I had the opportunity recentlyto buy some Gallic Empire coins. This is not an area I focus on but sometimes you have to just go for it. Amongst the offerings was this Postumus with bust of Sol.The trade often tries to offer these as rare but I think that they are scarce rather than rare. The quality of engraving on Sol was what sold me on the coin immediately. It is nice to see a coin where the reverse die isn't very worn.... I know that there I at least one of these knocking about in CT Member collections (@seth77). Does anyone else have one? Postumus Antoninianus Obv:– IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right Rev:– PACATOR ORBIS, Radiate, draped bust of Sol right. Minted in Trier. A.D. 269 Reference– RIC 317 3.25 g. 19.41 mm. 0 degrees Martin
That's a lovely example of a scarce issue. As my "focus" is more on the Nerva-Antonine period, I don't have a lot of Postumus antoniniani. Here's one of the more interesting reverse types. Postumus, AD 260-269. Roman billon antoninianus, 2.54 g, 22.4 mm, 12 h. Trier (some attribute to Cologne), 1st emission, 2nd phase, AD 260-261. Obv: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right. Rev: SALVS PROVINCIARVM, river god Rhinus, bearded and horned, reclining left, resting right hand on boat and holding anchor in left, left arm resting on urn. Refs: RIC 87; RSC 355b; Mairat 1-5; RCV 10991; AGK 88c; De Witte 290; Hunter p. lxxxviii.
"It is nice to see a coin where the reverse die isn't very worn...." My Aes of Postumus. A decent but inexpensive example --with a worn Rv die. For some reason it was labeled as a "double sestersius". I recall it being around 20grams but will look it up with the auction firm (CNG, 2013, #??) weight. There was a huge wt variance with these. No silver plating involved here. I really wish there was somewhere we could take our coins to have them submitted to a lab grade XRF analysis. These jewelry shops have these things but not being lab grade, I don't believe they will provide trace metals analysis. Thus rather than just saying billion, one would know at least the surface metals composition. A specific gravity test would probably not be helpful with the 1st coin as the oxides would throw the measurements off.
Postumus AR Antoninianus Obverse: IMP C POSTVMVS PF AVG Radiate, draped, cuirassed but right Reverse: SERAPI COMITI AVG Serapis standing left, raising hand and holding sceptre Year: 267 C.E. Reference: RSC 360a, Sear 10991 Mint: Trier Postumus A.D. 260 Ӕ Double Sestertius, 28mm 22.1 grams Obverse: L IMP C M CASS LAT POSTVMUVS P F AVG; radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Reverse: P M TR P COS II PP S C; Emperor in military attire stg. l.; holding globe and spear. Reference: RIC V Lugdunum 106
I am not actively searching for these Gallic Empire coinages, but this specimen is very good, one of the more suggestive busts of Sol I have seen.
Cool version with SOL reverse, @maridvnvm ! I imagine those are hard to find... Nice. Unfortunately, I am not a SOL-Man with my only Postumus... but mine was cleaned (the only coin I have ever let cleaned), with a pretty dramatic change. RI Postumus 259-268 CE Antoninianus Cologne Oriens ex tif
I have a bust of Sol type. I received it in a lot of coins from Roma that contained several of his coins. This photo is currently in my "To be listed on eBay" folder, which means at some point I'll probably sell it on eBay, but since I already have one of his listed and several more in the TBLOeBay folder, and there doesn't seem to be a huge demand for his coins right now, who knows if or when I'll ever get around to listing it. It may wind up, unloved and underappreciated, in my permanent collection: By the way, here's the coin of his that I cherry picked from the lot to add to my permanent collection: Silver Double Denarius Lugdunum mint Obv: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG Rev: NEPTVNO REDVCI - Nepture, standing, facing left, holding dolphin in right hand and trident in left; prow of ship at feet RIC 76 23mm, 3.7g
Weird. That's a photo of the old coin that I replaced with the new one from the lot from Roma. I copied it from this page and pasted it into the message: http://feltemp.com/Emperors/Postumus.html Apparently somewhere in the process my computer must have inserted a cached version of the old photo. The funny thing is that when I edit that post the correct photo comes up in the edit box. Here's the correct photo along with the description repeated: Silver Double Denarius Lugdunum mint Obv: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG Rev: NEPTVNO REDVCI - Nepture, standing, facing left, holding dolphin in right hand and trident in left; prow of ship at feet RIC 76 23mm, 3.7g
Very nice coins all!.....@maridvnvm super double portrait... I only have one.... Postumus, Antoninianus, 260-269, Trier, , Billon 21MM Obverse- Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG Reverse- Serapis standing left, raising hand & holding sceptre; prow at his feet to left SERAPI COMITI AVG RIC-329 Trier mint (AD 267)
