Crisis Coinage and the Many Faces of Probus

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Ronalovich, Dec 1, 2021.

  1. maridvnvm

    maridvnvm Well-Known Member

    The use of bust types seems to vary mint by mint and issue by issue within those mints.

    Antioch and Tripolis only used Draped and cuirassed busts.

    The first four issues of Lugdunum only use cuirassed busts seen from the front. The fifth issue introduced a whole range of more elaborate busts. This issue was produced to celebrate the victorious return through Lugdunum after his battles in Gaul. The mint then generally returns to more normal bust type but with slightly more variation than before with emissions six to nine being primarily Cuirassed busts seen from the front, Draped and cuirassed seen from the rear and Draped and cuirassed seen from the front. In these later issues there are some exceptions such as Cuirassed bust seen from the rear is seen on a single obverse die and there are small numbers of the more elaborate busts seen in the later issues but these coins are generally much scarcer than the standard output.

    Here we have the typical obverse of the earlier issues at Lugdunum. A cuirassed bust seen from the front where the visible cuirass is quite minimal. This should be compared to the same bust from the latter issues where much more cuirass is visible. It is this stylistic "tell" that allows to distinguish otherwise identical coins and attribute them to the correct emission.

    [​IMG]

    Here is a later Cuirassed bust seen from the front with the same reverse type. The bust style alone here allows us to place the coins before Issue 5 or after Issue 5.

    [​IMG]

    Here are some draped and cuirassed busts from front and rear produced side by side in the same officina in the same emission with the same reverse type.

    Rear
    [​IMG]
    Front
    [​IMG]

    As was mentioned the Cuirassed bust does occur rarely from the rear but is

    The standard Cuirassed from front
    [​IMG]
    The single obverse die known from the rear
    [​IMG]

    The "elaborate busts" do occur in later issues. I have to apologise in advance as my examples are of poor quality. These are allocated to the later issues rather than to Emission 5 by analysis such as the reverse type was introduced in a later emission and not used in emission 5 and even by reverse die matching. This allocation is published in the Bastien volume that covers these issues.

    Emission 8 - Radiate cuirassed bust left with spear over right shoulder
    [​IMG]
    Emission 8 - Radiate bust left wearing imperial mantle, holding Victory on globe in right hand
    [​IMG]

    I don't have any emission 9 exceptions to the standard busts which are more obvious as their reverses change to A, B, C and D as officina marks rather than I, II, III and IIII used in the previous 8 emissions.
     
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  3. zadie

    zadie Well-Known Member

    Wonderful write-up Ronny! I can't contribute much personally unfortunately but this has been lovely to read
     
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  4. maridvnvm

    maridvnvm Well-Known Member

    Another interesting question about bust types that had me struggling in my early days collecting Probus was driven by my assumption, which I later found out to be incorrect, that RIC was accurate with the description of come of the common bust types and in particular what it refers to as Bust type A and Bust Type C.

    Bust type A - Radiate, draped bust
    Bust type C - Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust

    It is probably worth trying to explain how these bust types differ before we continue. The only difference between these busts is the existence of the Pteruges at the shoulder. These are evident as the strips seen at the shoulder. These can be seen at 6 o'clock on the example of Bust Type C below.

    [​IMG]

    RIC is quite abundant in allocating coins to each of these bust types but in reality the vast majority of coins are such that the Pteruges are too worn to be visible leading to a misallocation of a coins that is Bust Type C to Bust Type A.

    So my next question was - "Do coins actually exist with Bust Type A?". The answer turned out to be "Yes.". Bust Type A, i.e. coins without the Pteruges do seem to exist but I have only seen a few examples, all of which come from Siscia such as the coins below.. On these coins the condition is such that the lack of visible Pteruges cannot be put down to wear.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Do people really care? Probably not. It is worth knowing though as finding a coin with Pteruges that is cited in RIC as not having them is very common and as such a novice collector might think they have found something more unusual but in reality they are suffering from the fact that RIC is poor in this regard.
     
    Last edited: Dec 3, 2021
  5. Tejas

    Tejas Well-Known Member

    Wow ... thanks a lot for the information on the development of the bust styles. Very interesting.


    Here is a recent acquisition of mine. I like the bust a lot. I always wondered where this helmet style comes from and if there are actual real life examples. I know that this strange helmet can also be found on coins of Gallienus, but I can't recall seeing it anywhere before Gallienus.

    Screenshot 2021-12-03 at 17.06.44.png
     
  6. Ronalovich

    Ronalovich Member

    I'm not exactly sure, but this helmet has always reminded me of the Pseudo-Corinthian helmet from the Roman Republic.
    [​IMG]
    It doesn't seem quite accurate to this, but it definitely looks to be based off of a Corinthian helmet. Maybe like the radiate crown, it was just a piece of iconography used on the coinage and it didn't actually exist. I would think that any high officer and certainly the emperor could get a custom made helmet like this one, though.
     
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  7. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    As I read the account, Probus was not killed by people who objected to doing labor but by soldiers who he told would no longer be needed by the Empire because they were running out of enemies. Whatever the job, people like to feel they are needed and important not to mention having job security. Telling professionals with swords that they will soon be unemployed is a dangerous management decision. Soldiers in that day were compensated in part by being given the freedom to sack and pillage defeated enemies. They did not look forward to the end of that system.
     
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