Septimius September!

I just wanted to say a thank you to @Roman Collector for starting this thread. I gave me a chance to look through my collection and to gather some of my coins together in a slightly more structured manner to answer questions raised or thoughts triggered by the posts of our fellow collectors. I must admit that I could have gone on for another 30 days so it is a good thing for everyone else here that September only had 30 days. I enjoyed this thread thoroughly and will be sad to see it recede down the pages.

 

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NOOOOOO! In fact it is a great injustice that September has only 30 days. This was caused by that great egomaniac Augustus that insisted his month be as long as July thus disrupting the orderly progression of long and short months alternating through the year. September should have been a long month like the odd numbered months before it. We must do our part now to right this wrong. Therefore, my final post will honor the memory of that victim of time, September 31st.

31. Since September 31 is not generally recognized as an 'official' day my offering will honor a coin which is similarly not accepted as 'official' but is my favorite unofficial coin of Septimius Severus. It is a Legionary struck in honor of LEG VII CL (or is it ITAL) in a style just not right for the mint at Rome or any of the other recognized branch mints. The obverse reads the usual IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG but continues with the remnants of an undertype not perfectly clear. The enlarged inset has been inverted in the photo below to make it easier to see if not decipher. Does it say "NI"?


I love my status as an amateur and meaningless believer in fanciful numismatics allowing me to see what I want to see and not have to be peer reviewed or 'publish or perish'. What my whim proposes here is a mint operation tasked to convert dangerous to own (Septimius might not a be a fan of people who had a lot of cash bearing the face of Pescennius Niger) denarii into something that could be circulated in relative safety. To prove this, I would have to find a few more coins of this style or from these dies allowing more clear reading and showing traces of undertype. That is quite unlikely so the legitimate literature will ignore this coin just as it does the proper place in the calandar of this day, September 31.

Our back-up coin for this non-day is not in my collection because it was part of the great collection of the late Roger Bickford-Smith transferred to the British Museum rather than being sold off in CNG47 (1998) with his other coins deemed unworthy. I was aware of the coin from my correspondence with Roger and was hoping it would be found uninteresting and passed on to someone like me. It is a standard enough coin of 'Emesa' style clearly showing an undertype reading PESC (obverse left). At least one coin of Pescennius Niger was overstruck. Were there many? Will more turn up in junk lots? If it exists, would the mainstream market find such coins worthy of being cataloged?Probably not but it is what I am hoping to see someday.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1997-1203-107

For the record, I believe the undertype of the BM coin was probably like this one:
https://cngcoins.com/Lot.aspx?LOT_I...1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_4=1&VIEW_TYPE=0


September! Like my time as an active collector of ancient coins, it was fun while it lasted. I hope this thread will cause a few of you to become interested in Septimius Severus (and consider buying my coins from my grandson when they become his inheritance). Caesar Augustus destroyed the old order Roman Republic and replaced it with a system where claiming to be the heir of the previous ruler made one the next ruler. Septimius Severus introduced a new idea that caught on rather well in the next centuries based on the premise that the true ruler was the guy with the strongest army and no qualms about using that army to eliminate those who did not accept his truth. Both Augustus and Septimius had the same fatal flaw. Neither was able to provide Rome with a satisfactory and competent way of transferring power other than using the system that had brought them into prominence. Septimius tried to legitimize himself by reverse adoption into the line of Marcus Aurelius (I don't think anyone showed one of those coins) but what he did leave was proof of the fact that the big dog tends to win the fight. I wish I could say that bullies are not still in operation today.

At reverse left DIVI M PII F showing Septimius' claim to being son of the divine Marcus.

 

I take it you won't be celebrating "Octavian October"

You're very welcome! It was a fun and educational thread.

 

As a follow on to my post above on the Arabs and the Adiabenic. I illustrated a few coins with the odd legend "L SEP SEVERVS PER AVG PIV IMP XI PAR P M" including the trophy and standards type. All the examples I am aware of come from the same die pair but the issue is potentially larger as I saw an example from a different reverse die for sale recently.

Different shields and the right hand captive has a raised hand rather than completely bound as on my example. I failed to obtain it and was the lowly underbidder. I thought it worth sharing just for the records.

 

Since this thread I have been doing further digging on the subject. I have now seen quite a few COS II - SAECVL FELICIT with dots amongst the stars, such as on the one below

 

Interesting observation, @maridvnvm. What do you suppose those dots represent?

 

Are they fainter stars behind seven bright stars...???