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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Finn235, post: 5569294, member: 98035&quot;]As anyone familiar with Julio-Claudian coinage knows, the great Germanicus isn&#039;t a tough find in an absolute sense, but nearly all of his coinage was issued after his untimely death at the age of 33.</p><p><br /></p><p>It was the dying wish of Augustus that Tiberius adopt Germanicus and designate him as heir to the Principate on equal footing to Tiberius&#039; own son, Drusus, although Germanicus&#039; enormous military success and popularity following his recovery of Varus&#039; lost eagles thrust Germanicus to the forefront of Roman politics, well ahead of Drusus, and almost ahead of Tiberius himself. Thus, when Germanicus died under highly suspicious circumstances in the prime of his life and during the midst of a public feud with the governor Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, there were loud cries of foul play, many accusing Piso of poisoning Germanicus, and some going so far as to implicate Tiberius in the plot. That is likely why the following year, Tiberius doubled down on asserting his own lineage, minting huge numbers of bronze coins for Drusus and for his newly born grandsons, Tiberius and Germanicus Gemellus.</p><p><br /></p><p>During his five year tenure as heir apparent to the emperor and Rome&#039;s own beloved &quot;Roman Alexander&quot; Germanicus appeared only on provincial coinage, not making his imperial debut until his son Caligula was emperor. Posthumously, Germanicus made perhaps a brief appearance under Tiberius, extensively under Caligula and Claudius, and finally as a restitution issue under Titus.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve been searching for quite some time for a lifetime portrait of Germanicus, and finally had the chance to jump on this one; one of the finest I have ever seen, and easily in my favorite portrait style of his</p><p><br /></p><p>Germanicus and Drusus Caesars</p><p>AE 15 of Lydia, Sardes</p><p>c. 17-19 AD</p><p>ΓΕΡΜΑΝΙΚΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡΕΩΝ, Bare head of Germanicus right</p><p>ΔΡΟΥΣΟΣ ΣΑΡΔΙΑΝΩΝ, Bare head of Drusus right</p><p>RPC I 2992</p><p>Rare (19 in RPC Online + 55 on ACSearch, inclusive of duplicates)</p><p><br /></p><p>My photo to capture the in-hand appearance</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1241315[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Seller&#039;s photos, color is inaccurate, but highlights the details better</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1241316[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>I particularly like the unusual level of realism given to Germanicus&#039; portrait, especially the hooked nose and facial hair - given that the Julio-Claudians up until Claudius had a tendency to idealize all of their portraiture, RPC 2992 may be the most realistic portrait of Germanicus in existence.</p><p><br /></p><p>Compare to this bust attributed to Germanicus, auctioned by Sotheby&#039;s in 2012 (not mine!)</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1241464[/ATTACH] </p><p><img src="https://s.yimg.com/g/images/spaceout.gif" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>*And note that while I was doing research, some give the dating of this coin to after Germanicus&#039; death, or about 23 AD. I&#039;m not entirely sure which to believe, but the posthumous attribution seems to be a minority view, so I&#039;m sticking to my guns!</p><p><br /></p><p>Let&#039;s see those coins of Germanicus![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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