Eastern mint Domna Denarius

A new purchase. This one was formerly attributed to Emesa, but the exact location of the eastern mint has been called into question, and the British Museum now classifies it as "minted in: Eastern Roman Empire."

Post your Emesa/Eastern Domna coins or anything you feel is relevant!


Julia Domna, AD 193-217.
Roman AR denarius, 3.40 g, 17 mm, 12 h.
Eastern mint, AD 194-195.
Obv: IVLIA DO MNA AVG, bare-headed and draped bust, right.
Rev: BONA SPES, Spes standing left, holding flower and lifting fold of skirt.
Refs: RIC 614; BMCRE 412-13; Cohen/RSC 8; RCV 6575; CRE 387.

 

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We have been calling these "Emesa" as opposed to Emesa for a while now. Mattingly had poor reason for the city name but the new workers are no better and just claim Mattingly was wrong. I am not convinced that there is an answer and that the mint was not travelling with the Emperor on his campaigns. I can't prove that either.
Ten (the CT limit) assorted "Emesa":

 

Some of mine...

 

Those who like to play should look for die matches in the coins posted so far in this thread. There are several. I wish we had a terminology we could use to refer to a few of the common dies we see so often. This post may make these things seem common but CT has a few members whose fondness for these things borders on compulsive and outnumbers what is shown in RIC. We each have types the others lack but we overlap a lot. Usually, when there are a couple dozen coins posted with several die matches, it is a sign that the coins are not numerous. The last die shown in Maridvnvm's group is one of my favorites. I would really like to know how many coins and how many reverses using it survive.

 

I have this aditional one from that last obverse die.

BONI EVEVTVS (S corrected from C)

 

JULIA DOMNA
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: IVLIA AVGVSTA, draped bust right
REVERSE: L-AETI-TIA, Laetitia standing left, holding wreath in right hand, anchor in left
Struck at Laodicea, 198-202AD
2.0g, 18mm
RIC IV 641

 

Domna looks exasperated, like she just finished giving a big eyeroll .

 

Being First Lady probably had its ups and downs in 193-194 as it has in each of the times since.

Which of our coins was struck first?


It was an easy mistake for a Greek language cutter. I wish we had one from that die 'before' as well as 'after'.

 

Fun coin RC! Your OP coin has the guess of a thoroughly ticked off empress!
I'll bite, Doug. Despite them both having wear from usage, yours appears a little crisper, possibly from a fresher die?
Here's one of my favorite Domnas:

JuliaDomna,Augusta
194 - 8 April 217 A.D.
Silver denarius, weight 2.745 g,
maximum diameter 18.4
m, Emesa (Homs, Syria) mint, 193 -
196 A.D.; obverseIVLIA DOMNA AVG,
draped bust right, hair in waved
horizontal ridges, bun at back
of head; reverse VENERI
VICTR, Venus standing right with
back turned facing, nude to below the
buttocks, resting left elbow on waiste
high column, transverse palm frond in
left hand, apple in extended right
hand; RIC IV S632; RSC III 194;
scarce;

 

@Ryro,
I believe that your coin is actually

Obv:– IVLIA DOMNA AVG, Draped bust right
Rev:– VENER VICTOR, Venus standing left, holding apple in right hand, sceptre in left
Minted in Rome. A.D. 193-196
Reference:– BMCRE 423. RIC IV 633 (Rated scarce). RSC 189

Similar, but different dies to mine.



The VENERI VICTR come with a range of different obverse dies
Similar yet not quite the same as the one Doug likes above:-

Similar in style to your and mine

and quite different (I find the style of this obverse die more refined) (added to more from the same die for comparison)

 

@dougsmit
We have more chance of placing some chronology around your EVENTVC because it has a very useful die break evident on the E at 10 o'clock on the reverse. Plotting the progression of this die break would be great fun.

I have one certainly struck before it as it doesn't show any evidence of the die break. It comes with the AVG . CO obverse die variety.



Both my other examples come from the same AVG II CO obverse die as yours.
I suspect this one to be struck slightly earlier than yours as the die break doesn't seem to have made it completely into the border of dots

I suspect this to be struck slightly later than yours as the die break has extended further into the lower part of the E


I find it hard to place the BM example in sequence possibly between both of mine but before Doug's? I say this as the break doesn't seem to quite reach the E.

 

A couple more of my "Emesa" Domna denarii:

 

Following the progression of a die break is useful in establishing the order of the dies used for the other side of the coin and can be fun if you have access to enough material. This is a kind of 'flyspecking' (discussed in another thread currently running) that has nothing to do with RIC numbers. Order of striking is assumed when dealing with coins bearing COS, TRP etc. numbers but most of our series requires digging deeper to root out the fun. Of course we also have to address the possibilities that several dies were used side by side but not always with the same mate. My preferred theory is that each night the two dies were separated and secured so no one had access to both dies for after hours counterfeiting. That can not be proved but fits the observation that some dies are known to have been used with several different reverses. To study this we really need to find a hoard of several thousand of these coins and have the money to support the effort. Neither is likely to happen.

A few more Venus reverses show variations common and no so common. I rarely buy these anymore now that there are more collectors interested in the series than there was twenty years ago.

 

That IVLA (sic) die is quite distinctive too.


Which is conveniently reverse die linked with the COS II issues of Septimius linking these issues together. This reverse misread in RIC as MONETA II AVG. I have it as MONETA .. AVG

 

BMCRE S424 var., RIC S632 var., RSC 194 var.
This one is an obverse die link with Doug's example with a similar reverse, and with @maridvnvm's FELICIT TEMPOR with basket of grain (I love that coin, btw. Don't have one, though!). It's also a die duplicate of an example in the British Museum.

Interesting to know that this obverse die was used with least three different reverse dies/types.

There seems to be a damnatio across Ceres. Bad harvest or infertility maybe?

––––––––––––––

BMCRE W422, RIC S630, RSC 188a (C 191 var).

ex E. E. Clain-Stefanelli Collection.

––––––––––––––
BMCRE p. 102 †, RIC S616a, RSC 13a.

This one has an obverse legend error: • – IVLA [sic] DO–MNA AVG. It's a die duplicate of SEV-470 in The Barry P. Murphy Collection of Severan Denarii.

 

Have you ever seen a die link with a Domna and a SS IMP coin?

 

Apparently there are at least two II COS reverses of SS IMP that also occur for Domna.

 

If I see correctly, one of Maridvnum's eastern Juliae Domnae and my own, though not die matches, share a somewhat oddly shaped obverse legend. Note the position of the "O" highlighted in the pictures below. Just coincidence or the same engraver with a peculiar habit of placing the letters?

 

I would like to think that they are from the same engraver.

 

Here are mine from "Emesa"/Eastern: