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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Orielensis, post: 8243479, member: 96898&quot;]I currently don&#039;t buy many new coins but couldn&#039;t resist picking up these two bargains. The coinage of Postumus is one of my favorite collecting fields, and both coins, though not exactly rare, belong to the types that are less commonly seen on the market. I thus thought I&#039;d post them here.</p><p><br /></p><p>My first coin shows Aesculapius, the god of healing and healers. The reverse type probably copies from a coin of Caracalla. Borrowing earlier imperial designs is rather typical for the coinage of the Gallic Empire. Scholarship has speculated that this type was meant to celebrate &quot;Postumus&#039;s good health (SALVS AVG), as well as that of</p><p>his army (SALVS EXERCITI), by contrast with Gallienus&#039;s, who had been struck by an</p><p>arrow in the back and had to withdraw his troops&quot; (Mairat: The Coinage of the Gallic Empire, Diss. Oxford 2014, 131).</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1451430[/ATTACH] </p><p><font size="3">Postumus, Gallic Roman Empire, AR antoninian, 266–7 AD, Trier mint. Obv: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG; bust of Postumus, radiate, draped, cuirassed, r. Rev: SALVS AVG; Aesculapius stg. r., head l., with r. hand leaning on serpent-staff which rests on the ground; at feet, r., globe.. 21mm, 3.12g. Ref: Mairat 348</font></p><p><br /></p><p>My second coin also copies an earlier reverse type seen, for example, on coins minted for Julia Domna. Note that the design here is somewhat blundered. Diana lucifera (&quot;Diana the bringer of light&quot;), the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Selene, usually doesn&#039;t carry the quiver clearly present on my coin. Quiver and bow are attributes of Diana venatrix (&quot;Diana the huntress&quot;), who can be identified with the Greek Artemis. The engraver apparently mixed up these two aspects of the goddess and their respective iconographies.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1451429[/ATTACH] </p><p><font size="3">Postumus, Gallic Roman Empire, AR antoninian, 266–7 AD, Trier mint. Obv: IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG; bust of Postumus, radiate, draped, cuirassed, r. Rev: DIANAE LVCIFERAE; Diana walking r., quiver in the back, holding long-handled lighted torch in both hands. 20mm, 2.77g. Ref: Mairat 334. </font></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Please pile on your coins of Postumus!</b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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