First of 2017--Gordian III marriage issue from Anchialus; rare reverse type

Bought my first coin of the year, a marriage issue of Gordian III and Tranquillina. I am a sucker for these marriage issue types of the imperial couple. There must have been a huge hoard of these from Anchialus found because they are plentiful and in remarkable condition.

This one, however, portrays a right-facing Athena on the reverse, which is described in the literature, but is not to be found at acsearch.info, v-coins, Wildwinds, or in the CNG archives. It is not in Moushmov or the BMC.

In contrast, examples of the coin with a mirror-image of the coin's reverse (Athena standing l. with spear in her left hand) are readily found (Moushmov 2938).

Anyway, I'll shut up and get on with posting the coin! Poor Tranquillina, nose obliterated by the "centration" dimple, as is Athena's belly!

Feel free to post photos and tales of any coins you find relevant!


Gordian III, with Tranquillina
Roman provincial Ӕ 27 Tetrassarion
Thrace, Anchialus, AD 238-244
12.97g, 27mm, 7h
Obv: AVT K M ANT ΓOPΔIANOC AVΓ CԐB TPANKVΛ/ΛEINA, laureate and draped bust of Gordian right, facing diademed and draped bust of Tranquillina left.
Rev: OVΛΠIANWN AΓXIAΛEWN, Athena standing facing, head right, holding inverted spear and resting on shield.
Refs: Varbanov 748.

This will make a fine companion to my coin with Athena seated left.


Gordian III, with Tranquillina
Roman provincial Ӕ 30 Tetrassarion
Thrace, Anchialus, AD 238-244
Obv: AVT K M ANT ΓOPΔIANOC AVΓ CEB TPAN/KVΛΛINA, laureate and draped bust of Gordian right, facing diademed and draped bust of Tranquillina left.
Rev: OVΛΠIANWN AΓXIAΛE/WN, Athena enthroned l., holding patera and scepter; shield at base of throne.
Refs: AMNG II (Strack) 662 var. (obv. legend); Moushmov 2937; Varbanov 750 var. (obv. legend).
Coin is an obverse and reverse die match to the following coins: lot 275, CNG e-auction 352, June 3, 2015; lot 1307, Peus auction 369, Oct 31, 2001; lot 1775, Gorny & Mosch Giessener auction 241, Oct 10-12, 2016.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Nice coin! I do not place a lot of value in rarity claims based on whether or not a coin is listed in some work. It is equally possible that a one of a kind coin happened to be in a certain collection so was known to the author/cataloger as it is it a collection happened to be missing a type that was found by the hundreds and deposited in a different museum. Like yours, my examples show how random placement of the dimple can be more or less fortunate from a collector's standpoint. One of mine wipes out Gordian; another Tranquillina. The first one is off center enough that you can see the concentric scrapings that centered on the dimple.

 

nice!

i dig these, but only have one of these double busts thracian coins.



Philip II, 244-246 AD; Mesembria, Thrace

pentassaria 26mm 12.7g o: busts of philip and serapis; M AR IOYLIOC PHILIPPOC/KAICA, R below r: athena; MECAMB RIANWN Moushmov 4032

 

Very interesting, informative, and fun examples, @dougsmit , as always.

Actually, though, I'm basing my claim to rarity on the notion that I looked everywhere--coin archives.com, acsearch.info, Wildwinds, V-coins, NumisBids, CNG's archives, the Moushmov catalog--and I couldn't find a single other example anywhere online at all. It might be in Strack (AMNG II), but that reference is not online as far as I know.

 

I have several coins from Anchialus, but this is my only GIII from there.

GORDIAN III
AE30
OBVERSE: Laureate, draped & cuirassed bust right
REVERSE: PMSC OLVIM City goddess standing left between bull & lion; AN IIII in e
Struck at Anchialus, 242 AD
17.2g, 30mm
AMNG 83

 

A nice find!

 

Cool OP to start your year with.
I'm still waiting on my last of 2016 purchases to get here. Very impatiently.
I got my first delivery of 17 earlier in the week from JA. Have to get pics when I get some time.

 

My first delivery of 2017 were these four Gordian III ant coins



And this Greek beauty from Thessaly. A Larissa hemidrachm.



I went out of town for the holidays and when I came back on the 3rd they were all in my mailbox waiting for me.

 

Sweet!! ... man, that's a fine lookin' OP-addition, Roman Collector (congrats)



Fantastic first blood!!

 

Nick first pickup of 2017! A Gordian III and Tranquilina from Anchialus was one of my first ever provincial coins. It has the centration dimple hitting Tranqi on the nose too, but worse, Gordian's face suffers from a flat strike.



I wasn't intending to make a 2017 pickup quite so soon, but I happened on the Roma auction as it was in progress. I couldn't resist making a few bids . This first one I won is also a provincial double-buster. It's slightly off-center on the reverse, but I thought it still had plenty of eye appeal.


SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS, with JULIA DOMNA
Ӕ27. 11.89g. Marcianopolis, Moesia Inferior, AD 193-211. Varbanov 850 var. (Э on reverse). O: AV K Λ CԐΠ CԐVHPOC IOVΛIA ΔOMNA CԐ, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Septimius Severus right, facing draped bust of Julia Domna left. R: [V+Λ OV]ΛΠIANOV MAPKIANOΠ[OΛ], Apollo standing facing, head right, with hand on head and holding bow; quiver at feet to left, serpent coiled round tree stump to right, Ԑ in left field.

 

@zumbly love that SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS with JULIA DOMNA Ӕ27

 

Thanks, Bing. I had been wanting a Sep Sev and Domna two-fer and an Apollo and snake reverse. This one fit the bill.

 

It definitely should. The confronted busts are amazing.