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Message:: [QUOTE="Cucumbor, post: 5140433, member: 4298"]Hi CT folks, Among the huge quantity of syro-phoenician tetradrachms available on the market, a vast majority has what we might call « regular busts », i.e. laureate (or radiate), draped and cuirassed bust of the Emperor right (or left), such as the following example : [ATTACH=full]1206041[/ATTACH]Trajan Decius (09/249 - 07 or 08/251) – Billon Tetradrachm, Antioch mint - 5° officinaRef : Prieur # 585 Occasionnally will be encountered something a bit different ([USER=97383]@Al Kowsky[/USER] knows) : an unusual bust, showing  a hand, a sword, a spear, a decorated shield, or a piece of clothing. They are of course scarcer, sometimes rare to very rare. All the examples below, with a white background are not mine (unfortunately) but taken from the CGB archives database [ATTACH=full]1206042[/ATTACH] Elagabal - Prieur 253 (4 ex.) - McAlee 773 – R3  [ATTACH=full]1206043[/ATTACH] Gordian III - Prieur 299 (11 ex. this example illustrated) - McAlee 884. From the McAlee collection – R1  [ATTACH=full]1206044[/ATTACH]Philip the Arab - Prieur 427 (6 ex) - McAlee 946 – R3  [ATTACH=full]1206045[/ATTACH] Philip the Arab - Prieur 435 (2 ex) - McAlee 954(b) – R3 I was lucky a few days ago to put my hands on such an unusual bust for Trajan Decius, and didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger, even though the metal looked a bit porous from the sellers pictures. Anyway, I felt it was rare enough to take the plunge, a lesser example I saw elsewhere being  currently for sale at three times what I paid for mine. I’m pretty sure that one will make its way to my  2020 top list… [ATTACH=full]1206046[/ATTACH] Trajan Decius (09/249 - 07or08/251) – Billon Tetradrachm, Antioch mint - 7° officinaAYT K Γ ME KY TPAIANOC ΔEKIOC CEB  Radiate bust right, cuirassed with trabea on right shoulder, and balteus on chest, seen from front. Z under bust.ΔHMAPX EΞOYCIAC Eagle standing right on a palm branch, head right holding wreath in beak, and wings spread. At exergue SC27 mm - 12,35 gr - 6hRef : Prieur # 558 (2), McAlee # 1140 (very rare) As suspected from the pictures, the metal of the coin is somewhat porous and the planchet was not of the better quality, but the overall aspect is OK, and in hand the coin is pleasant with not much wear to it. Now, I can hear you folks, screaming from the back of the room « Sir, what are a trabea and a balteus, please ? » To be honest, I had to check and do some homework, as I don’t usually dress as an Emperor when at work. TRABEA, or TOGA TRABEA : Trabea (plural trabeae) is the name of various pieces of Roman clothing. A distinct feature of all trabeae was their color - usually red or purple. They were formed like a toga and possibly in some cases like a mantle and worn by more distinguished members of Roman society. A garment known as the trabea triumphalis was commonly worn by consuls in Late Antiquity. When Emperor Justinian II abolished the office of 'consul as a separate entity from the Emperor himself, the trabea triumphalis developed into the loros, which was the worn only by the imperial family and senior administrative officials. Although Emperor Leo VI abolished the ancient title of consul altogether, the loros persisted until the end of the empire as the formal, ceremonial dress of the emperors (©Wikipedia.org) What we see here on the right shoulder of the emperor is the knot of the trabea, possibly hold with a fibula [MEDIA=youtube]2cX2Uy5m4bI[/MEDIA] BALTEUS : During ancient Roman times the balteus (plural baltei) was a type of baldric commonly used to suspend a sword. It was a belt generally worn over the shoulder, passing obliquely down to the side, typically made of leather, often ornamented with precious stones, metals or both (©Wikipedia.org) [ATTACH=full]1206048[/ATTACH]<a href="https://1001antiquites.net/antiquite/sens-de-balteus-ou-balteum.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://1001antiquites.net/antiquite/sens-de-balteus-ou-balteum.html" rel="nofollow">https://1001antiquites.net/antiquite/sens-de-balteus-ou-balteum.html</a> Comments and corrections are welcome. Please post any trabeae or baltei you might have on your coins, or anything you feel relevant, Thanks for reading Resources :1 - Prieur M & K, The syro-phoenician tetradrachms and their fractions from 57 BC to AD 253 – CNG, London – 20002 - McAlee R, The coins of roman Antioch – CNG, London - 2007 Q[/QUOTE]

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