Usurpers - My Crown Jewel

Last night I welcomed to my collection a very coveted coin and am now one step closer to finishing my one-of-each type set of Roman emperors that I started nearly twenty years ago.

I hope you will take a moment to read the (somewhat irreverent) bio writeup for this coin.


I'd love to see more usurpers from YOUR collection. Please post pics, when you got it, etc. I for one can't get enough of history's has-beens and also-rans

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Is it Regalianus?

 

who is it?..thats one of my goals too, congrats on getting closer..'the 1000 mile journey begins with the 1st step"

 

I almost cannot believe it. It's like someone posting a Pic of a unicorn. First things first. A resounding COINGRATULATIONS!!!!
May I ask how in the world you came across this dream? Are you gunning for Dryantilla next?
I've never seen one posted here...or anywhere that was owned by said individual. Golly. Just Wow.
Edit: Ps, I thoroughly loved your, indeed irreverent, write up. I never heard of the frivolity that went into making Regalianus "emperor".
To get more readers, maybe next time copy and paste on the site.
Here's a recent purchase from @Bing

AUREOLUS
AntoninianusOBVERSE: IMP POSTVMVS AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Postumus rightREVERSE: VIRTVS EQVIT, Virtusadvancing right, holding transverse spear and shield; T in ex.Struck at Mediolanum, 268 AD3.17g, 19mmRIC V 388


LAELIANUS

269 CE. Antoninianus (19 MM, 2.66 gm). Mint city II (Cologne). Radiate and cuirassed bust right / Victory advancing right, holding palm and wreath. RIC V 9; AGK 1c; Gilljam dies IX/54

Of course it's not a usurper party without the wet bandits(they always reminded me of the robbers from home alone).

Magnentius


Ӕ Nummus. Lyon, AD 351-353. D N MAGNENTIVS P F, bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust right / GLORIA ROMANORVM, Emperor galloping right, spearing barbarian kneeling left; shield and broken spear below horse, RSLG in exergue. RIC 115.

Decentius

Caesar, AD 350/1-353. Æ Lugdunum (Lyon) mint, 2nd officina. Struck AD 351. Bareheaded and cuirassed bust right / Two Victories standing facing one another, holding wreath inscribed VOT/V/MVLT/X in four lines; SV//RSLG•. RIC VIII 129;

 

Thank you, yes, Regalianus (click this link for details). This was in the Roma sale that closed just the other day that had lots of other goodies. I was the underbidder on the Valerius Valens and am sort of glad that I didn't get it because the Regalianus came to just shy of $14,000. Now to figure out how to pay for this bill..... coin addiction is a hell of a drug folks :-(

Congrats on scoring a Laelianus. That one's still on my bucket list!

 

Here are a couple. First, Magnentius...





And Magnus Maximus:





Now I am gunning for a Sponsianus! I don't know where in the heck to get one though. Congrats on getting a coin for the price of a new Fiat.

 

What a fantastic acquisition, @Suarez! You should copy that hilarious writeup to this thread because many people won't bother to click the link you provided.

 

Well, alright


Any collection worth pursuing typically has a good number of common representatives and a handful of specimens so rare that they become legends. Coin collecting in particular, nicknamed the 'hobby of kings', highlights the challenge posed even to the wealthiest among the nobility to acquire the key specimen that will complete their set.

Apropos to this subject, a very long time ago, in or about the year 260 of the current era, a general whose very name meant king, sat to feast at a banquet accompanied by his officers, friends and staff. The vino flowed and, as has happened countless times before and since, the inhibition-deleting effects of the alcohol led to some crazy talk about politics. "Gallienus sucks, Regalian!" said one, perhaps, oblivious to the fact that jokes like this cost many a careless drunk his head. "You should be our king! Hell, you ARE the king man!". And, as these things go, more wine yielded ever less giggling and more signs of testosterone. Before the night was out some wine-stained bedsheets and a crudely fashioned laurel wreath may well have served as Regalian's regalia. In the hours and days to come there would be plenty of time to reflect on "the rashness of their folly", as Gibbon liked to say, but for now the last thing on their mind was worry over repercussions for their actions; to vent a little in this unloved outpost so far away from home!

Those repercussions, evidently, were not long in coming and you'd be a fool to think that the Roman way, the Gallienus way, of settling disputes accommodated a heyyyy-it-was-all-a-misunderstanding-we're-good-now-right? sort of resolution. Whether the protagonist here was a willing participant or the victim of a prank made no difference at all according to the Roman brand of law. We can imagine that every single one of those people, including Regalianus's wife, who had the temerity to style herself empress too, all met violent deaths either by Gallienus's first detachment to arrive on the scene or possibly by the more sober among them who may have hoped that vigilante justice in the name of loyalism may at least spare them their lives for the affront they were associated in. Either way, Regalianus's little act of rebellion, and every memory of his previous deeds and accolades, are in an instant consigned to history's dustbin.

Well, not everything ;-)

For the few days that the charade was maintained an unknown number of coins - if you can call them that - were made to honor this man. Soldiers, unfortunately, are not the typical talent pool that yields fine craftsmen skilled in the delicate art of micro-sculpture. Some guy, again we can imagine, may have had an uncle whose best friend knew someone at the treasury in Rome and that was in all likelihood sufficient to have promoted him on the spot to Director of the Mint and Chief Art Engraver. This wreck you see here, that anonymous neophyte's handiwork, is one of the few artifacts left in the world testifying both to the historicity of the person as well as the embarrassingly low level of sophistication available with which to announce to the world the dawning of a new imperial age.

Which brings us back to the the whole affair over collecting. Those who collect Roman coins learn early on that the coins of the famous emperors, household names like Octavian, Nero and Hadrian, are the collectibles easiest to find and have the most variety of choices available. This, of course, is because of their long reigns and conquests gave them the time and resources to produce a large number of coins and, correspondingly, a statistically high number of which could survive antiquity. The opposite, of course, happens with the failed coups of aspiring emperors. The hostile environment of a rebellion is hardly a suitable birthplace for high-end art and this type of situation typically finds the usurper improvising emergency measures and having to make do without access to adequate facilities nor raw materials with which to prepare proper coinage.

Even among the rather lengthy list of failed revolts whose erstwhile leaders managed to mint some coins, those of Regalianus rank as among the very rarest; edged out only by three or four other losers whose few remaining coins are by and large owned by national collections rather than individuals. In all, there are probably less than 50 coins attributed to this emperor still in private hands.

 

It's my kind of write-up! Congratulations on a great rarity. One of these days I'll find mine in a pick bin.

 

Congratulations that is a great coin. Unfortunately I have no ursurpators to show. How many different emperors do you have now?

 

Ain't a looker, but I'd sell quite a bit of my collection to be able to fill that spot! A tremendous acquisition, and I liked your write-up, too!

Million dollar question:

Why ORIENS AVGG and not AVG? Perhaps he was offering to step up and fill the vacancies left by Valerian and Saloninus? Does the extra G refer to his wife? Did his mint simply not know any better?


I haven't gotten very far through the usurpers:

Clodius Albinus as Augustus after Septimius tried to assassinate him and forced him to rebellion


Macrianus


Aureolus, the man too chicken to issue his own coins


Some consider Marius a usurper. I just like to share mine.


Blundered Claudius II posthumous issue using a Quintillus or Aurelian reverse - some consider these to be the work of Felicissimus, the mint master of Rome who led a meager rebellion when Aurelian discovered he was stealing silver


Carausius


Allectus


Who doesn't have a Magnentius?


Procopius

 

Thank you!

I have three separate collections. A Roman imperial set at about two-thirds complete, a Byzantine one that isn't even half filled and a British monarchs one that is pretty much stuck unless my billionaire uncle Bill Gates dies and leaves me everything

A big part of the fun of collecting for me is the photography and writing a little about each coin. As the sets fill up there's less and less to do so, who knows, I may pick up knitting or air guitar lessons as a next hobby!

 

Why not make it a real guitar? My guitars offer me lots of relaxation and fun. I have not played as part of a band for a while, but I still get plenty of enjoyment from it.

 

Awesome-Awesome- AWESOME, @Suarez ! Congrats on that incredible find!

I have a few Usurpers that I can offer:

MAGNENTIUS

RI Magnentius 351-352 CE AE 1 CHI RHO

MAGNUS MAXIMUS

RI Magnus Maximus 383-388 CE AE Follis

VETRANIO

RI Vetranio 350 CE AE3 17mm Siscia mint Emp stdng hldg Standard and Spear

DECENTIUS

RI Decentius 350-353 CE AE19 VOT V

VABALATHUS

RI Vabalathus 271-272 CE and Aurelian

POSTUMUS

RI Postumus 259-268 CE Antoninianus Cologne Oriens ex tif

AUREOLUS?

RI Postumus struck by Aureolus 268 CE Revolt of Milan Concordia

LAELIANUS

RI Laelianus CE 269 AE Ant 19mm 3.4g Moguntiacum mint Radiate cuirassed Victory RIC Vb 9 p373 black

CLODIUS ALBINUS

RI Clodius Albinus 193-197 CE AR Denarius ROMAE AETERNAE Roma seated

 

Some more Usurpers:

MACRIANUS

RI Macrianus 260-261 CE Usurper AR 22mm 4.4g BI Ant Spes Publica star Sear 3.10811. RIC 13 pg 581 R2 Rare

QUIETUS

RI Quietus usurper 260-261 CE Ant 3-74g Samasota mint Indulgentia patera scepter RIC V 5

GALLIC EMPIRE
- (POSTUMUS prior post)

- MARIUS

RI Marius 269 Gallic Usurper BI Ant CONCORD MILIT Clasped Hands

- VICTORINUS

RI Victorinus 269-270 CE BI Ant Gallic Empire Salus

- TETRICUS I

RI Tetricus I 271-274 CE Ant LAETITIA

- TETRICUS II

RI Tetricus II 273-274 CE BI Ant SPES w Flower

ALLECTUS

RI Allectus 293-296 CE AE Ant PAX

CARAUSIUS

RI Carausius usurper in Britain CE 287–293 BI Ant 4.7g 24mm London radiate cuirassed - PAX AVG Pax stndg l branch scepter S—P RIC V 475

SATURNINUS

RI Probus Æ Ant 22mm 3.75g 280CE CLEMENTIA TEMP XXI Emperor receiving Victory from Jupiter UNKNOWN EASTERN MINT - fight Saturninus (see Doug Smith's Thread:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/spacefiller-saturninus.312705/

PROCOPIUS

RI Procopius 365-366 AE3

 

Some more Usurpers again:

EUGENIUS


RI Eugenius 392-394 CE AE 12mm 1.0g Aquileia SPES wreath palm Victory RIC59


POEMENIUS:


RI Poemenius in name of Constantius II summer 353 Trier XP RIC VIII Trier 332 RARE
(mixes bust of Constantius II with Chi Rho of Magnentius - enemy of CII)
Ex: @seth77

https://www.academia.edu/1504998/Usurping_a_Usurper_The_Poemenius_Revolt_at_Trier


Don't quote me on this, as I really do NOT collect nor specialize in Roman Empire. However, last count, I BELIEVE that I have 151 Roman Rulers...

...You may need to check with @Severus Alexander , LOL, he knows more and REMEMBERS more about my collection than I DO!

 

Holy crap! I think @Alegandron usurped this thread!

 

What a great acquisition, @Suarez! Fun writeup, too. I think it will be awhile before we see a rarer one scratched off the ol' ERIC II rarity list.

I've always liked Laelianus, the usurper who attempted to usurp another usurper.


LAELIANUS
AE Antoninianus. 3.55g, 22.5mm. Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne) mint, AD 269. RIC 9; Mairat 231. O: IMP C LAELIANUS P F AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right. R: VICTORIA AVG, Victory running right, holding wreath and palm frond.

 

Jovinus, Western Roman Empire
AR siliqua
Obv: D N IOVIN-VS P F AVG, Pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right
Rev: VICTOR-IA AVGG, Roma seated left on stylized cuirass, holding Victory on globe and reversed spear
Mint: Lugdunum
Mintmark: SMLDV
Date: 411-413 AD
Ref: RIC X 1717

 

Wow, now it seems like everybody's got a "Lael"! I remember drooling many years ago over the aureus listed by CNG with an estimate of 200k but which didn't actually sell. That's on my short list of most desirable coins of all.

Nice Jovinus too. I can't wait to get one :-D