I found the following three denari on Ebay recently. They are all from the same seller. The price was quite low and I expected to be disappointed. Now I have them in hand and I must say that I am really very pleased with them. 1. Severus Alexander as Caesar, Rome 221-222, weight 3.45 gm, RIC 3 M AVR ALEXANDER CAES // PIETAS AVG While coins of Alexander Severus as Augustus are usually very common, his coins as Caesar are not seen very often. Note the name form Marcus Aurelius Alexander. He later changed his name to Severus Alexander. 2. Julia Aquilia Severa, Rome, 220, weight 3.48 gm, RIC 225 IVLIA AQVILIA SEVERA AVG // CONCORDIA Coins of Elagabalus' second wife are quite scarce. 3. Severus Alexander, Rome, weight 3.46 gm, RIC 208 IMP SEV ALEXAND AVG // PERPETVITATI AVG The coin is in excellent condition with perfect surfaces. I think this reverse is somewhat scarce. I suppose Perpet Vitati means "to enternal life"? I noticed that the third and youngest of the three coins seems to be of much better silver than the first two. I suppose there has been some sort of coin reform early in the reign of Severus Alexander.
Wow, great find! The Severus Alexander type is particularly hard to find and tends to be quite expensive, even for rather rough examples. Aquilia Severa is pretty rare as well.
All three great coins, but I love the SA as Caesar! Fantastic portrait. I have the INDVLGENTIA/Spes type:
Very nice finds! Congratulations, these types of finds are becoming more rare than the coins themselves!
Beautiful examples! I don't have an example of the last one but I also have an Alexander as Caesar And also an Aquilia Severa As for the improvement in quality late Alexander's reign, I think it was probably an attempt to reinforce confidence in the currency even though the fineness had been under 50% for years. Perhaps this is around the time that the mint started to surface-enrich the flans prior to striking - because they usually have the appearance of the high purity earlier denarii - smooth, lustrous fields even after almost 1800 years in the ground. These mint employees were certainly inherited by Maximinus, and the changing of the guard seems to have happened maybe a few years into Gordian's reign.