New Commodus Billon Tetradrachm

I just picked up this coin...I really like the reverse of Zeus. Commodus as you know was the troubled emperor and son of Marcus Aurelius. He dressed himself in the guise of Hercules and even entered the arena of the Colosseum. In 192 he was strangled by a wrestler in his palace and the choice of ruler fell on Pertinax. This coin is a billon tetradrachm of Alexandria, Egypt.

Commodus (180-192. A.D.)

Type: Billon Tetradrachm, 25mm, 11.06 grams

Obverse: M AVΡ KOMMO ANTΩNINOC CE, Laureate bust of Commodus right

Reverse: VΠAT OCTOΔ, Zeus seated left, holding scepter and thunderbolt, K theta in field

Reference: It appears closest to Milne 2637, however, that type has Zeus holding Nike and not a thunderbolt according to Wildwinds, so I would appreciate any help in nailing down precisely this reverse type and the appropriate reference.

Thanks!

 

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Emmett separates out the Commodus / Zeus seated left into three separate entries based on what he is holding and other factors.

Yours is Emmett 2567, regnal year 29 (that's what the L K Θ represents), which is 188/9 CE. "Zeus seated left on throne, with sceptre and thunderbolt". R1.

Milne 2677 is the correlate per the concordance table in the back of Emmett. I'll dig out the book shortly and double-check.

Nice coin

 

Thanks @TIF !

 

Very nice addition.


ommodus (177 - 192 A.D.)
Egypt, Alexandria
Billion Tetradrachm
O: M A KOM ANTW CEBEVCEB, laureate head right.
R: Head of Zeus right, LK Z at sides. L KZ=Year 27=(186/187).
11.25g
23mm
Köln 2227; Dattari 3892; Milne 2665 = Emmett 2563.27.

 

The obverse legend for year 29 was bit shorter: MAKOMANTωCEBEVCEB

M(APKOC) A(VPHΛIOC) KOM(MOΔOC) ANTω(NINOC) CEB(ACTOC) EVCEB(HC)
Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus Pius

Below are catalog numbers from various sources, more than anyone really needs but I was in the mood to look them up .

Emmett:


Milne: (I'm not sure of the proper convention when a single type has more than one catalog number without significant differences. Just name the first number? Both?)


Curtis: (which also gives the BMC and Milne catalog numbers)


Dattari:

 

It soon will be two years since I bought that bulk lot of Alexandrians which included 22 of Commodus including the one above. When I got it, I thought I would be able to part with some of them but so far I have been able to love all but the single duplicate which someone here bought in a JAZ auction. Alexandrians are easy to like if you can get over the fact that few of them are found in mint state. Of my group, I like this Nilus best

but many were more a fan of the low grade lighthouse when I showed them here back then.

 

Great coins @dougsmit and the lighthouse of Pharos one is fantastic. I saw one of those of Commodus for sale for $1,200 on the web which is more than I want to pay for an Alexandrian tetradrachm.

 

The lighthouse is given R1 by Emmett which means just about everywhere you look, you will find one. The $1200 coin must have been exceptionally nice. Many of the Commodus tets are R4 or R5 which means there are few known and some of them may well have been in horrid condition. Lets just say there are 1000 of the lighthouse coins but there are easily 2000 people who want an image of the lighthouse (people who have heard of the 7 wonders of the ancient world) so the price goes up. An R5 that is known from 2 or 3 specimens may be desired by 1 or 2 collector/specialists making the third one hard to sell.

You get duplicate numbers when a catalog is a collection like BMC or Milne rather than a compilation of what exists like RIC or Emmett. Listing the first number works for me. Note how Curtis even gives the condition of his coin. My experience with coins of this period is that half of them lack some or all of the date. That makes them a bit harder to date unless they share a die with a better coin.

Another favorite from the group is the lion AE diobol Emmett 2605. At R4 there are others but this is the only one of this die I have seen. It is ex Dattari. The 23 is there in exergue but where is the L? Is this the best or worst known? The other four years reported in Emmett are all R5. I doubt anyone is collecting the set.

 

Good looking addition!

 

I'm trying to make sense of the reverse inscription on the OP. First of all, I don't see it anywhere in the photo. Where is it? Second, what does it mean? If I try to transliterate it, I get UPAT OSTOD. Huh? Can anyone enlighten me?

 

It was a mistake. @ancient coin hunter copied the attribution from the most similar example he found on Wildwinds but that was probably Emmett 2566, reverse "Zeus seated left on throne, holding Nike and sceptre; VΠATOCTOΔ". His coin does not carry this reverse legend.

VΠATOCTOΔ = Consul for the 4th year (Commodus sole reign). That inscription is found on only a couple of reverse types of Commodus for regnal year 23, which was apparently his 4th consular year.

(Edited to add that I have not tried to understand the abbreviation; I simply copied this information from Emmett .)

 

Thanks, TIF, for the explanation. If we assume the delta represents a 4, then perhaps VΠATOCTO (UPATOSTO) is a word meant to describe regnal year?

 

Yes, but I don't know if that is an abbreviation or an entire word nor do I know how it translates. I bet someone here might know... someone who is a language whiz, like @Roman Collector...

 

Yes. VΠATOCTOΔ would be equivalent to COSIV. I suspect it is to be taken as VΠATOC TO Δ, Consul the fourth.

 

Mystery solved! Thank you, Roman Collector.

 

The condition of the Pharos/ship coin was perhaps slightly better than your example, but not by much. I think you are right that some folks favor a coin depicting one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Or at least dealers know how to separate collectors from their cash.

 

Very nice Commodus! It's always struck me as interesting that the style on these Alexandrian coins becomes noticeably cruder during Commodus's reign. Perhaps it's the case that production having dropped so drastically after Antoninus Pius's time, many of the die engravers retired or found new work during the lean years and the trade eventually passed on to less talented hands?

Here's my only Commodus from Alexandria, bought about a year ago.


COMMODUS
Billon Tetradrachm. 12.96g, 25.2mm. EGYPT, Alexandria, RY 27 (AD 186/7). Dattari (Savio) 3900; RPC Online temp #14204; Emmett 2568.27. O: Μ Α ΚΟΜ ΑΝΤω СƐΒ ƐVСƐΒ, laureate head of Commodus right. R: Head of Zeus-Ammon right, wearing solar disk and horn; L K-Z (date) across field.
Ex Hermanubis Collection

 

You are right, after Antoninus Pius the volume of the coin production seemingly went down, with less examples available, which continued into the third century when there was an uptick in the 2nd half of the third century.

 

Yes. Commodus did have the coin described but I am unclear on why it was quoted.

 

That's a nice one @dougsmit