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Interesting Roman As reverse types - Trajan Restores Italy
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<p>[QUOTE="The Meat man, post: 24607384, member: 135271"]Recently, I’ve been collecting Roman As coins with interesting and unusual reverse types.</p><p><br /></p><p>Part of this new focus comes from my interest in the coins as ancient story-tellers - small artifacts that mark a moment in time, long past, commemorating certain people, places, or events. The Romans especially made constant use of coins as mediums for official news and propaganda.</p><p><br /></p><p>Why the As? Well, to me the denomination seems to strike a nice balance. Aureii are nowhere within my range. Denarii are somewhat small, and tend to be more expensive. The sestertius boasts the largest canvas and superb artistry, but they tend (accordingly) to be very expensive, especially the more unusual types. As for dupondii, for some reason I’ve never really cared for the look of the radiate portrait (more so on earlier Roman coins; it’s more or less unavoidable on later coinage.) Very generally, the As tends to be the most affordable, with laureate portraits and a wide range of different types.</p><p><br /></p><p>One of my most recent acquisitions is an as struck under Trajan, with a very rare and interesting reverse type:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://content.invisioncic.com/k321387/monthly_2023_06/trajan_italia_rest.jpg.3d0ba200c386770e04f8e046314036be.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>(At this point, I’d like to thank <a href="https://www.numisforums.com/profile/194-curtislclay/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.numisforums.com/profile/194-curtislclay/" rel="nofollow">@curtislclay</a> and <a href="https://www.numisforums.com/profile/377-coinmaster/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.numisforums.com/profile/377-coinmaster/" rel="nofollow">@Coinmaster</a> for their invaluable assistance in helping me identify and learn more about this type!)</p><p><br /></p><p>This “ITALIA REST” or “REST ITALIA” type was struck in aureii, as well as all three bronze denominations (I’m not sure about the denarius; I don't <i>think</i> so) All types are quite scarce; searches on acsearch.com return just four different aureii and one dupondius. I could not find either of the two sestertius types on acsearch; though there is <a href="https://www.cgbfr.com/trajan-sesterce-tb,brm_765762,a.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cgbfr.com/trajan-sesterce-tb,brm_765762,a.html" rel="nofollow">one currently for sale</a> on cgb.fr.</p><p><br /></p><p>The As is perhaps the rarest of all; it is not even listed in RIC. The only one on acsearch.com is <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8922102" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8922102" rel="nofollow">this one</a> (mine), sold a few years ago. The only references I know of are from Woytek, the great authority on the coinage of Trajan, and Paul L. Strack, who wrote in the 1930’s. Woytek cites just two specimens - one in the Munich collection, and one in the Vienna collection, with the Vienna coin illustrated:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://content.invisioncic.com/k321387/monthly_2023_06/IMG_20230521_224105.jpg.577bf4a4a47e020dd4bb630d1498d600.jpg.671cc072e52c78203a10e245e7d7147f.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>(Woytek, photo courtesy of <a href="https://www.numisforums.com/profile/377-coinmaster/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.numisforums.com/profile/377-coinmaster/" rel="nofollow">@Coinmaster</a>)</p><p><br /></p><p>I am assuming that the coin cited by Strack is the Munich specimen - or possibly the Vienna coin, but as of yet I have been unable to confirm that. If anyone has access to Strack (412) and can check for me, I’d be much obliged!</p><p><br /></p><p>I reached out to both collections asking about the coins; Vienna was very helpful and confirmed that they had one specimen. I haven’t heard from Munich, which is a pity since I’d love to get a look at the coin! Unfortunately, neither collection happens to have that particular coin displayed in their online virtual collections (although Vienna offered to do that for me! I hope to see it soon.)</p><p><br /></p><p>So, does my coin make three known specimens? Not quite! As it turns out, there <i>is </i>a specimen on wildwinds.com:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://content.invisioncic.com/k321387/monthly_2023_06/RIC_0470_As(1).jpg.dbb4ad007a61101590bfe1b2bb72177f.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>With the following text:</p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>"Trajan AE As. 25/26mm. 8.8 g</i></b></p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>Obv: IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P, laureate head right.</i></b></p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>Rev: S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, Trajan, togate, standing left, raising</i></b></p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>kneeling figure of Italy, between them, two children; in exergue, ITALIA</i></b></p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>REST.</i></b></p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>Strack 412; (not in RIC or Cohen as AE As); RIC 470 var.</i></b></p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>Further examples are in Munich and Vienna.</i></b></p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>Contributed by Bogdan Cacuci, Oct. 2010."</i></b></p><p><br /></p><p>This coin is in considerably worse shape than either mine or the Vienna specimen, but it is clearly identifiable as the same type. It also appears to be a reverse-die match to the Vienna coin, and to mine as well. (Looking in particular at the damaged? "C-I" and the "P" in "PRINCIPI", as well as other areas.) What do you all think? Are all three a reverse-die match? I would love to hear your opinions!</p><p><br /></p><p>(Also what about the obverse?)</p><p><br /></p><p>This begs the question: how many reverse-dies were used? Could they all have been struck from only a <i>single</i> reverse die? (If only I could get a good look at the Munich coin!)</p><p><br /></p><p>In any event, this means that - as far as I’ve been able to ascertain - my coin is apparently only the fourth one known to exist - and the second in private hands, which I think is pretty neat, especially for an interesting 2nd-century Imperial bronze issue.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, enough about the rarity - what about the reverse design?</p><p><br /></p><p>Well, not surprisingly, I couldn’t find much specific information about this exact reverse type. In some ways it is similar to the more common “ALIM ITAL” coinage, which, according to Sear, referred to the <i><b>“scheme under which needy children were provided support through the investment in agriculture of funds donated by wealthy philanthropists (including the emperors Nerva and Trajan).”</b></i> <i>(David Sear, Roman Coins and Their Values, Vol. II, p. 95)</i></p><p><br /></p><p>The most direct reference I could find was in a paper titled <b>“Trajan, Hadrian and Antoninus Pius: Patterns of Interpretation and Perspectives”</b> by <b>Gunnar Seelentag</b>. The focus of the paper is in comparing how the various Emperors presented themselves to the Roman world and how they wanted to be perceived by their subjects. In it, Seelentag also compares the two similar coin types:</p><p><br /></p><p><b><i>“Various types of coins with the inscription ALIM(entatio) ITAL(iae) depict the emperor distributing his gifts to the children of Italy. In the piece depicted here, the personification of Alimentatio stands in front of the seated emperor, holding a child on her hand and on her arm; the latter stretches out his arms to Trajan. At the same time as these representations, and typologically closely related to them, pieces with the inscription REST(itutio) ITAL(iae) were emitted, in which the emperor repeals the personification of the country that has sunk to the ground. In her left, Italia holds a globe, and in front of her is another child stretching out his arms to the princeps. Taken together, these two accounts stated that Italy's newfound prosperity was the result of the innovative extension of Trajan's care to Italy. If one looks at the common core of the two innovations in Trajan's depiction of power just outlined, one thing becomes clear: the emperor acted as a caretaker, no longer only for Rome, but now also for Italy – and even the empire flourished, as he emphasized with the depictions of the prosperous provinces.”</i></b></p><p><br /></p><p>(Apologies for the awkward web translation - the paper was originally in German)</p><p><br /></p><p>It should also be pointed out that this ITALIA REST type is very similar to a later coin struck 60-some years later under Marcus Aurelius:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://content.invisioncic.com/k321387/monthly_2023_06/290413.jpg.e5030eb1bb31a4c514d7ec117b884bfd.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>(<a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=290413" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=290413" rel="nofollow">https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=290413</a>)</p><p><br /></p><p>(Notably, there are no children depicted on this type - perhaps another indication that Trajan's coin has the "Alimentatio" program in mind?)</p><p><br /></p><p>With the later coin, the type is generally thought to be in recognition of Marcus Aurelius’ efforts in holding back the barbarians which, by that time, had begun to exert considerable pressure on the borders of the Empire.</p><p><br /></p><p>However, no such conditions prevailed under Trajan. I suppose the conclusion is that Trajan’s type is a more general recognition of Trajan’s beneficent leadership, including the “Alimentatio” scheme - Italy lifted up and restored to peace and prosperity.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks for reading, and please feel free to post your thoughts and comments![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="The Meat man, post: 24607384, member: 135271"]Recently, I’ve been collecting Roman As coins with interesting and unusual reverse types. Part of this new focus comes from my interest in the coins as ancient story-tellers - small artifacts that mark a moment in time, long past, commemorating certain people, places, or events. The Romans especially made constant use of coins as mediums for official news and propaganda. Why the As? Well, to me the denomination seems to strike a nice balance. Aureii are nowhere within my range. Denarii are somewhat small, and tend to be more expensive. The sestertius boasts the largest canvas and superb artistry, but they tend (accordingly) to be very expensive, especially the more unusual types. As for dupondii, for some reason I’ve never really cared for the look of the radiate portrait (more so on earlier Roman coins; it’s more or less unavoidable on later coinage.) Very generally, the As tends to be the most affordable, with laureate portraits and a wide range of different types. One of my most recent acquisitions is an as struck under Trajan, with a very rare and interesting reverse type: [IMG]https://content.invisioncic.com/k321387/monthly_2023_06/trajan_italia_rest.jpg.3d0ba200c386770e04f8e046314036be.jpg[/IMG] (At this point, I’d like to thank [URL='https://www.numisforums.com/profile/194-curtislclay/']@curtislclay[/URL] and [URL='https://www.numisforums.com/profile/377-coinmaster/']@Coinmaster[/URL] for their invaluable assistance in helping me identify and learn more about this type!) This “ITALIA REST” or “REST ITALIA” type was struck in aureii, as well as all three bronze denominations (I’m not sure about the denarius; I don't [I]think[/I] so) All types are quite scarce; searches on acsearch.com return just four different aureii and one dupondius. I could not find either of the two sestertius types on acsearch; though there is [URL='https://www.cgbfr.com/trajan-sesterce-tb,brm_765762,a.html']one currently for sale[/URL] on cgb.fr. The As is perhaps the rarest of all; it is not even listed in RIC. The only one on acsearch.com is [URL='https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=8922102']this one[/URL] (mine), sold a few years ago. The only references I know of are from Woytek, the great authority on the coinage of Trajan, and Paul L. Strack, who wrote in the 1930’s. Woytek cites just two specimens - one in the Munich collection, and one in the Vienna collection, with the Vienna coin illustrated: [IMG]https://content.invisioncic.com/k321387/monthly_2023_06/IMG_20230521_224105.jpg.577bf4a4a47e020dd4bb630d1498d600.jpg.671cc072e52c78203a10e245e7d7147f.jpg[/IMG] (Woytek, photo courtesy of [URL='https://www.numisforums.com/profile/377-coinmaster/']@Coinmaster[/URL]) I am assuming that the coin cited by Strack is the Munich specimen - or possibly the Vienna coin, but as of yet I have been unable to confirm that. If anyone has access to Strack (412) and can check for me, I’d be much obliged! I reached out to both collections asking about the coins; Vienna was very helpful and confirmed that they had one specimen. I haven’t heard from Munich, which is a pity since I’d love to get a look at the coin! Unfortunately, neither collection happens to have that particular coin displayed in their online virtual collections (although Vienna offered to do that for me! I hope to see it soon.) So, does my coin make three known specimens? Not quite! As it turns out, there [I]is [/I]a specimen on wildwinds.com: [IMG]https://content.invisioncic.com/k321387/monthly_2023_06/RIC_0470_As(1).jpg.dbb4ad007a61101590bfe1b2bb72177f.jpg[/IMG] With the following text: [B][I]"Trajan AE As. 25/26mm. 8.8 g[/I][/B] [B][I]Obv: IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P, laureate head right.[/I][/B] [B][I]Rev: S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, Trajan, togate, standing left, raising[/I][/B] [B][I]kneeling figure of Italy, between them, two children; in exergue, ITALIA[/I][/B] [B][I]REST.[/I][/B] [B][I]Strack 412; (not in RIC or Cohen as AE As); RIC 470 var.[/I][/B] [B][I]Further examples are in Munich and Vienna.[/I][/B] [B][I]Contributed by Bogdan Cacuci, Oct. 2010."[/I][/B] This coin is in considerably worse shape than either mine or the Vienna specimen, but it is clearly identifiable as the same type. It also appears to be a reverse-die match to the Vienna coin, and to mine as well. (Looking in particular at the damaged? "C-I" and the "P" in "PRINCIPI", as well as other areas.) What do you all think? Are all three a reverse-die match? I would love to hear your opinions! (Also what about the obverse?) This begs the question: how many reverse-dies were used? Could they all have been struck from only a [I]single[/I] reverse die? (If only I could get a good look at the Munich coin!) In any event, this means that - as far as I’ve been able to ascertain - my coin is apparently only the fourth one known to exist - and the second in private hands, which I think is pretty neat, especially for an interesting 2nd-century Imperial bronze issue. So, enough about the rarity - what about the reverse design? Well, not surprisingly, I couldn’t find much specific information about this exact reverse type. In some ways it is similar to the more common “ALIM ITAL” coinage, which, according to Sear, referred to the [I][B]“scheme under which needy children were provided support through the investment in agriculture of funds donated by wealthy philanthropists (including the emperors Nerva and Trajan).”[/B][/I] [I](David Sear, Roman Coins and Their Values, Vol. II, p. 95)[/I] The most direct reference I could find was in a paper titled [B]“Trajan, Hadrian and Antoninus Pius: Patterns of Interpretation and Perspectives”[/B] by [B]Gunnar Seelentag[/B]. The focus of the paper is in comparing how the various Emperors presented themselves to the Roman world and how they wanted to be perceived by their subjects. In it, Seelentag also compares the two similar coin types: [B][I]“Various types of coins with the inscription ALIM(entatio) ITAL(iae) depict the emperor distributing his gifts to the children of Italy. In the piece depicted here, the personification of Alimentatio stands in front of the seated emperor, holding a child on her hand and on her arm; the latter stretches out his arms to Trajan. At the same time as these representations, and typologically closely related to them, pieces with the inscription REST(itutio) ITAL(iae) were emitted, in which the emperor repeals the personification of the country that has sunk to the ground. In her left, Italia holds a globe, and in front of her is another child stretching out his arms to the princeps. Taken together, these two accounts stated that Italy's newfound prosperity was the result of the innovative extension of Trajan's care to Italy. If one looks at the common core of the two innovations in Trajan's depiction of power just outlined, one thing becomes clear: the emperor acted as a caretaker, no longer only for Rome, but now also for Italy – and even the empire flourished, as he emphasized with the depictions of the prosperous provinces.”[/I][/B] (Apologies for the awkward web translation - the paper was originally in German) It should also be pointed out that this ITALIA REST type is very similar to a later coin struck 60-some years later under Marcus Aurelius: [IMG]https://content.invisioncic.com/k321387/monthly_2023_06/290413.jpg.e5030eb1bb31a4c514d7ec117b884bfd.jpg[/IMG] ([URL]https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=290413[/URL]) (Notably, there are no children depicted on this type - perhaps another indication that Trajan's coin has the "Alimentatio" program in mind?) With the later coin, the type is generally thought to be in recognition of Marcus Aurelius’ efforts in holding back the barbarians which, by that time, had begun to exert considerable pressure on the borders of the Empire. However, no such conditions prevailed under Trajan. I suppose the conclusion is that Trajan’s type is a more general recognition of Trajan’s beneficent leadership, including the “Alimentatio” scheme - Italy lifted up and restored to peace and prosperity. Thanks for reading, and please feel free to post your thoughts and comments![/QUOTE]
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