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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Shea19, post: 7974494, member: 90981&quot;]I have wanted a denarius of Macrinus with a &quot;long-bearded&quot; portrait for a long time, and after waiting for the &quot;right&quot; one to come along, I finally was able to land a nice example.&nbsp; There were a number of different portrait styles of Macrinus throughout his short reign, but his coins with a long-bearded portrait are by far my favorite, so I&#039;m very happy to have added this one to my collection.</p><p><br /></p><p>After conspiring to assassinate Caracalla and taking over as emperor, Macrinus soon began to grow an absolutely majestic beard, which resulted in (in my opinion) some of the best Imperial portraits of the 3rd Century.&nbsp;&nbsp; For many reasons, Macrinus was clearly not a successful ruler, but if nothing else, he certainly looked the part.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1383609[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Macrinus, AR Denarius (20mm, 3.13g), Struck March-June 218 A.D., Rome.</p><p>IMP C M OPEL SEV MACRINVS AVG., Laureate and draped bust of Macrinus with long beard, right/ Rev. P M TR P II COS P P, Macrinus seated left on curule chair, holding globus and sceptre.&nbsp; RIC 27. Clay Issue 3.</p><p>(I believe that the dating of this coin is correct, but please correct me if I don&#039;t have it right.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are a couple of close-up photos of the coin&#039;s obverse in hand(which could probably use a better photographer).&nbsp; Though the reverse is a bit weak, I think that this portrait more than makes up for it.&nbsp; This coin is definitely one of my favorite new additions of the year, I just love this portrait and the detail on that beard.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1383610[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1383611[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>After just over a year, the remaining members of the Severan dynasty, who were not yet ready to give up their grip on power, deposed Macrinus and had him executed.&nbsp; After his death, Macrinus was succeeded by teenaged emperors Elagabalus and then Severus Alexander, whose pathetic beards were so embarrassing to the people of Rome that the Empire plunged into what is known as the &quot;Crisis of the Third Century,&quot;&nbsp; from which the Empire never fully recovered.*</p><p><br /></p><p>(*NOTE- Some scholars contend that there were perhaps other, non beard-related causes for the Crisis of the Third Century).</p><p><br /></p><p>Very happy to have added this coin, and would love to see some of yours!&nbsp; <b>Please share your coins of Macrinus, any of your favorite bearded portraits, or anything else relevant!</b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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