Johannes, Usurper of the Roman West

Been wanting a coin of him for a long while, so I'm happy to announce that I've finally managed to add this rare usurper-emperor to my collection. He is also known as Ioannes and Joannes.

(from luc.edu)

More detailed bio here: http://jaysromanhistory.com/romeweb/empcont/e250.htm

Johannes, Western Roman usurper (ruled 423-425 AD)
AE4, Nummus
Obv: DN IOHANN-ES PF AVG, pearl-diademed, draped bust right
Rev: SALVS REI-PVBLICAE, Victory holding trophy and dragging captive, Chi-Rho to left
RM in ex, Rome mint
Ref: RIC X 1913



Here is the Western Empire only 3 years before Johannes's usurpation:


(from ict.griffith.edu.au)

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Congrats on adding another rarity to your collection!

 

another delightfully strange coin VK! you are the master of this niche for sure.

 

Sweet, Jango => man, that's a pretty cool rendition of the ol' classic "dragging a captive" coin!!

... very cool ...

=> I only have 1 coin from this century ... it is a Sassanian Peroz I (not quite the same type as your sweet new addition) ... congrats!!

 

Congrats on your new addition VK.

 

Nice find, VK, and I appreciate the info - I always learn something from your posts.

 

cool addition

 

Glad you like it guys I'll see if I can get my own photos up soon; its a bit better in hand (although I may not get photos any better than the seller's; I'm not the best at photographing really small coins).

 

It looks somewhat better if you zoom out the page at least twice (click CTRL and - at the same time twice)

 

Great shot, VK. Much much better than the dealer's.

 

Thanks John! Took me several tries (the obverse especially), but I got it to what Id say would be 97% of how it looks in hand.

 

I was on the wagon for a while, but fell off pretty badly today. I am picking one up tomorrow VK you might be very interested in.

 

I had better prepare the drool buckets then

 

It would be nice to know something more about Johannes - I went searching for more historical info, and it all seems very sketchy. The keeping of records evidently deteriorated in the late empire, along with many other things.

BTW, how can you tell if this coin is from the Rome mint or if it's one of the scarce issues from Arles? Whatever was in exergue is off-flan.

 

VK, love the color, your second photo is much better, great info and very nice coin...

 

Like most usurpers, most of what we know comes from those who overthrew him. Just like the Chinese Emperor Wang Mang, the Palmyrian empire, or other usurpations, most of what we know comes from those who took back power. If they hadn't, history would not have called it a usurpation but a change of power.

 

Arles? All sources I've looked up state that this type for Johannes was only at Rome. I know just before him, Honorius had some VICTORIA AVGG types made at Arles.

 

Nevermind. I double-checked RIC, and the only coins minted in Arles were the VICTORIA AVGG types. Sometimes the layouts in RIC are confusing. For instance, why in the world didn't they put the overview of the rulers WITH the coin lists in Volume 10?? Why do you have to search for information in several different places?

 

They are a bit confusing at times. I like to be sure of things so I look in more than one place to confirm info like that.