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<p>[QUOTE="Orielensis, post: 7415256, member: 96898"]Here is my latest purchase – the third ancient coin I bought this year:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1288563[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">Caracalla, Roman Empire, AR denarius, 201–206 AD, Rome mint. Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG; laureate head of Caracalla r. Rev: RECTOR ORBIS, Sol or emperor standig facing, laureate, holding globe and sceptre or spear pointing down. 18mm, 3.35g. Ref: RIC IV Caracalla 141.</font></p><p><br /></p><p>I very much like the style of the portrait, but I bought this coin mostly because of its reverse. "Rector orbis," which translates to "master of the world," is as pompous a title as it gets. Two details strike me as particularly noteworthy and raise questions:</p><p><br /></p><p>1.) RIC describes the figure on the reverse as Sol. But while Sol is usually depicted wearing a radiate crown, the figure on my coin clearly wears a laurel wreath. The same applies to all other examples I found on <a href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=caracalla+rector+141&category=1-2&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&images=1&thesaurus=1&order=0&currency=usd&company=" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=caracalla+rector+141&category=1-2&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&images=1&thesaurus=1&order=0&currency=usd&company=" rel="nofollow">acsearch</a>. This makes me wonder whether the reverse actually shows not the deity Sol, but the young emperor Caracalla himself as "master of the world." What do you think?</p><p><br /></p><p>2.) RIC calls the object in the reverse figure's left hand an "inverted spear." The object on my coin, though, misses the spearpoint visible on most examples, making me assume that we rather see a sceptre. Looking at the coins on acsearch, I found multiple examples without the spearpoint struck from different dies. This implies that this is not an engraver's mistake. Should RIC Caracalla 141 thus be split into two reverse variants, one with a spear and the other with a sceptre?</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Please show your coins of Caracalla!</b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Orielensis, post: 7415256, member: 96898"]Here is my latest purchase – the third ancient coin I bought this year: [ATTACH=full]1288563[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Caracalla, Roman Empire, AR denarius, 201–206 AD, Rome mint. Obv: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG; laureate head of Caracalla r. Rev: RECTOR ORBIS, Sol or emperor standig facing, laureate, holding globe and sceptre or spear pointing down. 18mm, 3.35g. Ref: RIC IV Caracalla 141.[/SIZE] I very much like the style of the portrait, but I bought this coin mostly because of its reverse. "Rector orbis," which translates to "master of the world," is as pompous a title as it gets. Two details strike me as particularly noteworthy and raise questions: 1.) RIC describes the figure on the reverse as Sol. But while Sol is usually depicted wearing a radiate crown, the figure on my coin clearly wears a laurel wreath. The same applies to all other examples I found on [URL='https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=caracalla+rector+141&category=1-2&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&images=1&thesaurus=1&order=0¤cy=usd&company=']acsearch[/URL]. This makes me wonder whether the reverse actually shows not the deity Sol, but the young emperor Caracalla himself as "master of the world." What do you think? 2.) RIC calls the object in the reverse figure's left hand an "inverted spear." The object on my coin, though, misses the spearpoint visible on most examples, making me assume that we rather see a sceptre. Looking at the coins on acsearch, I found multiple examples without the spearpoint struck from different dies. This implies that this is not an engraver's mistake. Should RIC Caracalla 141 thus be split into two reverse variants, one with a spear and the other with a sceptre? [B]Please show your coins of Caracalla![/B][/QUOTE]
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