Nerva-Antonines: A Huge Milestone for my Collection

Some women of the period:

Sabina:



Faustina I



Diva Faustina I


Faustina II (plus her twin infant sons b. 31 Aug 161 AD: Titus Aurelius Fulvus Antoninus [the older twin, d. 165 AD] and Commodus):



Diva Faustina II



Lucilla



Crispina

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Just last week I got a sestertius of Aelius. As noted in other threads I really like sestertii though when they get pricy I like to get some one I can trust to look at them and bid for me. I had a good recommendation on this coin so I bid on it and got it.
Aelius Sestertius 137 AD Obv. Head of Aelius right Rv. Salus seated left feeding snake emerging from altar RIC 2677(new) RIC 1063 (old) 27.55 grms 31mm Photo by W. Hansen

 

Thank you for the kind words @Curtisimo. It's always a pleasure to showing them as they are seldom seen as a representation of the adoptive emperors.

Other than that, I have no denomination set for them, but a mix :

Nerva dupondius :



Trajan dupondius :



Hadrian as :



Aelius denarius :



Antoninus Pius sestertius :



Marcus Aurelius dupondius :



Lucius Verus denarius :



Commodus sestertius :


Q

 

Wonderful coins, and your notes make an excellent post - here are my good emperors in a mix of denominations:

 

That's a splendid group of coins, @Curtisimo ! Each and every one of them not only has a good portrait but also an interesting and/or historically important reverse. I'm truly impressed.

My Antonine "set" (a term I don't like) of Antonine denarii is a bit more pedestrian, and I also don't have an Aelius:


Nerva, Roman Empire, denarius, 98 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP NERVA CAES AVG GERM PM TR P II, laureate head of Nerva right. Rev: IMP II COS IIII PP, Aequitas standing left, holding scales and cornucopiae. 18mm, 2.98g. Ref: RIC II Nerva 44.


Trajan, Roman Empire, denarius, 101/102 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP CAESAR NERVA TRAIAN AUG GERM, laureate head of Trajan right. Rev: PM TRP COS IIII PP, Victory standing facing, holding wreath and palm branch. 18mm, 3.04g. Ref: RIC II Trajan 58.


Hadrian, Roman Empire, denarius, 119–122 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG, laureate head of Hadrian right. Rev: PM TR P COS III, Pax seated left, holding Victory on globe and branch. 18.5mm, 3.05g. Ref: RIC II Hadrian 95.


Antoninus Pius, Roman Empire, denarius, 155–156 AD, Rome mint. Obv: [ANTO]NINVS AVG PIVS PP [IMP II], head of Antoninus Pius, laureate, r. Rev: TR POT XIX [CO]S III, Annona standing l., holding corn ears, resting l. hand on modius standing on prow with rudder leaning on it. 18mm, 3.27g. Ref: RIC III Antoninus Pius 249.


Marcus Aurelius (posthumous), Roman Empire, denarius, 180 AD, Rome mint. Obv: DIVUS M ANTONINVS PIVS; head of Marcus Aurelius r. Rev: CONSECRATIO; eagle standing on globe r, head turned l. 19mm, 2.79g. Ref: RIC III Commodus 273.


Lucius Verus, Roman Empire, denarius, 167/168 AD. Rome mint. Obv: L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX, laureate head of Lucius Verus right. Rev: TR P VIII IMP V COS III, Aequitas seated left, holding scales and cornucopiae. 18mm, 2.62g. Ref: RIC III Marcus Aurelius 595.


Commodus, Roman Empire, denarius, 182 AD, Rome mint. Obv: M COMMOD[VS ANTON]INVS AVG, laureate head of Commodus right. Rev: LIB AVG V TR P VII IMP IIII COS III PP, Liberalitas standing left holding counting board and cornucopiae. 18mm, 2.24g. Ref: RIC III Commodus 36A.

 

Nice additions Brian. I especially like your Trajan bronze!

Thank you Romancollector!

Nice Commodus. Someday I might try to get this reverse type as well. I like the bow and quiver.

Thank you RC! Now I am going to have to go back through a bunch of your old posts to help me decide on interesting coin types for the rest of the dynasty. Especially the Faustinas which you have many great posts on

Wonderful coins Donna. Thank you for sharing. That Marcus raising Italia reverse is really cool.

 

These are great @Shea19 . My collection is light on provincials in general so its very cool to see a parallel collection in all provincial types. Beautiful coins. I especially like your Commodus ex Dattari.

Awesome coins Finn. The Plotina / Marciana / Matidia are going to be the tough ones for me.

Your Faustina II with the bed and twins is on my target list and will probably be my next coin in the series. Yours is a great example.

You're too kind... especially since I thought I was decidedly no. 3 funniest . Moving on up!

I enjoy the polls and seeing what everyone else likes, particularly because a lot of members who don't necessarily want to post to the thread will often vote on a poll. Obviously I like them all, which is why I bought them, but I do get a kick out of learning about what other members find interesting. Thanks for the kind words about Nerva! That is one of my favorite portraits in my collection!

 

These are great! There is always something really satisfying about a group photo of related coins. the portrait on your Lucius Verus is really nice!

Thank you Orielensis! I like your Divus Marcus Aurelius. I will probably try to put together a subcollection of divi coins of the dynasty at some point.

 

I'm afraid that I really do not have any denarii of Nerva and the Antonine Dynasty. Over the years I have concentrated on other denominations that afford a larger platform for interesting themes and designs. Even so, my entire Roman collection is spotty, with lots of gaps.

So, having said that, here are a few of coins issued by Nerva, Marcus Aurelius and Commodus that I have posted before. I have some more that need to be photographed, something that I hope to accomplish before the start of the next century.

Nerva
AR tetradrachm
Antioch
A = Reginal Year 1 (96/7 AD)
Obverse: AVT NEPOV AΣ - KAIΣ ΣEB beginning upper right, laureate bust right with fold of aegis on front shoulder and behind neck.
Reverse: ETOVC upside down in exergue, NEOV IEPOV clockwise at left, A in upper right field, Eagle standing right on thunderbolt, wings spread, palm branch to right. Prieur 149.






Marcus Aurelius, circa 140-144 AD
AE Sestertius
As Caesar
AVRELIVS CAESAR AVG PII F COS, bare head right.
IVVENTAS S-C, Juventas standing left, holding branch, trophy to right with shield below.
RIC 1233a; Cohen 394.
Good VF


Marcus Aurelius
Æ29 of Anemurium, Cilicia
Dated RY 7 = AD 166/7
[…]ANTΩN[…], laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / ΑΝEΜ[…]ΡΙEѠΝ, Marcus Aurelius clasping hands with Lucius Verus; EΤ Ζ (date) and altar between. Unpublished, including RPC Online. 13.15g, 29mm, 11h.
Near Very Fine.

Extremely Rare; unpublished and possibly unique.


Marcus Aurelius
AE sestertius
Rome
M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG ARMENIACVS P M, laureate bust right / TR POT XX [IMP III CO]S III, Providentia standing facing, head left, holding wand and sceptre, globe at feet; S-C across fields.
RIC 923; C.805; BMCRE 1279. 29.79g, 33mm, 6h.
Nice portrait; fields lightly smoothed on both obverse and reverse; brown patina.

Very Fine.





Commodus, circa 190 AD
AE sestertius
Rome Mint
M COMMOD ANT P FELIX AVG BRIT PP, laureate head rt. / [MINER AVG PM] TR P XVI [COS VI], Minerva hurrying right, head left, holding branch, spear and shield. S-C across fields.
RIC III 582, Sear RCV II 5769, BMCRE IV 671, MIR [Moneta Imperii Romani] Vol. 18, 816.
20.1 grams
27.5 mm, 12 h.
Good VF, with a dark brown/green patina and earthen highlights. Very scarce

 

I figure I might as well post a few other coins from this sub-collection I really like in this period as well.

Faustina I: This coin will likely by my representative example for Faustina I. I think the types that show the temple dedicated by Antoninus Pius in the Roman Forum in her honor are the most interesting of her types. The only issue is that this is a posthumous issue and I will definitely want to pick up a lifetime portrait at some point as well.


I tend to prefer the nominal realism of the temple engraving on the above example but when I saw this piece I knew I would have to go for it as a companion piece. It shows more detail (the railing) as well as showing a representation of Faustina's cult statue. If you go to the ruins of the temple today you can see the bottom half of this statue that was discarded in the early Christian period and unearthed in the 19th century.


Here is a photo of what the temple looks like today... or at least the last time I was there in 2018 and took this photo.


Commodus: Most people understandably like the representation of Commodus as Hercules. However, I find this coin interesting as well and it's a favorite of mine. The title BRIT on the obverse refers to important events in the reign of Commodus that took place in that province.


I also have few Sesterii of the dynasty though admittedly they have not been as carefully chosen as my denarii have been. Still some interesting coins though.

I like this for the style and the young portrait of Commodus.


I like the late style portrait on this sestertius. The type wishes the emperor a safe return to Rome from his conquests in the east.


This is a coin that is nicer in hand than is pictured here. The representation of a praying stance on the reverse is very well done by this engraver.

 

I do not like Cucumbor´s Hadrian consecratio Antoninianus.

The strange lines look like ghost lines (representing the end of planchet of the mother), it does not show any part of the dotted border,which can not be already seen on the Lanz specimen although there is enough space on the planchet for it. It does not show any new details which are not already present on the Lanz specimen. The flan shape of the Lanz specimen is very individual due to the still present casting sprue obverse about 9 and revers about 3 o´ clock and it seems like the ghost line is coping this flan shape perfectly.
On the Lanz specimen are edge cracks on the reverse which were possibly copied, hard to tell form picture. The Lanz specimen seems to have a red copper encrustration on the I of Divus and an imprint of this encrustration seems to be copied too.

My problem is that there are more of them, but they have possible same scratch in wing as the Lanz specimen but one of them has a part of dotted border which can not be seen on Lanz specimen so this dotted border must be either recut or this ghost line etc must have been in the original dies but then I would like to know an explanation what can cause use structures in original dies that can look line ghost lines, I do not think that die cracks can look similar and even if so this ghost lines are on both dies and this whould be very unlikely.

I do not doubt the authenticity (I only like to get to know an eplanation how such ghost lines can be found on authetnic coins on both sides. On one side it could be in fact a damaged die but that obverse and reverse dies where damage so strange at same time is strange.

So what can cause such "ghost lines"?

Lanz

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=338709

The other two

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=7016240

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=36158


Authentic ones, some share the same reverse die bit obverse die is hard to say, because there seem to be several very similar obverse dies only the position of the letters of the legend is sightly different. But authentic ones are without ghost lines

numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.4.tr_d.87








Authentic possibly one of the best or the best preserved specimen form same obverse and reverse die but pictures are really bad, but there the dotted border is fine and no ghost lines

https://issuu.com/cngcoins/docs/cng_51/148

Lot 1305

 

Thank you for your kind words!

Currently, I'm aiming at other targets. It's unlikely I will add coins of other members of this dynasty any time soon.
Another subset I would like to complete is a set of sestertii of the emperors of mentioned dynasty. I missing three emperors.

 

Ahem....

I see what you mean, and it makes me a bit uncomfortable.
I can add pictures from Joaquim Blay's website. He's put together a comprehensive corpus of all the known examples, with die numbers, and die chains.
My example is of obverse die # AD19 and reverse die A017

When on the "advanced search page", scroll down to "Show me all coins minted with the die named : "

Now enter AD19 and tick the "obverse" case to see all the known coins minted with this obverse die

Then enter A017 and tick the "reverse" case to see all the known coins minted with this reverse die

Hope that helps solving the case

Q

 

If you can find specimens from the same dies from earlier and with same and later die state but without this "ghost lines" then they were not in the original dies, because it would mean that the ghost lines instead of dotted border appeared at a sepcific die state but were not present anymore at a later die state, so the original dies, to be exact there the dotted border, must have been recut prefectly in later die state exactly the way it was in its earlist die state which is impossible.

Fresh dies normal dotted border
later die state normal dotted boder
later die state ghost lines instead of dotted border
Latest die state normal dotted border again

If this is the case here, than it would speak for transfer die fakes or cast fakes.
because you need to get in later die state back from ghost lines to normal dotted border and this can only be done by perfect recutting, which is imho impossible.

I have not found there ("Joaquim Blay's website)

http://www.qblay.com/

the specimen sold in CNG auction 51 lot 1305 (the most likely best preserved specimen from these dies and so very helpful for die study)

https://issuu.com/cngcoins/docs/cng_51/148