The unknown JULIAN of PANNONIA

Julian of Pannonia: another usurper I won't have soon in my collection. His coins are rarely sold for less than 1000 $. But it is certainly one of the least known of all "Emperors". Let's talk about his history and coinage.

The history
From the usurper Julian, we only know from literary sources what Aurelius Victor, Polemius Silvus and also the Byzantine historian Zosimus tell us about him. Zosimus and the Epitome indicate that Julian's rebellion began with the news of the death of Co-Emperor Numerian in December 284 AD, a few days after Diocletian had wear the purple on his side at Nicomedia. Julianus was a corrector (governor) in Veneto and Istria. He took up arms against the Emperor Carin in the Pannonian region. Perhaps he was hoping for an alliance with Diocletian who, upon Numerian's death, had been acclaimed emperor by the army of the East and was already at war with Carinus. He passed through Italy with his troops and Carinus, coming from Brittany, walked to meet him, defeated him without difficulty and had Julian slaughtered. His short reign lasted only about 6 months, until May 285 AD.

The coinage
All the coins minted by Julian are gold aurei and antoniniani produced in Siscia, the only mint under his control during his reign. An exhaustive analyse of his coinage , which is described in the RIC as "scarce, but less rare than those of the other unsuccessful rebels except Macrianus and Quietus", revealed that 33 aurei and 123 aureliani have been listed in the great Collections and in different sale's catalog. First let's talk about the mint: the Siscia workshop was operational since 259 AD during the reign of Gallienus. It was created to replace the veteran Lugdunum mint, in Gaul, which had fallen into possession of the usurper Postumus. Its main mission was always to supply numerary to the Danube border troops, for which it minted coins in the three metals. The coinage of Julian is of exceptional quality for an almost unknown usurper: many thanks to the skilled mint workers and the experienced die engravers in the Siscia mint !

The aurei (RIC 1), featuring the unique type LIBERTAS PVBLICA, send a propaganda message that makes Julian a liberator compared to the tyranny of Carinus. There are two different groups of aurei, with or without a star, the favorite symbol of the Siscia's workshop; 24 of the 33 are marked with a star. The last five specimens that were sold in auctions averaged 48,000 USD.


The three officinaes in service in Siscia since the end of the reign of Probus sign their product with a Greek number and each of them struck a type of its own. Officinae A emits a VICTORIA AVG type (RIC 5) which appears in two variants; Victory walking or Victory standing. Officina B, meanwhile, minted the FELICITAS TEMPORVM reverse type (RIC 2).

This specimen sold yesterday ( Nov. 19) for 3400 EUR. (Gorny & Mosch)

The most interesting and also the less common type is that of officina Γ; the two Pannoniae, PANNONIAE AVG (RIC 4), referring to the 2 provinces controlled by Julian and his army. This type had been introduced by Emperor Trajan Decius and especially allowed Julian to present himself as the legitimate successor of Probus despite the short dynasty of Carus and his sons. But where is the RIC 3, described as a IOVI CONSERVAT type ? It's an unsolved mystery ! The RIC obviously took its information from Cohen, who listed in 1892 four different types of reverses, including the IOVI CONSERVAT one.
COHEN:

Roman Imperial Coinage:



Eckhel, however, listed one type of aureus and three types of antoniniani in 1790. Is it possible that during the century which separated the numismatists Eckhel and Cohen, a new type of reverse was discovered and finally found in the Rollin collection? If so, why has this specimen never been seen for the past 130 years ? In my humble opinion there are three possibilities :

• The coin really existed and was lost or is simply in a private numismatic collection.
• The IOVI CONSERVAT Antoninianus was a forgery. Even Cohen admitted and wrote that in his time a counterfeit produced by the famous forger Becker was already in circulation. It did of course refer to an aureus, but perhaps copies of Antoniniani were also made.

An aureus by Becker

• The hypothesis has also been put forward that the attribution of the obverse of a coin of Julian was in fact an incorrect reading of a very worn example of Diocletian, who minted coins in 286 AD in Siscia. I have to admit that the two portraits really look alike, but it's hard to accept that Cohen made a mistake on the obverse legend and also on the reverse one since I don't think that Diocletian ever struck antoniniani with the IOVI CONSERVAT reverse legend...

Now it's time to show off our coins. I can only offer you an example of Carinus and one of Diocletian, who both played an important role in Julian's short reign. I remember that @Jochen1 has an example of this usurper, but perhaps other members own one ? Please show us your coins of Julian I, Carinus, Diocletian or of the famous Siscia mint !

 

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My only Carinus is this tet from Alexandria:

Carinus (283-284 A.D.)

AE Tetradrachm of Alexandria, 19mm 7.19 grams

Year 2 = 284 AD.

Obverse: A K M A KAΡINOC CEB, laureate, cuirassed bust right

Reverse: L-B, Elpis standing left holding flower and hem of skirt.

Reference: Milne 4701-3, BMC 2454, Koln 3177

 

Here's a billon of Carinus. It was struck at Antioch. RIC 206 b .

 

Sadly, I can only concur with Carinus (from the Rome mint) and Diocletian (from the Siscia mint). I would love to have a Julian though...


Carinus, Antoninianus - Rome mint, 2nd officina, 5th emission, Nov 284 AD
IMP CARINVS PF AVG, Radiate and cuirassed bust of Carinus right
IOVI VI - CTORI, Jupiter standing left, holding victory and sceptre. Eagle at feet. KAB at exergue
4,25 gr, 22 mm
Ref : RCV #12348, Cohen #45, RIC vol V #257



Diocletian, Antoninianus - Siscia mint, 1st officina, AD 285-287
IMP CC VAL DIOCLETIANVS PF AVG, Radiate and draped bust of Diocletianus right
CLEMENTIA TEMP, Diocletianus facing Jupiter giving him a Victory. A in field, XXI at exergue
4,61 gr
Ref : Cohen #19, RCV # 12630 (40), RIC V, Part 2, 252

Q

 

It's not the greatest but here's my Julian of Pannoniae type:

Julian of Pannoniae (285-286 AD) Ae Antoninianus ; Siscia mint (22mm, 4.3gms)

Obv: IMP C M AVR IVLIANVS P F AVG; Radiate bust right
Rev: PANNONIAE AVG; The two Pannoniae standing facing with heads left and right, extending hand and holding signum; S to left; XXII in exergue

 

My one and only Carinus.

Carinus,
Brother of Numerian
AD 283-285. Rome
Obv: IMP CARINVS PF AVG, radiate,
cuirassed bust right.
Rev: FIDES MILITVM, Fides standing left,
holding two standards.
AE Antoninianus. 22mm Rome mint.
Mintmark KA crescent Epsilon. 3.71 grams
5th officina 6th emission
La Venera 4166, La Venera IV 4102-4116,
RIC V-2, 253 var (mintmark). Scarce.
CNG E auction 463 11 March 2020 lot 483
Ex Phil Peck collection AKA Morris collection

 

yeah..those coins are few & far between..i can only talk about'em.. & perhaps guarantee i'll never buy one...wow @Brian Bucklan ...kool that you have ein!......Carinus & Diocletion... & even Dio was a usurper..(special guest appearance of Vladislaus ll of Hungary with Dio)

 

Interesting write-up. A specimen was hammered yesterday, at the HA Europe auction: https://ha-europe.com/en/browse?aid=46&cid=28536&lid=193346
It's the type with the PANNONIAE AVG reverse. I missed the hammerprice, so I don't know what it was sold for.

What makes me wonder though, is when looking at search results of 'Julian Pannonia' (ACsearch, 214 hits doubles, and wrong results included), many auctioneers still deem his coins as 'very rare'. I will admit, his coins are rare, but when is rare actually really hard to find, and rare still more or less available?

Obviously, no coins of Julian Pannonia to share... I did not win the above mentioned coin in auction

 

Interesting writeup, @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix .

Julian Pannonia is a target of mine.

As requested, I have a few of the coins you mentioned:

CARINUS


RI Carinus 282-285 CE BI Potin Tet 19mm 8.1g Alexandria Egypt 19mm Athena Seated holding Nike


DIOCLETIAN


RI Diocletian Ӕ Quinarius 1.46g 16mm Rome AD 284-305 IOVI CONSERVAT AVGG, Jupiter stndng thunderbolt sceptre RARE RIC 193


NUMERIAN


RI Numerian 283-284 CE AE Ant Stndg receiving Victory

 

Carinus


Diocletian

 

I have the Trajano Decio antoniniano Pannonia:

 

I just discovered this thread about Julianus I of Pannonia and would like to add the strange story of my own coin.

It is a nice antoninian (RIC 5) of Julian I of Pannonia. I bought it in May 2005 via Vitango/Stuttgart, a so-called Ebay agent, for €705. He had not listed the coin under 'Coins', but stupidly under 'Antiques & Art'. That's where my wife had discovered it. So there was only one competitor, who then dropped out, and for me it was the bargain of the year.

My coin dealer in Stuttgart asked me to show him the coin because he had also once sold this type. When he looked at it, he was startled: it was the coin he had sold himself a year ago! And here is the whole story:

This exact piece was offered by UBS (the Swiss bank) Gold- Silver-Coins Auctions 57 in September 2003 for sfr. 1000 and bought by my coin dealer for sfr. 1400 (€875). Shortly afterwards he sold this coin for €1650 to a customer he knew as a middleman for all sorts of things. Vitango, from whom I collected the coin in Stuttgart, told me that he had it from the estate of an elderly gentleman who had to go into a nursing home and whose daughters were now dissolving his household. So the middleman had sold the coin to this elderly gentleman, for certainly not less than €2500, according to my coin dealer, who knows him as someone who has his eye on profit.

This story not only tells of a funny coincidence and adds something to the pedigree of this coin, but is also a warning to all. Tell your heirs what you own and what it is worth! Don't let your treasures end up in the bulky waste! Then someone else will be happy.

Best regards

 

Very nice coin, and very nice FIND! Big find by your wife... you better keep her.

 

Julian also struck AE Medallions at the Siscia mint, as illustrated by this (now unique) specimen in the BNF in Paris:

 

This medallion was kept in the "forgery department"of the Cabinet des médailles until 2010...when it was re-examined...

https://www.persee.fr/doc/numi_0484-8942_2010_num_6_166_2943

 

After Julian was defeated some antoniniani with his portrait where strucked for Numerian.



IMP C NVMERIANVS P F AVG, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.

VOTA PVBLICA, Numerian and Carinus standing, facing each other, each sacrificing over altar and holding a standard

Ex. SMSXXIΓ

22mm, 3.8gr, Die 0

6th. emission July 284.

 

I don´t think so, because Julian was defeated around May 285, Numerian had already died November 284, and this is not a Consecratio issue.

Also, that portrait does not look too different from that of Numerian on my Medallion from the Rome mint:

 

Please read:
ttps://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=85853.0
SOME RARE COINS AND THE 6th ISSUE AT LYONS ,SUMMER 283 AD (Paert II). (forumancientcoins.com) by Amictus , Especially the last paragraph

 

Highly interesting article, but I do think that the consensus still is that Julianus' revolt took place after the death of Numerianus and not more than a year earlier after the death of Carus in 283.