from Nicaea




Severus Alexander.
Bronze of Nicaea in Bithynia.
20-21mm; 4.86g; 8h.
Obv. M AVP CЄV AΛЄΞANΔPOC AVΓ, Laureate, draped & cuirassed head right.
REv. NIKAIEΩN between 3 standards, center one with wreath, flanked on either side by standards topped with Capricorns.
Unlisted Type.

 

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I love your way with words.

Nice coin, too. The pic has the distinctive green hue that tells me it's an ex A.K. Collection coin from one of the Triton auctions (just in case you didn't already know that).

Here's one of mine from Nicaea...

MACRIANUS
AE24. 7.36g, 24.5mm. BITHYNIA, Nicaea, AD 260-261. Rec Gen 867; SNG von Aulock 733; SNG Cop 543. O: ΤΙ ΦΟΥΛ ΙΟΥ ΜΑΚΡΙΑΝΟΣ ΣΕΒ, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right. R: ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ, aerial view of the city-walls in the shape of an octagon; arched central gateways above and below.

 

The common Severus Alexander Nicaea with standards arrange the legends in various manners across the fields.


They also come in a version for Mamaea.


Styles vary but some must certainly have been unofficial.

 

Nice example, @Marsman ! I have one of the better-documented varieties of this one:


Severus Alexander, AD 222-235.
Roman provincial Æ 21.5 mm, 4.57 gm.
Bithynia, Nicaea, AD 222-235.
Obv: Μ ΑVΡ CΕV ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟC ΑV, radiate and draped bust, r., seen from behind.
Rev: ΝΙΚΑΙΕ-ΩΝ between three standards.
Refs: SNG von Aulock 634; SNG Copenhagen 520 var; Sear 3287 var. (laureate bust).

I'm not surprised the OP coin is unlisted. The major references for Nicaea are Waddington's Recueil General Des Monnaies Grecques D'Asie Mineure, The various RPC volumes (arranged by reign, not geography), Mionnet Supplement 5, SNG von Aulock, Lindgren I, and SNG Copenhagen. Nonetheless, there are a LOT of coins from this city that have yet to be described in the literature.

Here are a couple from my collection that are not in any of these to the best of my knowledge.


Plautilla, AD 202-205
Roman provincial Æ 15.8 mm, 3.08 g
Bithynia, Nicaea
Obv: ΠΛΑVΤΙΛΛΑ CEΒΑCΤΗ, bare-headed and dr. bust, right
Rev: ΝΙΚΑ-ΙΕΩΝ, Demeter standing left, holding long torch.
Refs: BMC --; Sear --; RG --; Lindgren I --; SNG von Aulock --; SNG Copenhagen --; Mionnet Suppl 5 --.


Julia Domna, AD 193-217.
Roman provincial Æ (1 assarion?) 17.6 mm, 3.78 g.
Bithynia, Nicaea, AD 193-211.
Obv: ΙΟΥΛΙΑ CΕΒΑCΤΗ, bare-headed and draped bust right.
Right: ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ, eagle standing right.
Refs: Recueil Général --; BMC --; Sear --; RG --; Lindgren I --; SNG von Aulock --; SNG Copenhagen --; Mionnet Suppl 5 --.

 

SEVERUS ALEXANDER
AE20
OBVERSE: M AVP CEVH ALEXANDROC AV, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
REVERSE: N-IK-AI-E / WN between and beneath three standards
Struck at Nicaea, 222-235 AD
3.8g, 20mm
BMC 103

 

Severus Alexander
Gordian III
Interesting reverse with big eagle

 

This was such a fine thread I thought I'd bring it back from the distant past of 2019.

These Nicaea "standards" issues are so common I never really paid much attention to them, but I just got a lot of cruddy provincials that included three of these, and I found attributing them to be both difficult and pleasurable. I also came to appreciate their provincial charm.

As Roman Collector notes above, there are a lot of varieties. RPC online shows several of them, but I have a hunch that they are only scratching the surface.

https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/search/...ight_max=&diameter_min=&diameter_max=&format=

Wildwinds has a good selection of them, including types with the reverse legend around and not between the standards. But coming up with exact matches is difficult.

Anyway, here are my three new ones - they are a bit rough, but they wound up costing about $0.86 each and kept me busy for a few hours. I decided to start attributing these with details on the reverse standards; a few on Wildwinds do this and I thought it was a good idea, since there is a lot of interesting variations here (number of "signs" and bars, what is on top, etc.).

This one seems to match one of the most common varieties:



Severus Alexander Æ 22
n.d. (c. 222-235 A.D.)
Bithynia, Nicaea
Μ ΑΥΡ CΕ[Υ(Η) ΑΛEΖ]ΑΝΔΡΟC ΑΥΓ, laureate head right / ΝI−Κ−ΑΙ−Ε / ΩΝ
between 3 legionary standards (1-1-1 badges; 2-2-2 bars each).
RPC VI, 3201 (temporary); BMC 102v.; RecGen I-III 617.
(4.12 grams / 22 x 19 mm)

This one is off-center, but after looking at a lot of these, I think you can tell if the reverse "ΩΝ" is in the exergue by the way the other letters are spaced out between the standards. This one has ribbons above the standards - at least I think that is what they are:


Severus Alexander Æ 22
n.d. (c. 222-235 A.D.)
Bithynia, Nicaea
[Μ ΑΥΡ CΕΥ(Η)]ΑΛE[ΖΑΝΔΡΟC ΑΥΓ], radiate, dr. & cuir. bust r. / ΝI−Κ−ΑΙ−Ε / [ΩΝ] between 3 legionary standards (2-2-2 badges; 1-1-1 bars, 1-1-1 ribbons (above) each).
RPC VI, 3260 (temporary).
(4.22 grams / 20 mm)

This final one has the legend around, rather than between the standards. Marsman's lovely OP is an example of this type, and he notes it as being unattributed, which after some digging, I have to agree with. RPC doesn't have one like this, although Wildwinds does, but I wasn't confident of a match. Note the legend on Marsman's finishes in the exergue; mine below does not. And so the varieties proliferate!

Furthermore, as Doug illustrates with his wonderfully "barbaric" version above, these seem to have been imitated, and I think it possible mine is an imitation, as it looks a bit "off." The nose on Severus Alexander looks like an Egyptian ibis, probably a die cud or "patina snot" (I think I invented a numismatic term!). The reverse lettering is crude - those N's look retrograde:



Patina Snot (detail):



Severus Alexander Æ 20
n.d. (c. 222-235 A.D.)
Bithynia, Nicaea
[Μ ΑΥΡ CΕΥ?]Η ΑΛEΖΑΝΔΡΟC ΑΥ, laureate head right / ΝIΚΑΙΕΩΝ around
3 legionary standards, (2-2-2 badges; 2-2-2 bars each), all three topped with crescents.
Unknown attribution; imitative?
(4.61 grams / 22 x 19 mm)

Please keep sharing your Nicaea standards. Also, any information on why these were issued - I am guessing a military campaign, but I didn't really find much online.

 

I have one example and would love to know more about the history and meaning of the standards as well.




Nicaea, Bithynia. SEVERUS ALEXANDER (222 AD) AE 19mm 5.06g

Obv; M AVΡCEV AΛEXANΔΡOC AV - laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right

Rev; NI-KA-IE-ΩN between the masts of 3 standards. Ref RG580

 

The three standard coins from Nicaea are very common and that is very interesting and very weird.

They are common in central Balkan lots (among dealers and collectors) and in Balkan excavations, in hoards and site finds (among archaeologists).

That is quite odd for a provincial city coinage. Most such coins circulated in or close to the city they were struck in. To find large numbers far away - for example, Viminacium (Kostolac, Serbia) is roughly 800 km as the crow flies and over 1000 km by road/path from Nicaea/Iznik - is extremely unusual.

Clearly something odd and special was going on. It appears that the central Balkans experienced a shortage of bronze coinage in the third century and that this was addressed in several "innovative" ways, one of which involved the Nicaea coins.

In the first couple of decades of the third century cast forgeries were common - limes denarii (copper-alloy casts of contemporary or near-contemporary silver denarii) and larger limes falsa consisting of lighter weight casts of asses, dupondii and sestertii.

The in the next decades of the third century we see large numbers of Nicaea coins imported from that far away city. So many that one has to wonder whether Nicaea was engaged in some sort of for-profit minting and export of its local coinage. I don't think any other city repeats this pattern.

Then the Nicaea types were replaced by the PMS COL VIM and COLONIA DACIA bronzes. Finally, the massive numbers of small base metal antoninaii of the 260s-270s meets local needs - though even these include imitations.

 

It's a certain period - the early 200s to around 230 - that you see the middle and lower Danube area importing massive quantities of Nicaea coinage. At first it might seem weird, but there are things to be taken under consideration:

1. although the Severan period is very copious in silver denarii, copper-based coinage from the Imperial mint remains scarce at least until the 220s throughout the Roman world

2. on the limes silver and golds tends to be hoarded and/or repurposed rather than kept as currency, which only adds to the coinage penury

3. Nicaea did seem to mint A LOT; to get a scale, even rare occurrences such as Alexander Caesar are not that rare from Nicaea and rather well spread out.

This specimen for instance comes from a collection gathered around western Pannonia-Raetia and is orichalcum rather than the regular copperish alloy. Why didn't these provinces get their much-needed cash from Moesia Inferior, which had its peak in coin-minting during the Severan period, but rather went for the Bythinian coinage of Nicaea and why did Nicaea mint so much during the late Severan period remains something of a mystery.



Here is a post I made last year about Alexander Caesar from Nicaea.

 

Heres the only Nicaea I have right now:

Geta Eros/Thanatos

 

I have no coins from Nicaea but only last week bought my first Roman Provincial so this has been a good thread.

@Marsman your example is remarkable for its fabulous portrait of Severus Alexander and overall condition. I'll look for others like this but I fear I'll be disappointed.

 

Thank you for sharing this information - this is indeed an unusual situation. The replacement by the Viminacium types is interesting as well - another very, very common Roman Provincial type. And also a type with a clear military design.

 

Very interesting information. Sorry I missed that thread you linked - I must've misspelt something when I was searching.

The only other "Standards" issue I had before the three I shared above is also brassy in color, rather than copper (it looks very brassy in hand - my photos dulled the color some).


Severus Alexander Æ 18
n.d. (c. 222-235 A.D.)
Bithynia, Nicaea
Μ ΑΥΡ CΕΥ ΑΛΕ[ΞΑΝΔΡΟC ΑΥ Γ], radiate, draped & cuir. bust right / Ν-ΙΚ−ΑΙ−Ε / ΩΝ between 3 legionary standards (1-2-1 badges; 2-1-2 bars each).
RPC VI, 3201 (temporary); RecGen I-III 617.
(3.83 grams / 18 mm)

 

Only 18mm? That’s rather small for a radiate. I also have a Alex that is 20mm, laureate. Wish we knew what the denominations were

 

Not sure if the obv features a lamination flaw or just a break in the patina.

 

Maybe it is Elagabalus and not Severus Alexander; the Elagabalus with standards type from Nicaea always has the letters NIKAIEΩN in one line between the standards.

 

On Roman provincial coins from Nicaea, Latin and Greek letters and forms (e.g. V instead of Y) are mixed.

Severus Alexander, Bithynia, Nicaea, 222 - 235 AD
17 x 19 mm, 4.082 g
RPC VI, 3201; Receuil General 617; BMC 102; Weiser 30; SNG Copenhagen 520

Ob.: Μ ΑVΡ CEVΗ ΑΛEΞΑΝΔΡΟC ΑVΓ laureate head right
Rev.: Ν-ΙΚ-ΑΙ-E/ΩΝ spelled out between 3 military standards

​

 

I can see why you`d say that and correctly so however in my example the Obverse lettering that can be seen, - ANΔΡOC AV and the bust type does compare more favourably with Severus Alexander and not Elagabalus and in fact I have found a better attribution match thanks to your comments:- BMC 103v Sear GIC 3287
http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/severus_alexander/_nicaea_AE21_BMC_103v.txt

 

In the meantime, I added two more coins from Nicaea:
Caracalla

Gordian III

I found on the Internet these material with illustrations of different reverse variants on Nicaea coins.