Numerian Antoninianus: a well-struck coin of a short-lived emperor

Banduri, writing in 1718, states that "Magnia Urbica, who appears to be the wife of Carus Augustus, is known only through coins." (Magnia Urbica Cari Augusti, ut quidem videtur, conjux, ex solis nummis nota est.)

Of course Banduri turned out to be wrong, but it's interesting.

 

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Great details, love the long neck era.

 

RI
Magnia Urbica
285 CE
silvered Ant
AE 23mm 3.4g
crescent -
Venus helmet scepter shield
RIC 343 R

 

Thanks everyone for sharing some real beauties!

RC, I honestly didn’t notice the resemblance to the long-neck Aurelian portraits, but you are dead on!

@Finn235 Wow, that’s a very impressive set! I especially your Numerian as Augustus on the huge flan, but all of those are great.

@Spaniard , I love that Carus with the lightning bolt!

@DonnaML What a portrait on that Numerian! And that Carinus is an absolute stunner!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen that reverse type, very cool.

@ancient coin hunter I really like that tet, very nice!

 

Are you sure the coins were not priced down because of the rumor that Numerian stinks?
Many coins of this period appear on wide spread, thin flans that make for flat spots even on 'as struck' coins. Note the texture in the reverse void that was from the cast blank flan and never touched by the die. It backs up to the head with similar unerased texture around the ear and crown.


To get as much detail as possible on the thin flan, this one must have been struck with great force spreading it into the 'boardwalk flan' zone. You can see the wreath held by Victory but the flat spot erased the figure except for that wreath.


I see nothing at all like Aurelian here but every mint seemed to have their own idea as to the appearance of either. If I were forced to see Aurelian in my Numerians, it might be in this first one. Note also that this thicker flan allowed metal to fill in Victory.



If you research past postings on CT, you may find a discussion on the lack of 'proper' use of the AVGGG '3G' rule. It seems that Numerian was awarded a G on the reverse of coins while he was NOBC on the obverse.

 

IMP C AVR NVMERIANVS AVG - MONETA AVGG
Bronze Medallion, Rome mint, 1.-10. August 283 AD (dating by Pink)
32,55 mm / 20,86 gr
Cohen 32 (this specimen), Gnecchi II, 9 (this specimen)

For my writeup on the accession of Numerianus (and a discussion about his corresponding Medallions from the Rome mint) see here:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/unique-medallion-of-numerianus.325646/#post-3217093

 

Here's a Numerian with AVGGG from Antioch with an unusually heavy flan, sometime between Numerian being elevated to Caesar, late autumn of 282, and his elevation to Augustus in Feb-Mar 283 (with thanks to @Valentinian for the useful write-up). Listed as "Scarce" in RIC - the only other one I can find of this type, officina B, in ACSearch is an AVGG (RIC 376)

Numerian as Caesar, AD 282-283, Antoninianus (21mm, 4.75g, 6h), Antioch mint
Obv: IMP C M AVR NVMERIANVS NOB C, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right
Rev: VIRTVS AVGGG, Numerian standing right, holding scepter, receiving Victory on globe from Jupiter; star above; B//XXI
Ref: RIC V Carus 378 (compare to 376 and 377 with AVGG)