Marcus Aurelius Denarius

Being a fan of both ancient Stoicism and ancient coins, it seemed inevitable that I would eventually have to pick up a coin from the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161 - 180), author of Meditations. So I found the below bare headed denarius example on the site that people usually recommend for buying ancients and the rest is quite a bit of history.



The closest attribution I could find for this coin matches almost perfectly, except it shows "XVI" for the "XVII" on the reverse. So, perhaps going out on a limb, I updated that attribution to match the one above. Is this close enough? Or does anyone have other sources to try?

Marcus Aurelius. AR Denarius. Struck 161/2 AD. M ANTONINVS AVG, bare head right / CONCORD AVG TR P XVII, COS III in exergue, Concordia seated left, holding patera, resting left elbow on statuette of Spes set on base. 18mm 3.4gm

This attribution came from row "RIC 33" on the www.wildwinds.com site. I took the diameter and weight from the coin myself.

And why not conclude with some words from the Emperor himself, from Meditations:

Book IV
"You have subsisted as a part of the Whole. You will vanish into that which gave you birth: or rather you will be changed, taken up into the generative principle of the universe."
"Change: nothing inherently bad in the process, nothing inherently good in the result."

Book V
"The best revenge is not to be like your enemy."
"What does not benefit the hive does not benefit the bee either."

Book VII
"How many who once rose to fame are now consigned to oblivion: and how many who sang their fame are long disappeared."
"Take care that you never treat the misanthropic as they treat mankind."

Book VIII
"He who fears death fears either unconsciousness or another sort of consciousness. Now if you will no longer be conscious you will not be conscious either of anything bad. If you are to take on a different consciousness, you will be a different being and life will not cease."
"Men are born for the sake of each other. So either teach or tolerate."

Book IX
"You should leave another's wrong where it lies."

Book X
"No more roundabout discussion of what makes a good man. Be one!"

*By the way, this brings my count of ancients up to five:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/my-fourth-ancient.281282/
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/my-third-ancient.280757/
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/my-other-ancient.279437/
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/your-first-ancient.279020/page-2#post-2429203

 

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Lovely coin!

With the bare-headed and cuirassed bust, it's RIC—; BMCRE 214; RSC 37c.

 

Great coin, @ewomack ! Congrats on the find, and thanks for the passages!

I enjoy Stoicism also. Seems in Harmony with Buddhism, too.

ANTONINUS PIUS

RI Antoninus Pius 138-161 CE BI Tet Alexandria Egypt Dikaiosyne Scale

 

It's RIC III 59.

 

RIC III 59 has a different obverse legend and is bare head right. I would describe the portrait as "bust right, bare-headed, cuirassed, slight drapery, seen from behind". I agree with Roman Collector, not in RIC.

 

Then it's not BMCRE 214 either, because that also has a different obverse legend -- the same one as RIC III 59 -- beginning with "IMP." For the same reason, it's also not RSC 37c.

RIC III 58 and RSC 39 have the correct obverse legend, but are both bare-headed without the cuirass. I don't see one with the OP's combination of obverse legend and portrait.

 

Yes, you're right. The OP coin doesn't have IMP. Looks like a bust variety of RIC 58, BMCRE 215n, RSC 39.

 

So it seems to be a previously-unrecorded variety!

 

Found it exactly (I think): Dinsdale #011710. He notes, "Uncertain. MIR cites an example from Klosterneuberg. Confirmation required."

Here are his bust types. The OP is Be.

Here's the listing and footnote 2:

 

It's interesting that this last reference doesn't distinguish between heads and busts as RIC does.

 

Ah, it's Romanpaulus again! Fascinating. I guess the OP's coin provides the necessary confirmation of this variety.

 

But isn't the drapery, the cuirass, etc. what makes it a bust? Without that, it's a head. (Not literally, because the neck is there, but that's what it's called.)

 

If it has shoulders it's a bust; if not, it's a head.

 

It does; the "a" and "g" varieties are the heads; if they are draped or cuirassed, they are busts.

 

But the shoulders are never completely bare, right? They're always draped and/or cuirassed. So there's nothing in between the so-called bare head and the draped and/or cuirassed bust?

 

The closest you get are these "heroic bust" types of Hadrian, but he has a little drapery on the left shoulder.

 

Excellent and interesting coin. Is there a dot in the obverse legend between M and A?

 

@ewomack......Nice OP coin with a lovely detailed reverse!
I only have 1 Denarius of MA...and coincidentally was struck around the same time..
Marcus Aurelius denarius.Rome AD 161-162...18mm....2.55gr
Obverse....IMP M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG, bare head right
Reverse... PROV DEOR TR P XVI COS III, Providentia standing facing, head left, holding globe and cornucopiae.
RIC#50 RSC 519.

 

I have notified @paulus_dinius (Paul Dinsdale) of the existence of this coin and encouraged him to read this thread and he kindly replied. Moreover, he cleared up the confusion about the various bust types. I share, with his permission, the following:

Dear Roman Collector,

Very many thanks for spotting this very rare coin. I have added the coin into the catalogue with a reference to the discussion board. I am very grateful to you for keeping your eyes open for these rare coins.


An interesting discussion on the Forum follows the publication of the coin. It shows many of the confusion that frequently occur with head or bust-type descriptions. The descriptions in my catalogue were deliberately chosen to be neutral and avoid as much confusion as possible. The division between the various bust types are usually very clear:


Draped far shoulder: usually a simple loop of fabric before the neck, sometimes with a further fold over the shoulder behind.

Aegis: The loop before the neck is usually deeper and contains a Medusa-head against the shoulder, the aegis is usually fringed with tassels or snakeheads.

Draped: Folded fabric covers the back and chest; the fabric may be parted on the shoulder to reveal either the smooth shoulder or faint indications of further fabric below. Ptergyes, the regular strap-like sections of armour on the shoulder are never present.

Cuirassed: Armour only. The back and chest do not shoulder folded fabric. The back or chest may show smooth (leather) or scale (iron) armour. Broad straps usually extend from front to back over the shoulders. Ptergyes, the regular strap-like sections of armour on the shoulder are always present. The bust may include a small loop of fabric on the rear shoulder. This feature is not always present, and so is not determinative of type – it should not be included in the description as draped or draped l. shoulder as this only leads to confusion.

Draped and cuirassed: Folded fabric covers the back and chest; the fabric is parted to reveal the Ptergyes, the regular strap-like sections of armour on the shoulder. The clear presence of the regular division of the ptergyes are main indicators of this obv. type, and the separation of this type from the draped-only busts.


The bust-type codes in my catalogue were designed specifically for the Antonine coinages. Coins of different periods would require different lists, as in the different volumes of RIC.


One of the participants of the discussion mentions punctuation within legends. This is one of the major black-holes of coin collecting / cataloguing. All indications show that there was no agreed principals as to when, where, or even if punctuation was used by the ancient die-engravers. It varied from die-to-die even within the same issue. Also, as a very small feature, it is often one of the most frequently lost through wear or corrosion. It therefore cannot be determinative of type – i.e. the broad outlines of design and legends that informed the production of a particular issue. Type catalogues, like RIC and my listings, do not generally notice the punctuation. The punctuation of the legends in RIC and Cohen is modern. Specimen catalogues, like BMCRE and Hunter, have a different intention. They sent out to document every specimen in their collections, and so punctuation is important as showing where different dies have been used to produce coins of the same Type.

Thanks once again to the Aurelius coin – I have added it into the lists.

All the best

Paul

He has added @ewomack 's coin to his book as number 011710.

 

Interesting threads thanks for the good read.