I'm pleased as punch to have been the successful bidder on this denarius from today's Naumann auction. Happily there was little competition. I, like @dougsmit and @maridvnvm, am interested in the eastern mint issues of this empress. The reverse features Liberalitas, the personification of the Roman virtue of generosity, whom I discussed a few years back. Liberalitas is depicted on coins as a female figure wearing a modius on her head and holding a tessera in one hand and a cornucopiae in the other. The tessera was a square tablet furnished with a handle, on which was arrayed a certain number of holes or compartments. These boards were used to quickly count the proper number of coins for distribution. In years past, Emesa was thought to have been the place of mintage. In recent years, however, this has been reexamined and any number of cities in Syria have been proposed, including the possibility of a traveling mint. It's best to defer judgment at this time and simply assign it to an uncertain eastern mint. The coin bears Julia's earliest obverse legend, IVLIA DOMNA AVG, in use until AD 196, when it was supplanted by IVLIA AVGVSTA. Julia Domna, AD 193-217. Roman AR denarius, 2.94 g, 19 mm, 12 h. Uncertain eastern mint, AD 193-196. Obv: IVLIA DOMNA AVG, bare-headed and draped bust of Julia Domna, right. Rev: LIBERAL AVG, Liberalitas, draped, standing left, holding tessera in right hand and cornucopiae in left. Refs: RIC 627; BMCRE 418-419; Cohen/RSC 103; RCV 6591; CRE 366. Post your Severan coins of the "Emesa" mint, coins depicting Liberalitas, or anything you feel is relevant!
Fantastic acquisition! Julia’s coins of the East exhibit such wonderful detail and this one is a great example. Her hair bun detail is great and the legend being fully legible (on both sides!) is always a nice find! I agree with your assessment today’s Naumann auction was pretty uncompetitive ... except for 1 of the 2 I snagged (just my luck! ). To include some coins in my reply, here’s what I snagged today: MARCUS AURELIUS (161-180). Denarius. Rome. Obv: IMP M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG. Bare head right. Rev: CONCORD AVG TR P XV / COS III. Concordia seated left on throne, holding patera and resting elbow upon statuette of Spes; cornucopia below throne. RIC 2. Condition: Extremely fine. Weight: 3.41 g. Diameter: 17 mm. AURELIAN (270-275). Antoninianus. Serdica. Obv: IMP C AVRELIANVS INVICTVS AVG. Radiate and cuirassed bust right. Rev: RESTITVT ORBIS / KA•Γ•. Female figure, holding wreath, and Aurelian, holding sceptre, standing facing one another. RIC V online 2760. Condition: Near extremely fine. Weight: 4.45 g. Diameter: 29 mm. The Aurelian was quite a battle, I can’t really opine on a reason why as my numismatic knowledge is limited to “oh that’s pretty I like it!” but I was surprised. Only thing I can think is this is a chonky coin at 4.45g and 29mm
@Roman Collector.....Nice pick up with good detail..Congrats! I really do like the Eastern mint portrait styles, especially Geta, but have yet to pull the trigger on one yet...I do have a few Liberalitas though..
One I can contribute to! This was a gift from @dougsmit. He is one of the reasons I reached out into this avenue of the hobby, so I thank him for that. Septimus Severus - Denarius. Emesa. 3.38g Obv: IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG COS II. Laureate head right. Rev: BONA SPES Spes standing. Does anyone know what shes holding? I had trouble finding really anything about this reverse.
@Evan Saltis......Spes is Holding a flower and lifting her skirt.https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ae...s_scarce_mint_and_reverse/885448/Default.aspx
Nice coin and one I do not have! I will show my two most rare coins from this mint. Venus is not rare but these two spell out the reverse legend VICTRICI rather than abbreviating it VICTR. The second one substitutes B for R in both words. Did you notice that my two coins share the same obverse die? Did you notice that yours does, too. Note that little 'thing' floating over Julia's head. I see one thing that differs and would be interested in opinions on what happened here. The lower part of the L in IVLIA on both of my coins almost touches the I but there is more separation on yours. What the die reworked? Which was struck first? Can we find other coins using this die? Such questions define my hobby rather than gathering in mint state coins with no concern about such trivia. I hope you will be happy with that coin in your collection for many decades to come.
Thank you so much, @dougsmit, for contributing to this thread, particularly in demonstrating the die-linkage between your coins and mine. Fascinating stuff, indeed! This one reads VICTOR, though the die is filled in such that it almost looks like VICTOP: Julia Domna, AD 193-217. Roman AR denarius, 3.58 gm, 16.8 mm. Emesa, AD 193-196. Obv: JULIA DOMNA AVG, bare-headed and draped bust, right. Rev: VENER VICTOR, Venus, naked to waist, standing r., holding apple and palm, resting l. elbow on column. Refs: RIC-633; Cohen-189. That -- along with the oblong O in DOMNA -- is characteristic of this die. Among the two specimens at acsearchinfo, the three at the British Museum, the specimen at Wildwinds, and the two others at OCRE, there is only one other example of this obverse die with the LIBERAL AVG reverse, BMCRE 419: None of these five share the same reverse die as mine. I imagine that my coin would have had to have been struck before yours, because one can easily explain an engraver extending the horizontal bar of the L, but I can't think of a way it could be shortened (I don't think a filled die would look like this). That sounds like a fun project to do (perhaps @maridvnvm has already done so). I have a few others from this mint, none of which share dies with this coin or with each other: I, too, get much joy from exploring questions such as die-linkage and reconstructing chronological sequences. I am sure the coin will hold my interest for decades to come.
I have this small, non-silver, Radiate Gordie with the Liberalitas reverse. After some discussion and thought, I believe this is what's called a "light dupondius," which was about the size of an ant, but not silvered.
Great stuff on this thread @Roman Collector. I'm loving the Liberalitas. Here are three Severan denarii minted in the East from my collection, one of which is Liberalitas to keep with both themes. Julia Domna. AR denarius, Emesa, 193–6/7 CE; 2.92g. BMCRE S424 var., RIC S632 var., RSC 194 var. Obv: • – IVLA [sic] DO–MNA AVG; draped bust r. Rx: VENER–I – V–ICTR; Venus, naked to waist, standing r. with back to spectator and resting l. elbow on column, holding apple and palm over l. shoulder. Die duplicate of SEV-470 in The Barry P. Murphy Collection of Severan Denarii. ---------------------------------------- Julia Domna. AR denarius, Emesa, ca. 193–6/7 CE; 2.77g. BMCRE W422, RIC S630, RSC 188a. Obv: IVLIA DO–MNA AVG; draped bust r. Rx: VENER – VICT; Venus, draped, standing front, head l., holding apple and scepter. Rare; 7 in Reka Devnia, recorded by Mouchmov as a variant of Cohen 191. ex Elvira E. Clain-Stefanelli Collection ---------------------------------------- Severus Alexander. AR denarius, Eastern, 222–8 CE; 3.71g. BMCRE 1043–7, RIC 281, RSC 108b. Obv: IMP C M AVR SEV ALEXAND AVG; laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust r. Rx: LIBERALITAS AVG; Liberalitas standing front (or half-l.), head l., holding coin counter and cornucopia.
I have had a few Liberalitas type for Domna. Here are a couple. Obv:– IVLIA DOMNA AVG, Draped bust right Rev:– LIBERAL . AVG, Liberalitas standing left, holding abacus in right hand, cornucopiae in left Minted in Emesa, A.D. 194-195 References:– BMCRE pg. 102, RIC 627, RSC 103 I also have this odd barbarous issue Obv:– IVLIA DO-MNA AVG, Draped bust right, hair tied in bun behind Rev:– LIBE-RI AVG, Liberalitas seated left, holding accounting board and cornucopiae Barbarous mint
Well, it ain't pretty, but I've wanted a Julia Domna Liberalitas denarius ever since I saw that they existed. So I am resurrecting this thread to tag in. Here is mine - I think it got squashed somewhere down the line, but it was $10 and I really wanted the type, so I went for it. In this case, I think it looks better in the photo than in hand! Julia Domna Denarius (c. 193-196 A.D.) Emesa/Uncertain Eastern Mint IVLIA DO[MNA AV]G, draped bust right / LIBERAL AVG, Liberalitas, draped, standing left, holding tessera and cornucopiae. RIC 627; BMCRE 418-419; Cohen/RSC 103; RCV 6591. (3.00 grams / 18 mm)
