I have often posted the fact that the items highest on my want list are often coins that I did not previously know to exist. My new purchase is such a coin. In the infamous 'Year of Five Emperors' 193AD, Septimius Severus gave the title Caesar to Clodius Albinus to keep him out of the picture while Septimius dealt with Pescennius Niger. My coin is an AE25 of Pautalia, Thrace. It is the only type I have seen using the two portraits face to face but there is another specimen listed on acsearch to a 2004 Lanz sale. This coin is listed in Varbanov as number 4866 and appears to be a die duplicate of the acsearch/Lanz coin. Varbanov lists it as R8 suggesting he was aware of more than one other specimen. I found only the one. https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=197347 I would appreciate hearing of any other matching coins or any other coins showing these two men face to face with a different reverse that you might have. acsearch shows some with an eagle. This reverse with serpent, tree and altar and a very similar one where the serpent's head is lowered over the altar are used at Pautalia on several specimens with the solo obverse portrait and inscription of Albinus.
My go-to reference when dealing with coins of Pautalia is Leon Ruzicka's Die Münzen Von Pautalia. Sofia Staatsdruckerei, 1933. He lists (p. 122) two such dual-portrait coins, a tetrassarion (AE 27 mm) in Sofia and a triassarion (AE 23 mm, 9.87 g) with examples in Berlin and Budapest, each with an eagle reverse. He doesn't list the serpent reverse type, but I hope you found this information useful, @dougsmit . The Corpus Nummorum illustrates a specimen of Ruzicka 439 in the collection of the Institut für Klassische Archäologie, Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen. It may be an obverse die-match to your coin.
That’s a quite interesting coin. Coingratulations! I’m afraid I can’t be of much help with the question, though.
while I have no other coins to offer on the subject, I appreciate getting to see it - amazing to see the two rivals face-to-face on one obverse. I assume you know that your coin is also listed on wildwinds from a sale in 2011. Akropolis coins described your coin as unique, unpublished & "the coin" from Varbanov. I wonder if positioning on the left or right might have any implication for relative ranking - any consistency in how other dual portraits are designed and might be read. I can only think of later examples Philip I and II, Gordian and Tranquillina, Macrinus and Diadumenian?
Sep Sev and Clodius facing off on the same coin? Fantastic! And with Glykon on the reverse? Even better! What a great coin, Doug. Your coin is indeed the coin illustrated in Varbanov, which records two other reverses with the vis-a-vis portraits, however, the other two are both eagles (one has the eagle standing on a thunderbolt, the other on a wreath). He lists all as R8 (5-20 examples). Coincidentally, one of my most recent pickups has the same reverse as yours, which was the reason I got it - because of Glykon turning up wearing his wig and fish tail. And though I wish now it had the same obverse as yours, I'm going to shamelessly show it anyway. COMMODUS AE23. 6.41g, 23mm. THRACE, Pautalia, AD 180-192. Varbanov 4565. O: ΑV ΚΑΙ ΜΑΡ ΑVΡ ΚΟΜΟΔΟС, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. R: OVΛΠΙΑС ΠΑVΤΑΛΙΑС, the serpent Glykon wearing wig and with fish tail coiled right, feeding from altar to right; tree (or grain ear) to left.
On one of the eagle reverse types pictured in Varbanov, Septimius's and Clodius's positions are switched.
Yes and Macrinus and Diadumenian also are known to swap places. I have not looked but suspect we are reading to much into the situation. I will note that legends usually start at the lower left and go clockwise ending at lower right. Catalogs listing my coin require Septimius to be named first so the legend is given starting at the top and moving around the bottom so the legend places the right name next to its image. All that would be simpler if the important person were placed on the left side.
Thank you for the shameless violation of all things good and proper . That is a great coin but the reverse is the 'other' serpent version from mine as seen on some of the solo Albinus coins of this city. The head of the serpent is down on the altar while the one on my coin is held up. The 2011 listing was not a sale but a report to Wildwinds of the type based on the Akropolis Ancient Coins listing. I suggest you be careful to spell Akropolis with a K since the name with a C is a different place. I have never dealt with the C dealer but the K one is Coin Talk's own PeteB and my friend for more years than several of you have been on earth.
...on seeing your coin, i pulled my 'snake coin' out to compare and now have come to the conclusion that mine is indeed(98%) Macrinus & Diadumenian..
That’s an impressive coin, @dougsmit. I also do not have any coins with confronted heads of Albinus and Severus. I recently found a very beat up coin of Pautalia that appears to be unique. Maybe the references are due for an update. Provincial, Pautalia, Thrace, AE19, OYA ΠIAC ΠAYTA ΛΙAC AE19 Roman Provincial: Pautalia, Thrace Septimius Severus Augustus: 193 - 211AD Issued: ? 19.0mm 3.53gr 0h O: ΑΥΚ Λ CεΠ CεΥΗΡΟC; Laureate bust, right. R: OYA ΠIAC ΠAYTA ΛΙAC; Legend within oak wreath. Pautalia, Thrace Mint Unpublished. Featured on Wildwinds, April, 2020.
But seriously, WoWiE Doug!! That's a stunner fur so many reasons... but that obverse.... are you kidding?! Nothing to offer on that level, but here's a snake and then two more:
Just to prove that we are a bad influence on each other, I decided I needed one with 'your' reverse but mine is the solo Albinus. There are over a dozen of them on acsearch with this version showing the snake head down on the altar but it goes well with my twin header. The interesting part of this barely shows on my specimen but is clear on the better examples. The obverse legend starts at 1 o'clock, breaks at the bottom and then rises on the left side. The reverse starts at the lower left and goes over the top but is completed with a straight line across the bottom right side. I have no idea why the obverse was done that way.
Well, the reverses are similar enough that I’m not convinced you really needed two. Nah, I’m just jealous. Great coin!
