Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="Claudius_Gothicus, post: 8018313, member: 116315"]Every numismatist has at least one "white whale", a coin that is very significant for his collection but also happens to be incredibly challenging to find; in my case, as somebody who is mainly interested in Claudius II, said coins happen to be the more special and unusual bust types, of which this emperor has a surprisingly large variety that could almost rival that of Probus, though almost all of them are extremely rare, especially in nice conditions, so when they seldomly come up for sale they also attract plenty of non-specialists; due to this, I was convinced that I wouldn't manage to acquire any of them, at least for the foreseeable future. However, that all changed last month, when I surprisingly managed to harpoon my biggest "white whale" after almost one year of hunting: [ATTACH=full]1390226[/ATTACH] Roman Empire, Claudius II (268-270), Antoninianus, Mediolanum mint.Obverse: IMP CLAVDIVS P F AVG, radiate bust left, wearing trabea, holding Victory on globe in right hand and scipio in left hand;Reverse: PA-X A-VG, Pax running left, holding olive branch in right hand and transverse sceptre in left hand, T in exergue;RIC V - (c.f. RIC V 157); RIC V Online 46; Huvelin 1980, 10; Toffanin 311/4; My hunt for a consular antoninianus of Claudius II began in January of this year (to be honest, even though I'm incredibly excited to own this coin, I must admit that I am slightly disappointed that the "hunt" was so short, since I thought I would have to wait far longer to obtain one of this type - let's see if I am this lucky with my other "unobtainable" targets as well <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />), when I was seriously considering buying a very worn and damaged example (which, at the time, I considered the second known example - I've since discovered another one besides mine, for a total of four) being sold by CGB, but somebody else snatched it before I could; I thought I would never get another shot at obtaining an example, and yet, last month, I noticed at auction this coin of the same exact type and, even more surprisingly, I ended up paying it less than the CGB example, despite being in far better condition! I'm quite confident that this will qualify as my best purchase of the year. The types Since I have already mentioned those other examples, let's start this thread by discussing the dies used to strike these coins, before moving on to their iconography and their historical importance: the consular bust was used for Claudius II only at the Mediolanum mint, only during the second emission, and only by the second and third officinae; each one only used one obverse die, and while the second officina paired it with the reverses AEQVITAS AVG (<a href="https://ric.mom.fr/en/coin/43?tempRIC=&asmSelect0=&asmSelect1=&asmSelect2=&asmSelect3=&asmSelect4=&asmSelect5=&asmSelect6=&asmSelect7=&asmSelect8=&asmSelect9=&asmSelect10=&BustCodeAssoc=K7l&asmSelect11=&BustDescription=&ReverseDescription=&Note=&Reference=&page=1&hpp=5&mod=result&from=advanced" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://ric.mom.fr/en/coin/43?tempRIC=&asmSelect0=&asmSelect1=&asmSelect2=&asmSelect3=&asmSelect4=&asmSelect5=&asmSelect6=&asmSelect7=&asmSelect8=&asmSelect9=&asmSelect10=&BustCodeAssoc=K7l&asmSelect11=&BustDescription=&ReverseDescription=&Note=&Reference=&page=1&hpp=5&mod=result&from=advanced" rel="nofollow">RIC V Online 43</a>, one example known) and FIDES MILIT (<a href="https://ric.mom.fr/en/coin/44?tempRIC=&asmSelect0=&asmSelect1=&asmSelect2=&asmSelect3=&asmSelect4=&asmSelect5=&asmSelect6=&asmSelect7=&asmSelect8=&asmSelect9=&asmSelect10=&BustCodeAssoc=K7l&asmSelect11=&BustDescription=&ReverseDescription=&Note=&Reference=&page=1&hpp=5&mod=result&from=advanced#type-specimen" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://ric.mom.fr/en/coin/44?tempRIC=&asmSelect0=&asmSelect1=&asmSelect2=&asmSelect3=&asmSelect4=&asmSelect5=&asmSelect6=&asmSelect7=&asmSelect8=&asmSelect9=&asmSelect10=&BustCodeAssoc=K7l&asmSelect11=&BustDescription=&ReverseDescription=&Note=&Reference=&page=1&hpp=5&mod=result&from=advanced#type-specimen" rel="nofollow">RIC V Online 44</a>, five examples known), the third one only used it with PAX AVG (<a href="https://ric.mom.fr/en/coin/46?tempRIC=&asmSelect0=&asmSelect1=&asmSelect2=&asmSelect3=&asmSelect4=&asmSelect5=&asmSelect6=&asmSelect7=&asmSelect8=&asmSelect9=&asmSelect10=&BustCodeAssoc=K7l&asmSelect11=&BustDescription=&ReverseDescription=&Note=&Reference=&page=1&hpp=5&mod=result&from=advanced" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://ric.mom.fr/en/coin/46?tempRIC=&asmSelect0=&asmSelect1=&asmSelect2=&asmSelect3=&asmSelect4=&asmSelect5=&asmSelect6=&asmSelect7=&asmSelect8=&asmSelect9=&asmSelect10=&BustCodeAssoc=K7l&asmSelect11=&BustDescription=&ReverseDescription=&Note=&Reference=&page=1&hpp=5&mod=result&from=advanced" rel="nofollow">RIC V Online 46</a>, four examples known). Here's a sampling of one example each of the two types I don't own: [ATTACH=full]1390235[/ATTACH] (Image courtesy of RIC V Online) [ATTACH=full]1390236[/ATTACH] (Image courtesy of Classical Numismatic Group) If you look closely, however, you will notice that the two officinae didn't simply use different obverse die, but different bust types! While on the second officina's version the globe isn't surmounted by anything, on the other one it is topped by a small figure of Victory, though RIC V Online doesn't recognize this distinction, as the only example they had access to was too damaged - unfortunately, since the project has been inactive for a few years by now, modifying this is no longer possible. Here's photos of the three other examples of this type, as well as mine, to show you the presence of the small Victory on globe as well as the other similarities between the dies: [ATTACH=full]1390237[/ATTACH] (Image courtesy of RIC V Online) [ATTACH=full]1390238[/ATTACH] (Image courtesy of cgbfr.com) [ATTACH=full]1390239[/ATTACH] (Sold on Ebay a few years ago, original source unknown, kindly provided to me by [USER=10613]@Victor_Clark[/USER]) [ATTACH=full]1390226[/ATTACH] (My example) The iconography During the Republican period, the consulship was the most prestigious office somebody could aspire to, with the first consuls having been, according to legend, none other than Brutus and Collatinus, who had ended the tyrannical rule of Tarquinius. By the time of the third century, while the position had lost most of its effective power, its prestige was untarnished, as it was still an important milestone for any man climbing the cursus honorum: the emperor customarily assumed a consulship on his rise to the throne, but then renewed it only seldomly, in contrast to his Tribunicia Potestas, allowing senators to hold the office instead, and giving them the feeling of still being important in an empire where their influence had been steadily declining for years. The defining attributes of the consulship were two: the first one was the trabea, which was composed of a toga picta, painted with the very expensive and sought after Tyrian purple, covered by a tunica palmata, which, as the name implies, was decorated by small palms, as can be seen on the coins - a particularly nice depiction can be seen on a denarius of Augustus: [ATTACH=full]1390250[/ATTACH] (Image courtesy of Classical Numismatic Group) The second symbol of the office was the scipio, an ivory sceptre surmounted by an eagle, the icon of imperial power, sometimes holding a wreath in its beak. In certain cases the engravers also added other attributes to the emperor's portrait, such as this case, where he is holding a globe surmounted by Victory as a representation of Roman rule over the world - as we shall soon see, this was not a characteristis of the bust introduced by Gallienus, but a new innovation under Claudius II which doesn't appear to have caught on, as future appearances of the bust will usually lack the globe. The historical context While, as you've just seen, consular attributes had been used on Roman coins many times in the centuries before, the consular bust as we commonly know it first appeared on some medallions of Severus Alexander, as far as I know, and it continued to be used for some of the ones struck for Gordian III, Gallus and Volusian, for example, though they are so rare that I was unable to find any pictures on the internet. To see this bust appear on circulating coins we have to wait for the sole reign of Gallienus, when, under him, the mints of Rome, Milan and Siscia introduced an incredible variety of unique and unusual bust types, to emphasize and reaffirm the authority and the power of the emperor, something which was greatly needed in the tumultuos times of the Crisis of the Third Century. The consular bust was used in occasion of the fifth (fourth emission, 262 AD), the sixth (fifth emission, 264 AD) and the seventh (sixth emission, 266 AD) consulships of Gallienus, and in rare cases they also mention it in the obverse legend. The only consular Gallienus I own (it hasn't arrived yet, so I'll use the auction house's photo) is from the sixth consulship and has the standard short legend, so for comparison I'll also post one with the longer legend from the fifth consulship: [ATTACH=full]1390257[/ATTACH] Roman Empire, Gallienus (253-268), Antoninianus, Mediolanum mint.Obverse: GALLIENVS P F AVG, radiate bust left, wearing trabea, holding scipio in right hand;Reverse: PA-X AVG, Pax running left, holding olive branch in right hand and transverse sceptre in left hand, S in left field;RIC V - (c.f. RIC V 501); MIR 1225; Toffanin 207/7; [ATTACH=full]1390260[/ATTACH] (Image courtesy of Classical Numismatic Group) Gallienus clearly placed particular importance on the celebration of his consulship, as we can infer from the fact that this bust, without the sceptre or other attributes, was also used at Rome, and rare gold multiples, medallions and antoniniani featuring consular processions on the reverse were struck at several mints; it makes sense to assume that it was another way to use coinage as propaganda to legitimize his rule. After this considerable output, it thus makes sense that this bust type continued to be used at this mint for his successor, though, considering their great rarity, one has to wonder whether they were distributed at some special event or given to certain prestigious people rather than being normally put into circulation. Mediolanum would not strike it for either Quintillus or Aurelian, however, and the latter proceeded to eventually cease operations there and move them to Ticinum. The consular bust, however, did not disappear, but thrived for many more years, mainly under Probus, as we certainly all know, as well as Diocletian and his co-emperors, and Constantine and his sons, though some minor rulers like Tacitus, Numerian and Carinus used it as well. Finally, after a long hiatus during which it was only seldomly used for gold issues, it reappeared under Maurice Tiberius in the Byzantine Empire, and left the numismatic record for good under Philippicus Bardanes. Conclusions I really love consular busts due to their detail as well as the fact that they usually allow us to very precisely date the issues they belong to, and I think they would make for a great specialized subset of a collection. I'm especially thrilled to have obtained an important rarity that I used to consider impossible to find - it also made me go and acquire Toffanin's excellent reference book on the output of the Mediolanum mint in ancient times, which is certainly going to prove very useful in my future collecting endeavours: [ATTACH=full]1390261[/ATTACH] That's all for now; post your antoniniani of Claudius II, your coins from Mediolanum, your coins related to the consulship, or anything else you feel like might be relevant <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />! Sources: - <a href="https://ric.mom.fr/en/search/advanced" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://ric.mom.fr/en/search/advanced" rel="nofollow">RIC V Online</a>;- Alessandro Toffanin, La zecca di Milano dalle origini a Desiderio, re dei Longobardi (IV sec. a.C - 774 d.C);- Jean-Marc Doyen, Impérialisme et iconographie impériale : une approche sémiologique de l’atelier monétaire de Milan (259-274 après J.-C.);- Jean-Marc Doyen, L'atelier de Milan (258 - 268). Recherches sur la chronologie et la politique monétaire des empereurs Valérien et Gallien (253 - 268), thèse de doctorat en Archéologie et Histoire de l'Art, Université catholique de Louvain, 1989;- Jean-Marc Doyen, La création des types iconographiques romains tardifs. A propos d’une émission exceptionnelle frappée à Milan en l’honneur de Gallien;- Helene Huvelin, Deux émissions exceptionnelles frappées à Milan en l'honneur de Claude II le Gothique;[/QUOTE]

Log in or Sign up

Reply to Thread

Useful Searches