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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Julius Germanicus, post: 5303691, member: 80783&quot;]My last coin of 2020 arrived on Christmas eve today. This was also the final Roman Emperor missing in my Sestertius collection.</p><p><br /></p><p>After being the underbidder of the two VF specimens that appeared in auction this year (both with irregular flans / incomplete legends), I decided to go for this mid-priced specimen, which despite being well worn and very light, combines a roundish flan, readable legends, and my preferred tan tone.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1223660[/ATTACH]</p><p>IMP CAES AEMILIANVS P F AVG - laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Aemilian right</p><p>VOTIS DECENNA LIBVS SC in four lines within laurel wreath</p><p>Orichalcum Sestertius, Rome mint, struck ca. August 253 AD</p><p>29mm / 11,28 g</p><p>RIC IV 54a (RRR), Cohen 67, Hunter 25, Sear 9862, Banti 18 (23 specimens, same obverse die as illustrated)</p><p><br /></p><p>Aemilius Aemilianus was the second Roman Emperor of African origin after Septimius Severus. He was born on the Island of Djerba (Tunisia) around 207 or 213 a.D. and has been described as a Moor and a Lybian.</p><p><br /></p><p>During the joint reign of Trebonianus Gallus and his son Volusian (AD 251-253), Aemilian was serving as a commander in Moesia Inferior, where he oversaw the legions south of the Danube.</p><p>In the spring of 253 aD, he decided no longer to pay the tribute to the Goths who had defeated and killed the Emperors Trajan Decius and Herennius Etruscus in the battle of Abritus in AD 251 in the same province. After breaking the Gothic invasion led by the king Cniva, he directed a punitive expedition north of the Danube and led his troops to unexpected victories and much wealth in the process.</p><p><br /></p><p>In July 253 his troops hailed Aemilian emperor against Gallus and Volusian. Aemilian marched into Italy along the Flaminian way with a limited force (as he could not have stripped Moesia of soldiers). Nevertheless, when the co-Emperors faced him at Terni in southern Umbria, their Army retreated and both Gallus and Volusian were killed by their own guard at the nearby city of Forum Flaminii. Aemilian was recognized by the Senate as the new emperor before he entered the city.</p><p><br /></p><p>But his reign was doomed from the start, as the commander of the Roman legions “beyond the Alps” in Raetia,&nbsp; Publius Licinius Valerianus, as soon as&nbsp; he heard of Aemilian’s elevation, decided to move towards Italy and fight for the imperial power with an army that vastly outnumbered the force Aemilian had at his disposal.</p><p><br /></p><p>When marching against Valerian on the Via Flaminia in September 253, Aemilian’s men understood they were outnumbered and half way between Rome and Spoleto chose to support Valerian instead. Aemilianus was executed on a bridge between Otricoli and Narnia called Pons Sanguinarius, ‘the sanguinary bridge’, after a rule that according to the Chronographer of 354 lasted only 88 days.</p><p><br /></p><p>Aemilian´s roman coinage is far scarcer than that of Pertinax for example, who ruled for three months. There is a total of 4 Aurei of Aemilianus extant today while 479 Antoniniani are recorded from hoards. In the five relevant hoards including coins of Aemilian (Eauze, Dorchester, Rue, Cunetio and Landebaeron), these made up a mere 0,18 % of the contents of these finds, a number which seems to fit one month of reign rather than three. This suggests that Aemilian´s reported rule of three months was counted from the acclamation in Moesia and therefore includes Aemilian´s march to the battle with Gallus and Volusian which likely took one or even two month.</p><p><br /></p><p>I took the biographical and numismatic info above mainly from Hadrien Rambach, &quot;Notes on the gold coinage of Aemilian&quot;&nbsp; (in Cercle d’études numismatiques, Volume 54, No.3, 2017).</p><p><br /></p><p>Despite the short reign Aemilian´s Roman coinage can be divided into two separate issues according to their obverse legend.</p><p>The first emission, into which my Sestertius belongs, features the obverse legend IMP CAES AEMILIANVS PF, while the second, with IMP AEMILIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, gives prominence to the Pius Felix title.</p><p><br /></p><p>As far as Sestertii are concerned, I observed that the first obverse is encountered six times as often as the second (6 : 1 of the specimens found in the Guelma hoard, corresponding perfectly to the 66 : 11 specimens listed by Banti)</p><p>If we suggest a total duration of coinage for Aemilian of six weeks,&nbsp; I therefore estimate the first emission to have lasted five weeks, while the second, which the mint would have chosen to be the final version, can´t have lasted much more than one week (even if we take into account the possibility of the continued use of older dies from the first emission). It may therefore only have started when Aemilian left town for the final battle and came to an abrupt halt once the news of his demise entered the city.</p><p><br /></p><p>Sestertii of Aemilian from the Rome mint are much scarcer today than the bronzes struck at Viminacium in the name of “Provincia Dacia” (105 specimens of those listed in RPC).</p><p><br /></p><p>The VOTIS DECENNALIBVS reverse was the only reverse type exclusively reserved for Sestertii in the first emission. In the case of Aemilian however the vow of a rule for &quot;ten more years&quot; must hold the title of the most unrealistic vow ever issued on a roman coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>This might be only the second Sestertius of this ruler posted here on CT so far but please let me know if you have any doubts about it´s authenticity. The slightly concave reverse lacks sharp details while on the other hand the obverse letters seem right to me and the edges of the slight die break are very crisp.</p><p><br /></p><p>Please show your coins of Aemilian or anything related, share your thoughts, and enjoy happy holidays despite these troubled times![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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