In Honor of an Iconic Scowl, Please Post your Ugliest Mugs!

PHOENICIA, Berytus.
Caracalla, 197-217 AD.
AR Tetradrachm, Berytus mint, struck AD 215-217.
Dia.: 28 mm
Wt.: 13.0 g
Obv.: AVT KAI ANTWNINOC CЄB; Laureate bust right.
Rev.: ΔHMAPΧ EΞ YΠATO Δ; Eagle with spread wings standing facing, head left wreath in beak; between legs, prow left.
Reference: Prieur 1292
Ex DePew Collection.

I don’t think I have ever seen a person with a more consistently sour look on his face on his coins and statues than Caracalla. I picked this coin up recently because I was delighted by how dour Caracalla looks on this portrait. The bulbous over-sized head also adds something to the scrunched up angry expression in my opinion.


Here is a photo I took of a bust of Caracalla in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence in 2018. Caracalla looks as ill-tempered as ever. Whenever I come across an ancient statue of a Roman Emperor in a museum I always try to get a good profile shot to better compare to coin in my collection.

I also didn’t have any coins from Berytus (modern Beirut) in my collection and I always love a good excuse to add a one of these tetradrachms with their nice heft and large flans. Berytus at the time this coin was minted was a Roman colony of considerable size. It was almost entirely a Latin speaking community and remained so well into the Byzantine era. Several of Augustus’s legions were settled in the city in the early imperial period and over then next few centuries the imperial family would patronize the city with a number of notable buildings and institutions such as an amphitheater and a famous and important school.

Please post your coins with the ugliest portraits!
This could include anything from poorly executed engraving, to ugly from the ravages of time to just a downright unpleasant expression or any combination of the above.

 

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Serious, thoughtful Caracalla.
One ugly Commodus and not so pretty Domna:

 

both an ugly nose and unpleasant expression Nerva :

 

Fantastic coin and idea! It's just so ironic that a guy who looks like he's taking a dump on his later life coinage would die taking a dump by the roadside! Rest in pieces Caracalla.
Galba's tough guy scowl is taken to another level with the facial scars added to by some damning ancient:


Old "hand on hilt" doesn't appear to be playing games on this provincial:

And Magnentius was serious, killing off one of Constantine's sons and aiming for another:

 

What about that one portrait of Trajan ?


Trajan, Bronze - Laodicaea, c. AD 114-115
AUTOKR NER TRAIANOC ARICT(KAIC CEB), laureate head of Trajan right
IOULIEWN TWN KAI LAODIKEWN BXR, Turreted bust of Tychee right, IOU in field
9.97 gr
Ref : Sear #1080

Q

 

Antiochus XII- Tyche. Damascus.

 

On many denarii, Julia Mamaea looks really pretty. Not on this one, though:

Julia Mamaea, Roman Empire, AR denarius, 232 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IVLIA MAMAEA AVG; bust of Julia Mamaea, diademed, draped, r. Rev: FECVND AVGVSTAE; Fecunditas, draped, standing l., holding cornucopia and raising r hand over child. 18mm, 2.49g. Ref: RIC IV Severus Alexander 331.

Who needs a mouth or cheeks if you've got such a nose? (And before you ask: All of his coins look like this!)

Kingdom of Aragon, under James I “the Conqueror”, BI dinero, 1213-1276 AD, Jaca mint. Obv: ARAGON; crowned bust of James I l. Rev: +IACOBVS : REX; patriarchal cross. 18mm, 0.85g. Ref: Crusafont i Sabater 1992, 318.

 

This Valkash isn't that pretty but still a tough one to pick up...
Sassanian Drachm of Valkash 484 - 488 C.E.
Obverse: Bust of King Valkash to right, wearing mural crown with korymbos set on crescent, ribbon on left shoulder, flames on right
Reverse: Fire altar with ribbons and head of Valkash to right on shaft, flanked by two attendants, star and crescent flanking flames.
Mint LYH Rev-Ardashir Khuzistan.

 

Not so sure it's as ugly as it is wrong.
Thrace, Hadrianopolis. Commodus Æ18.
Obv: Laureate head right.
Rev: Apollo advancing right, drawing bow.
Youroukova 151, Varbanov 3253.

 

Here's my ugliest mug


Frank
PO Mug
1991-1997 AD
Spaceship with US flag
Mint: China
Obv: USA
Rev: FRANK

And my second ugliest mug:



Vespasian
AR Denarius (70 AD)
Aequitas standing left with scales
OBV: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG
REV: COS ITER TR POT,

 

JULIA MAESA
AR Denarius
OBVERSE: IVLIA MAESA AVG - Draped bust right
REVERSE: PVDICITIA - Pudicitia seated left, pulling veil and holding scepter
Struck at Rome, 218-222 AD
2.6g, 19mm
RIC 268, BMC 76 (Elagabalus), S 7756, C 36

 

It is not IVLIA's fault...


RI Julia Domna 194-217 Fouree AR Plated Denarius Isis Horus

 

I don't think I've ever seen a Caesar whose coin portraits showed less joy and more sternness than Galba.



Anyone have a Galba that they think DOESN'T look dour?

 

One of my favorite coins and definitely the best scowl in my collection:



Caracalla, Phoenicia (Tyre), AR Tetradrachm (27mm, 15.23 g, 12h). Struck AD 213-215. Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Eagle standing facing on club right, head and tail left, with wings spread, holding wreath in beak; murex shell between legs. Prieur 1550.
From the Michel Prieur Collection.

 

Aurelian disapproves:

 

The biggest scowl in my collection is from Caracalla as well:


But the ugliest I've seen has to be this provincial portrait of Neanderthal Trajan -- I don't own the coin, but when I saw the photo I felt that I had to save it for posterity!

 

The engraver for the Trajan coin must have been Picasso's ancestor.

Vespasian, another emperor who couldn't win a beauty contest

 

Agrippa


RI Agrippa AE As 28mm 11g Neptune-S-C Left

 

They don't come more ugly than my Octavian and Julius Caesar from Macedon. Macedon Thessalonica. Augustus, with Divus Julius Caesar 27 BC-AD 14. under Roman rule,ΘΕΟΣ, head of Julius Caesar right / ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΕΩΝ, Δ, bare head of Augustus right. 28/7 BC (AE 20mm, 10.8 gm) RPC 1554.