Featured OTD: In 86 CE Mr. Perfect is born...but does anybody really care about Antoninus Pius?

Well, apparently not everyone liked AP back in the days:

Antoninus Pius, Roman Empire, denarius, 145–161 AD, Rome mint. Obv: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP, laureate head of Antoninus Pius right (with apparently intentional ancient damage). Rev: COS IIII, thunderbolt on altar. 16.5mm, 4.02g. RIC III, 137.

Here is one with an Annona reverse – fitting for an emperor who created a new alimenta:

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.

 

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I love A-Pi. Interesting and artistic examples from his reign can be had for very reasonable prices compared to other emperors from before the third century.

Here is one of my favorite coins of Antoninus and another of his lovely wife.

Roman Empire
Antoninus Pius, AD 138-161
AR Denarius, Rome mint, Struck ca. AD 140-143
Wt.: 3.01 g
Dia.: 17 mm, 6h
Obv.: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS PP TR P COS III; Laureate head right
Rev.: AEQVITAS AVG; Aequitas standing left, holding scales and sceptre
Ref.: RIC III 61; RSC 14


Roman Empire
Diva Faustina I (Died ca. AD 141)
AR Denarius, Rome mint, struck after AD 141
Obv.: DIVA AVG FAVSTINA; bust right, hair elaborately styled.
Rev.: DEDICATIO AEDIS; Hexa-style Temple of the Divine Faustina showing podium, statues etc.
Ref.: RIC III 388, Rare

 

You guys are way too serious. Now that was just danged funny......

 

How about Antoninus with some grandchildren?!

 

I'm late to the party, but I did take the pic below yesterday, on A-Pi's birthday itself. Only took me two and a half years to finally get satisfactory pics of this coin. Happy Birthday, A-Pi!


ANTONINUS PIUS
AE Drachm. 25.0g, 35.4mm. EGYPT, Alexandria, RY 12 = AD 148/9. Emmett 1592.12; Dattari 2678 (2676?); RPC Online temp 14907. O: Laureate head right. R: Isis Pharia standing right, holding sail and sistrum; before, Pharos of Alexandria; L (below) ΔⲰΔEKATOV (around).
Ex Robert L. Grover Collection of Roman-Egyptian Coinage, previously held by the Art Institute of Chicago (1982.1960)

 

Happy birthday A-Pi!

Z and I both have oodles of low grade Alexandrian drachms thanks to a fun but insane group lot we split. Here's the best of my half:


EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius
AE drachm, uncertain regnal year
Obv: laureate bust right
Rev: Bust of Zeus Ammon right; L I (date uncertain)
Ref: Dattari-Savio pl. 153 #8807 (this coin); Emmett 1700.10, R5 (but I'm skeptical of this date)
Ex Robert L. Grover Collection of Roman-Egyptian Coinage, previously held by the Art Institute of Chicago
Ex Dattari Collection (Giovanni Dattari, 1853-1923)
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/co-dependent-collecting.296758/


EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius
Regnal year 17
AE drachm, 33mm
Obv: laureate bust right
Rev: Serapis-Agathodaemon standing erect right
Ref: Dattari 2829; Emmett 1678.17
Ex Robert L. Grover Collection of Roman Egyptian Coinage, previously held by the Art Institute of Chicago (1982.1988, G.781)

A smattering of other Alexandrians:


EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius
year 14, CE 150/1
AE drachm, 34 mm, 28.8 gm
Obv: Laureate bust of Antoninus Pius left
Rev: Triptolemos driving biga of winged serpents right; L IΔ above
Ref: Emmett 1683.14


EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius
year 5, CE 141/2
AE drachm, 20 gm
Obv: Laureate draped bust of Antoninus Pius right
Rev: Radiate and draped bust of Serapis-Pantheos (Serapis-Zeus-Ammon-Helios-Poseidon-Nilus) right, wearing calathus and horn of Ammon; trident and cornucopia behind; L-Є in right field
Ref: Emmett 1676.5, R1

 

Oh heck, I'll do another one. I just got this one a week ago. When I got it, there was black stuff all over it, which to my surprise was very soft and came off easily with my thumb.

Here is the seller's photo (note the Trajan attribution (a Trajan sestertius was included in the lot, but the flips got mixed up) and black gunk):



Here is what it looks like now:



Antoninus Pius Æ Sestertius
(144 A.D.)
Rome Mint
ANTONINVS AVG PIVS [PP TR P COS] III, Laureate head right / DES [III]I S-C, Salus standing left, holding rudder on globe and feeding serpent rising from altar to left.
RIC 749; Cohen 348.
(26.05 grams / 29 mm)

According to some information I found on FORVM, "during the year AD 144, Salus was by far the commonest type, which is an indication that the emperor suffered from serious illness in this period."

 

Lots of fun coins in this thread! I do have to say, if I had to pick one emperor to have a dinner with, it would probably be Pius. He just seemed so likeable - a good politician through and through.

I've had more Pius coins pass through my hands than I can shake a stick at, but the permanent residents in my collection are some of my favorites:

As Caesar under Hadrian, AR Denarius
Diana standing right


As Augustus AR Denarius
IMPERATOR II, Minted after he was given the honorific upon completion of the Antonine Wall


AE Sestertius, Salus (This is the one that will be my downfall, as it planted the seeds of the Bronze Bug in my bones)


Posthumous AR Denarius, featuring his wedding ca- er, funeral pyre


And can't forget the Missus....

Lifetime AR Denarius


And Posthumous

 

This Sestertius has a nice chocolate brown color.

 

Nice looking coin! I think that might be Marcus Aurelius?

 

I saw a legend Antoninus on the left side of the portrait and assumed it was Antoninus Pius. I still need to attribute that coin.

 

Antoninus Pius? I love that guy!

Here's my favorite image from that thread, btw:

Image credit: @zumbly

Bingo! For me, that might be a holdover from being drawn to type collecting within US coins, but I love that his denarii are widely available in high grade (gVF+), enough so that one can usually afford to be picky about things like style and centering without worrying that another example won't come around soon enough.

Indeed. The Zodiac series is quite tough! Not only are there 12 of them (one for each sign of the Zodiac), but they are hard to find and moderately expensive. You're probably looking at between $1-2.5k apiece for decent specimens.

A dealer once told me about a guy who spent 30 years putting the set together. Before the age of the internet, that's a lot of travelling to shows and contacting dealers, so I believe it.

Nice! Here's mine:

ANTONINUS PIUS, AR denarius, 18 mm, 3.01g
Obverse: IMP CAES AEL ANTONINVS AVG, bare head right
Reverse: PONT MAX TR POT COS, Diana standing right, holding bow and arrow.
Ref: RIC III 1a

Note: Struck July 138 AD before the consecration of Hadrian. Only 2 examples in the Reka Devnia hoard. That's fewer than some types of Pertinax.

I love this coin because it's from a common emperor, yet deceptively rare. I don't remember how much I paid for it, but it wasn't too expensive, either.

If yours is a pre-"Pius" coin as augustus, then yours is also from July 138 AD. Neat to be able to date a Roman coin to within a few weeks, isn't it?

Many Roman emperors have "Antoninus" as part of their names. I see a lot of coins misattributed on eBay because of this. Yours looks like Commodus to me, but possibly Marcus Aurelius is a possibility, too.

 

Trivia: What an you tell about a coin that reads "Antoninus Pius" on the obverse?


Answer: It is not a coin of Antoninus Pius. He regularly placed AVG between those two words so coins of Antoninus Pius read ANTONINVS AVG PIVS. Coins with the name NOT split by AVG could be Caracalla or Elagabalus but not Antoninus Pius under discussion here.
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/car-elag.html

 

Here is a Marcus Aurelius sestertius that looks similar to yours - note the full "ANTONINVS" in the inscription - but it starts with "M" for Marcus. See Doug's note above for other emperors using the name. I figured yours was Aurelius because of the beard - Marcus wore his longer and scragglier than the well-trimmed AP (bulgier eyes, pointier nose too).



Marcus Aurelius Æ Sestertius
(174-175 A.D.)
Rome Mint
M ANTONINVS AVG GERM T[R P XXIX], laureate head r. / [LIBERALIT]AS AVG VII
[IMP VII COS III] SC, Liberalitas standing left holding coin-counter and cornucopiae.
RIC 1150
(25.02 grams / 29 mm)

 

Thank you guys both for teaching me something new. I greatly appreciate it!

 

Late to the party but wanted to drop in some of my faves...

As Caesar:


Imitation, probably produced by the Roxolani:


And just because I needed to have one with luscious toning like @Curtisimo's!

 

@Severus Alexander
Gorgeous portrait on that first Caesar coin !

This is my AP Indulgentia coin




Antoninus Pius, sestertius
31 mm, 24.77gr.
Obv. ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P XVII / Laureate head right.
Rev. INDVLGENTIA AVG COS IIII / S C / Indulgentia seated left with sceptre, extending right hand.
RIC 914.

 

This is a very strange coin as the reverse only appears on gold coins. It is a fourree coin too, which makes it a contempory forgery. I do have some Antoninus Pius coins but some of the ones you showed, make me green with envy.

Marsman's Indulgentia sestertius is a very common type, but his one is rather special as it shows his laureate bust with drapery on the left shoulder. Only one was among the thousands of sestertii in the Garonne Hoard.

 

@Ryro great post - you had me laughing out loud, happy (belated) birthday to
Titus Aurelius Fulvus Boionius Antoninus. Lots of excellent coins shared in the thread. Here's a favorite denarius of AP.

I tried to read a book about the "Reign of Antoninus Pius", but have had trouble getting past Chapter IV....it's a very relaxing book.

"The reign of Antoninus Pius was devoid of events of great political importance and, while it is a period full of interest to the critical student, contains little to arrest the attention of the average writer."
- The Reign of Antoninus Pius. E.E.Bryant. Cambridge University Press, 1894 p.1-2


"The first period of ten years in Antoninus’ reign had been marked by he quiet prosperity and peaceful progress which are the chief blessings of good government. Nor was the course of the years 149-151 AD different in character from that of the preceding ten, if we may draw any inference from the absence of information with regard to them."
- The Reign of Antoninus Pius. E.E.Bryant. Cambridge University Press, 1894 p65

Apparently, prosperous, peaceful, good government doesn't sell a lot of novels, movies or ancient coins...

Antoninus Pius, AD 138-161, AE As, Rome.
Obv: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P, Laureate head right
Rev: TR POT COS II / PAX in exergue, Pax standing left with branch and cornucopia.
Ref: RIC 569a