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<p>[QUOTE="Ocatarinetabellatchitchix, post: 4848425, member: 99554"][ATTACH=full]1170719[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The history</b></p><p>The rare coins featuring a young boy portrait with the inscription DIVO NIGRINIANO have long mystified collectors and historians, who couldn't find any reference of a prince of this name in the historical sources. An inscription at the base of a statue, later reused as a sarcophagus, was discovered in Rome in 1888 when demolishing buildings leaning against the wall of the Forum of Augustus. It reads: <i>Divo / Nigriniano , / Nepoti Cari, / Geminivs Festvs, v(ir) [p(erfectissimus)] , / rationalis</i>. I believe that <i>nepoti</i> means nephew, but it could also be translate by relatives. So if someone here remember his latin lessons better than I do, please explain why it was translated by grandson...Anyway, if Nigrinian is a grandson of the Emperor Carus , it reduces the possibilities to Carus' two sons, Carinus or Numerian, both of whom ruled in the same period with their father and by themselves after his death. Taking the fact that <b>Nigrinian’s</b> posthumous coinage is confined to the Rome mint, it seems more plausible that his father is Carinus, who ruled over the West from Rome, while Numerian's brief reign was spent in the East. Nigrinian’s mother might then be Magnia Urbica, who was proclaimed Augusta in 283 AD and honored with coinage of her own. According to this hypothesis, <b>Nigrinian</b> was likely born in 283, but by the latter part of 284 he had died and was deified by the senate, no doubt on the order of Carinus. However, coins minted to honour his deification described <b>Nigrinian</b> as a boy of at least seven or eight years old. Either this is artistic license, or Nigrinian was born much earlier. The Historia Augusta claims Carinus “<i>took nine wives in all, and he put away some while they were still pregnant.</i>” So maybe <b>Nigrinian</b> might have been a product of one of these earlier unions. Whoever his mother was, Nigrinian’s coins are of considerable rarity, indicating that striking started shortly before the downfall of Carinus’ regime early in 285 AD , and brought it to an sudden interruption. His successor, Diocletian, condemned the memory of Carinus and no doubt abolished the deification of the young boy, who thus became a long-lost footnote to Roman history.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>The coinage</b></p><p>The first mention of Negrinian's coinage in a numismatic work was in the <i>Impp.Romanorum Numismata A Pompeii Magno</i> by Adolf Occo in <span style="color: #ff0000">1601</span>. The author believed that the young Prince lived during the reign of Constantius and was the same consul named Nigrinianus who was the colleague of a certain Sergius.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1170722[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>In <span style="color: #ff0000">1718</span>, Anselmo Banduri listed the coins of Nigrinianus, adding the theory that he could have been the son of Alexander the Tyran in Africa. Eckhel reported in <span style="color: #ff0000">1780</span> the same coinage and repeated the same hypothesis about his origin.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1170723[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1170724[/ATTACH]</p><p>In <span style="color: #ff0000">1933</span>, the RIC catalogued 4 different types of coins from this young Caesar.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1170725[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Let's examine first the aurei of <b>Nigrinian</b>; there are only 3 specimen known. The first one (top of the picture) was sold by NAC in <span style="color: #ff0000">2006</span> for 270,000 CHF... The second one (middle one on the picture) is currently in the Berlin's Munzkabinett. It had been acquired in <span style="color: #ff0000">1889</span> from Vicomte Gustave de Ponton d'Amécourt. Sorry for the black and white picture, but I realized with frustration that the great museums of this world do not even have the budget to hire a decent photographer, so long as we have at least one picture. You will notice that these two examples share the same obverse die. The third coin is holed and in possession of Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Rumor has it that the coin was stolen in the great robbery of <span style="color: #ff0000">1831</span> and almost surely melted down. You can see it is a reverse die match with the NAC coin and also matching the obverse of the 2 other aurei.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">EDIT</span> :The French aureus is still in the BNF collection. See Curtis Clay comment below.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1171096[/ATTACH]</p><p>About the reverse type of these aurei : " <i>The reverse bears one of the canonical scenes of the Roman consecration issues. Usually described as a pyre, a temporary structure that was burned, Philip Hill has argued that it is actually a crematorium, a permanent structure into which the funeral pyre was placed. A few details vary between the earliest depictions of the crematorium and the one reproduced on this aureus, such as the door seemingly being placed on the top layer rather than on the second layer. According to Hill, the facing chariot that surmounts the structure was a quadriga for men and a biga for women; clearly there are only two horses here, but it is difficult to know if that was an oversight by the engraver, or if it simply was a compression of the </i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>Now for the antoniniani. To make it simple, let's say they are 2 different types of CONSECRATIO reverses : one with an Eagle facing with head left, the second rarer depicting a large altar.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Nigrinianus.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>CNG picture</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.numisbids.com/sales/hosted/gorny/249/image00916.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Gorny & Mosch picture</p><p><br /></p><p>For the obverse, two different bust type : the classical radiate head right and the rarer " Radiate, nude half-length bust of Nigrinian shown from front, head turned to right, right shoulder raised". The youth is shown "<i>heroically nude</i>" and with one shoulder raised, perhaps indicating it was modeled on a statue of <b>Nigrinian</b> in an oratorical pose.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1170728[/ATTACH]</p><p>Goldberg coins</p><p><br /></p><p>In conclusion, I'd put Nigrinian in the category "affordable" dream coins. I don't think I'll put 1-2k on a coin in the future, but its coinage is not that much out of reach for many collectors who would like to treat themselves once in their lives...</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Please show us your Nigrinian's or members of his "family" !</b></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Nigrinian's forgery by Becker (1772-1830)</p><p>(About Becker :<a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/becker-a-crook-or-an-artist.346420/#post-3702089" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/becker-a-crook-or-an-artist.346420/#post-3702089">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/becker-a-crook-or-an-artist.346420/#post-3702089</a> )</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1170729[/ATTACH]</p><p>And one of my Carus (ex Doug Smith)</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1170730[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Ocatarinetabellatchitchix, post: 4848425, member: 99554"][ATTACH=full]1170719[/ATTACH] [B]The history[/B] The rare coins featuring a young boy portrait with the inscription DIVO NIGRINIANO have long mystified collectors and historians, who couldn't find any reference of a prince of this name in the historical sources. An inscription at the base of a statue, later reused as a sarcophagus, was discovered in Rome in 1888 when demolishing buildings leaning against the wall of the Forum of Augustus. It reads: [I]Divo / Nigriniano , / Nepoti Cari, / Geminivs Festvs, v(ir) [p(erfectissimus)] , / rationalis[/I]. I believe that [I]nepoti[/I] means nephew, but it could also be translate by relatives. So if someone here remember his latin lessons better than I do, please explain why it was translated by grandson...Anyway, if Nigrinian is a grandson of the Emperor Carus , it reduces the possibilities to Carus' two sons, Carinus or Numerian, both of whom ruled in the same period with their father and by themselves after his death. Taking the fact that [B]Nigrinian’s[/B] posthumous coinage is confined to the Rome mint, it seems more plausible that his father is Carinus, who ruled over the West from Rome, while Numerian's brief reign was spent in the East. Nigrinian’s mother might then be Magnia Urbica, who was proclaimed Augusta in 283 AD and honored with coinage of her own. According to this hypothesis, [B]Nigrinian[/B] was likely born in 283, but by the latter part of 284 he had died and was deified by the senate, no doubt on the order of Carinus. However, coins minted to honour his deification described [B]Nigrinian[/B] as a boy of at least seven or eight years old. Either this is artistic license, or Nigrinian was born much earlier. The Historia Augusta claims Carinus “[I]took nine wives in all, and he put away some while they were still pregnant.[/I]” So maybe [B]Nigrinian[/B] might have been a product of one of these earlier unions. Whoever his mother was, Nigrinian’s coins are of considerable rarity, indicating that striking started shortly before the downfall of Carinus’ regime early in 285 AD , and brought it to an sudden interruption. His successor, Diocletian, condemned the memory of Carinus and no doubt abolished the deification of the young boy, who thus became a long-lost footnote to Roman history. [B]The coinage[/B] The first mention of Negrinian's coinage in a numismatic work was in the [I]Impp.Romanorum Numismata A Pompeii Magno[/I] by Adolf Occo in [COLOR=#ff0000]1601[/COLOR]. The author believed that the young Prince lived during the reign of Constantius and was the same consul named Nigrinianus who was the colleague of a certain Sergius. [ATTACH=full]1170722[/ATTACH] In [COLOR=#ff0000]1718[/COLOR], Anselmo Banduri listed the coins of Nigrinianus, adding the theory that he could have been the son of Alexander the Tyran in Africa. Eckhel reported in [COLOR=#ff0000]1780[/COLOR] the same coinage and repeated the same hypothesis about his origin. [ATTACH=full]1170723[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1170724[/ATTACH] In [COLOR=#ff0000]1933[/COLOR], the RIC catalogued 4 different types of coins from this young Caesar. [ATTACH=full]1170725[/ATTACH] Let's examine first the aurei of [B]Nigrinian[/B]; there are only 3 specimen known. The first one (top of the picture) was sold by NAC in [COLOR=#ff0000]2006[/COLOR] for 270,000 CHF... The second one (middle one on the picture) is currently in the Berlin's Munzkabinett. It had been acquired in [COLOR=#ff0000]1889[/COLOR] from Vicomte Gustave de Ponton d'Amécourt. Sorry for the black and white picture, but I realized with frustration that the great museums of this world do not even have the budget to hire a decent photographer, so long as we have at least one picture. You will notice that these two examples share the same obverse die. The third coin is holed and in possession of Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Rumor has it that the coin was stolen in the great robbery of [COLOR=#ff0000]1831[/COLOR] and almost surely melted down. You can see it is a reverse die match with the NAC coin and also matching the obverse of the 2 other aurei. [COLOR=#ff0000]EDIT[/COLOR] :The French aureus is still in the BNF collection. See Curtis Clay comment below. [ATTACH=full]1171096[/ATTACH] About the reverse type of these aurei : " [I]The reverse bears one of the canonical scenes of the Roman consecration issues. Usually described as a pyre, a temporary structure that was burned, Philip Hill has argued that it is actually a crematorium, a permanent structure into which the funeral pyre was placed. A few details vary between the earliest depictions of the crematorium and the one reproduced on this aureus, such as the door seemingly being placed on the top layer rather than on the second layer. According to Hill, the facing chariot that surmounts the structure was a quadriga for men and a biga for women; clearly there are only two horses here, but it is difficult to know if that was an oversight by the engraver, or if it simply was a compression of the [/I] Now for the antoniniani. To make it simple, let's say they are 2 different types of CONSECRATIO reverses : one with an Eagle facing with head left, the second rarer depicting a large altar. [IMG]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Nigrinianus.jpg[/IMG] CNG picture [IMG]https://www.numisbids.com/sales/hosted/gorny/249/image00916.jpg[/IMG] Gorny & Mosch picture For the obverse, two different bust type : the classical radiate head right and the rarer " Radiate, nude half-length bust of Nigrinian shown from front, head turned to right, right shoulder raised". The youth is shown "[I]heroically nude[/I]" and with one shoulder raised, perhaps indicating it was modeled on a statue of [B]Nigrinian[/B] in an oratorical pose. [ATTACH=full]1170728[/ATTACH] Goldberg coins In conclusion, I'd put Nigrinian in the category "affordable" dream coins. I don't think I'll put 1-2k on a coin in the future, but its coinage is not that much out of reach for many collectors who would like to treat themselves once in their lives... [B]Please show us your Nigrinian's or members of his "family" ![/B] Nigrinian's forgery by Becker (1772-1830) (About Becker :[URL]https://www.cointalk.com/threads/becker-a-crook-or-an-artist.346420/#post-3702089[/URL] ) [ATTACH=full]1170729[/ATTACH] And one of my Carus (ex Doug Smith) [ATTACH=full]1170730[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
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