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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Curtis, post: 24662299, member: 26430&quot;][USER=103829]@Jochen1[/USER] -- many thanks for the update! I may have mentioned before, but I think of my collection of coins as a sort of annotated bibliography of numismatic literature. So this one is my representative of the HHJ <i>Nicopolis</i> series, and I prize every extra bit of information like that! (Also a <a href="https://conservatoricoins.com/provenance-coins/#private-collections" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://conservatoricoins.com/provenance-coins/#private-collections" rel="nofollow">&quot;collective biography,</a>&quot; so this coin&nbsp; also represents the several collectors who previously owned it, H. Howard, G. Spradling, J. Winnett, [USER=57495]@zumbly[/USER] ).</p><p><br /></p><p>[USER=83845]@Curtisimo[/USER] -- that is a spectacular Marcus Aurelius denarius. Given the prior collection history, I suspect that specimen was on my Watchlist at one point.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is getting really deep into the weeds of &quot;captives&quot; coinage, but I suspect that&#039;s the first reverse showing a single captive <i>seated left</i> directly under a trophy. (And very few after that.)</p><p><br /></p><p>I have a low grade M. Aurelius Denarius with the German captive seated <i>right</i>. And the Trajan denarius, which may have been the prototype, modifying Vespasian&#039;s Judaea Capta Denarius/Aureus by sliding the Dacian captive directly under the trophy (there had previously been <i>kneeling captives </i>under the trophy from Titus and a Fundanius Republican Quinarius and a seated captive just left of the trophy on a Cloelius Republican Quinarius):</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1572231[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>That&#039;s a great Alexandrian captive coin, [USER=104887]@Broucheion[/USER] ! Similar design, but your captive has bound hands and is looking left. It&#039;s very interesting that the legend is ARMENIA (APMЄ - NIA), presumably identifying the captive as Armenian rather than Parthian. (Historically, and on Imperial captives coinage, Parthian captives &amp; Armenia were closely related. But on RIC, I don&#039;t know if Armenia is ever bound; usually she&#039;s mourning, making her more &quot;personification&quot; than &quot;captive&quot; in some ways; usually the bound captive is Parthian.)</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1572234[/ATTACH]</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1572235[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Nice Constantine SARMATIA DEVICTA, [USER=111067]@expat[/USER] ! I really like that type. Notice how Victory is using her foot to press down on the Sarmatian captive&#039;s bound hands, forcing him into a &quot;stress position.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>The deliberate discomfort of the captive seems to have become a standard feature in the mid-3rd century. Constantine&#039;s captives coinage actually borrows a lot artistically from that period.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s mine:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1572236[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>She &quot;spurns&quot; the captive just as Sol often did on many coins of Aurelian:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1572238[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Another Constantine &quot;captives&quot; type, borrowing from another mid-3rd century design (Probus&#039; ADVENTVS w/ captive under horse&#039;s hoof):</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1572237[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1572239[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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