Michael Stolt

A little perhaps. All dies from the Carrhae series, are straight up copies, of contemporary imperial types, that the engravers most likely had to work with when engraving the dies, possibly by engravers from Antioch, that made them there, or the engravers might have been brought along with the Roman army, when the invasion of upper Mesopotamia took place. This is why we see a lot of purely Roman deities on the coins, with no Greek equivalent, such as Fecunditas, Clementia, Aeternitas, and types such as the Armenian victory types, as well as the "SAECVLI FELICIT" type, featuring infant Commodus and Annius Verus.

The past weekend was very nice on my end, as I managed to acquire three new coins for my collection of Mesopotamian drachms. Perhaps not in the most impressive of grades, but considering the rarity of nearly every type in the series, with the majority of types only being known by 1-3 specimens, one cannot be very picky once they come up for sale. The coin of Marcus Aurelius is unique, and was unpublished until I uploaded it to RPC; the coin of Faustina Junior, the fifth known of the type (all other specimens are in museum collections), and was made new plate coin by RPC; the coin of Lucius Verus, is the second known of the type, and the type was previously unpublished. Marcus Aurelius. AR Drachm (17mm, 3.20 g). Carrhae, Mesopotamia ca AD 165-169. ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙ Μ ΑΥΡΗ ΑΝΤΩΝΙΝΟϹ ϹΕ, laureate bust of Marcus Aurelius, right / YΠEP NIKHC TΩN KYPIΩN ϹΕ; Clementia standing, left, holding patera and long ornamented sceptre. RPC IV.3, 25346 (temporary). Faustina Junior. AR Drachm (18mm, 2.60 g). Carrhae, Mesopotamia ca AD 165-169. ΦΑYϹΤΙΝΑ ϹЄΒΑϹΤΗ, draped bust of Faustina right, wearing stephane / ΥΠΕΡ ΝΙΚΗϹ ΡΩΜΑΙΩΝ, Providentia standing left, holding globe and cornucopia. RPC IV.3, 6498 (temporary). Lucius Verus. AR Drachm (17mm, 2.78 g). Carrhae, Mesopotamia ca AD 165-169. AYT K Λ AYP OYHPOC CЄB, laureate bust of Lucius Verus right / YΠEP NIKHC TΩN KYPIΩN ϹΕ, Salus standing, left, holding short sceptre, feeding serpent from patera; serpent entwined around altar. RPC IV.3, 25343 (temporary). Overview of the full collection:

Surprisingly, I managed to acquire a second drachm, within the span of a few days, yesterday, at Naumann, after having acquired the gorgeous Faustina, a few days earlier. I can now also add Lucius Verus, to the collection, with this nice coin, having Providentia represented on the reverse. The type was unpublished prior to me acquiring it, I uploaded it yesterday to RPC. Style is a bit cruder on the drachms minted at Edessa, compared to the neighboring mint of Carrhae. Still over the moon with this one, just as the Faustina. Ma'nu VIII Philoromaios, with Lucius Verus. AR Drachm (19mm, 2.97 g, 6h). Edessa, Mesopotamia ca AD 167-169. AYT K M AYPHO YHPOC CЄB, Bare head right of Lucius Verus right / ΒΑϹΙΛЄΥϹ ΜΑΝΝΟϹ ΦΙΛΟΡ, Providentia standing left, holding globe and cornucopia. RPC IV.3, 25324 (temporary) This brings the total number in my collection of these drachms, to eight, a number I did not see myself having after less than one year, considering the rarity of all types in the series. I hope you enjoy them, and feel free to post some Antonine provincials! ☺️

Ever since I parted with my Roman Republican collection, I have had a difficult time to find a focal point that really drives me, I thought I had found it with the coinage of Lucilla alone, but after having picked up a few drachms of her from Edessa, I started to read more about this series of drachms from Mesopotamia, and I got hooked. Very little research has been done on the coinage, and there remains so many unanswered questions. I am far from complete, as the series has about 40 different types, spread across the mint at Edessa, and the one at Carrhae.

To my knowledge it is a record, I was also the current record holder already, for a Lucilla that hammered nearly $5.000 earlier this year. It is two records I would of course rather not have 😆

Thank you! I will eat a lot of cheap noodles in the coming months, to balance out my now non existent economy after this 🤣 I do know that you are very much attached to Faustina, so, sorry for stepping into your territory (promise I wont touch any coins of Faustina outside of Edessa and Carrhae 😅).

Thank you! 🙂 I'm surprised, and of course very glad that I have been able to add quite a few of these rarities to the collection over the past year.

Thank you! 😊 Prices were indeed very strong today, I had to go up against one of the deeper pockets, that had bid home multiple lots already, but thankfully he gave up right below my intended max 🥳 Dr. W truly had excellent taste, this and the past auctions have had so many great and insanely rare coins. I wonder what his 3rd century part of the collection looks like, I assume it will be auctioned by Künker early next year.

For the first time, in a good while, I have added a coin that is not of Lucilla, to the collection. Earlier today, I had an insanely intense bid war for this drachm at Künker, where I emerged victorious. 😌 I have decided to fully focus on the entire silver coinage of Edessa and Carrhae, so this was a must to bid home, as I might not get another chance to acquire the type in my lifetime. Not in RPC, cited by Mionnet, it is the second known of this type, the other specimen has not been seen for 300 years, when it was catalogued by Jean-Foy Vaillant. There could be a slight possibility that this is the very same coin that Vaillant catalogued for his patron, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, French Minister of State under King Louis XIV, but difficult to confirm or not, without finding the other specimen or a plate. Faustina Junior. AR Drachm (2.95 g). Carrhae, Mesopotamia ca. AD 163-169. ΦΑYϹΤΙΝΑ ϹЄΒΑϹΤΗ; Draped bust of Faustina right, wearing stephane / ΥΠΕΡ ΝΙΚΗϹ ΡΩΜΑΙΩΝ; Fecunditas standing left, between two children reaching up, holding two infants in her arms. BMC -; Mionnet V, p. 638 no. 229; RPC online -. Ex Hauck & Aufhäuser 14, München 1998, lot 355.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to add yet another very rare drachm of Lucilla, minted at Edessa, to the collection. The coin has excellent centering, good surfaces, and is a contender for finest known specimen of this type. I am now at four out of six currently known types of her from Edessa, which is quite difficult to accomplish, considering the overall rarity of the series. Very very happy! 🥳 Ma'nu VIII, Philoromaios, with Lucilla. AR Drachm (18mm, 3.08 g, 7h). Edessa, Mesopotamia ca. AD 167-169. ΛΟΥΚΙΛΛΑ ϹΕΒΑϹΤΗ, Diademed and draped bust of Lucilla right / ΒΑϹΙΛЄΥϹ ΜΑΝΝΟϹ ΦΙΛΟΡωΜΑΙϹ, Demeter, veiled, seated left, holding grain ears in her right hand and scepter in her left. RPC IV.3 6489. Edessa was the capital of Osrhoene, a small kingdom located in Mesopotamia, on the far eastern edges of the Roman Empire, caressing the borders of the Parthian Empire. It acquired independence around 136 BC from the collapsing Seleucid Empire, through a dynasty of the nomadic Nabataean arab tribe from southern Canaan and north Arabia, known as the Osrhoeni. Osrhoene's name either derives from the name of this tribe, or from Orhay, the original Aramaic name for Edessa. After a period under the rule of the Parthian Empire, it was absorbed into the Roman Empire in AD 114 as a semiautonomous vassal state. While it aided Rome in their campaigns against the Parthians on several occasions, in AD 116, the Romans, commanded by the general Lucius Quietus, sacked Edessa, and quelled an uprising which temporarily put an end to Osrhoene's independence. However, in AD 123, Hadrian restored the client kingdom under Ma'nu VII. This did not last for long, as the Parthians again took control of the kingdom, and deposed the current king Ma'nu VIII. Following the Roman–Parthian War of AD 161–166, where the Roman general Avidius Cassius led a successful invasion of Mesopotamia, the client kingdom was once more restored, and Ma'nu VIII got his throne back, and the Parthians, ruled by Vologases III at the time, were forced to recognize the independence of the kingdom. In the following years, Marcus Aurelius expanded Edessa's forts and city walls, and stationed a garrison at the nearby city of Nisibis. In AD 195, following a civil war in which the kingdom had supported his rival Pescennius Niger, the emperor Septimius Severus mounted an invasion and annexed the territory as a new province, making Nisibis the new capital. However, the emperor did allow the current king, Abgar VIII, to keep the city of Edessa and a small territory surrounding it. In AD 212, Abgar VIII was succeeded by his son, Abgar IX. The new king, along with his son, were summoned to Rome in AD 213, and subsequently murdered on orders of the emperor Caracalla. About a year later, the Roman emperor ended the independence of the kingdom, and the remaining territory was incorporated into the Roman province of Osrhoene.

Bid home this rarity at Agora today. RPC only lists one other specimen, and I cant find any others in online records, making this the second known to me. RPC lists both the region and mint site as uncertain for this type, and another similar type. But I am convinced that these coins were minted at Parium in Mysia. Style, design and Latin inscriptions fit perfectly with contemporary types minted at Parium. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lucilla, with Lucius Verus. Æ (20mm, 4.10 g, 2h) Parium, Mysia ca. AD 163-169. IMP VERV[S] AVG, laureate-headed bust of Lucius Verus wearing cuirass and paludamentum, right, seen from centre / [VERVS?] LVCI [AVG??], to left, bare-headed bust of Lucius Verus wearing cuirass and paludamentum right; to right, draped bust of Lucilla, left. RPC IV.3, 8341 (temporary). --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lucilla. Æ (17.5mm 3.89 g) Miletopolis, Mysia ca. AD 166-169. ΛOVKIΛΛA CEBACTH, Diademed and draped bust right / MЄIΛHTOΠOΛЄITΩN, Asklepios standing facing, head left, leaning on serpent-entwined staff. RPC IV.2 1653 (temporary). Lucilla. Æ (24mm, 10.54 g, 7h). Smyrna, Ionia, under Arizilos, strategos, ca. AD 175-177. ΛΟΥΚΙΛΛΑ CEBACTH, draped bust right / CTP APIZHΛOY CMYPNAIΩΝ, Hygieia standing, right, feeding serpent from patera. RPC IV.2 255 (temporary). Ma'nu VIII, Philoromaios, with Lucilla. AR Drachm (17mm, 3.02 g, 6h). Edessa, Mesopotamia ca. AD 167-169. ΛΟΥΚΙΛΛΑ ϹΕΒΑϹΤΗ, diademed and draped bust of Lucilla right. / ΒΑϹΙΛЄΥϹ ΜΑΝΝΟϹ ΦΙΛΟΡωΜΑΙϹ, Hygieia/Salus seated left, feeding from patera serpent arising from altar and holding cornucopiae. RPC IV.3 1827/4 (this coin). Lucilla. BI Tetradrachm (23mm, 12.14 g). Alexandria, Egypt. Dated RY 9 of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus (AD 168/9). ΛOVKIΛΛA C ANT ΘV, draped bust right. / Asclepius standing facing, head left, sacrificing from patera in right hand over lighted altar, leaning on serpent-entwined staff to right; L Θ (date) across field. Köln –; Dattari (Savio) 9533 = RPC IV.4 Online 3113.4 = Figari & Mosconi 927 (this coin); K&G –; Emmett 2471.9 (R5).

Had great weekend, as I managed to add a third drachm of Lucilla minted at Edessa to my collection. It feels great to already have 3/6 known types of her from this city, as they all are extremely rare. This is the fourth known specimen of this type, featuring a reverse with Hera/Juno. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ma'nu VIII, Philoromaios, with Lucilla. AR Drachm (18mm, 3.00 g, 12h). Edessa, Mesopotamia ca. AD 167-169. ΛΟΥΚΙΛΛΑ ϹΕΒΑϹΤΗ, Diademed and draped bust of Lucilla right / ΒΑϹΙΛΕΥϹ ΜΑΝΝΟϹ ΦΙΛΟΡωΜΑ(ΙϹ) (Αs shaped as Λs), Hera/Juno standing front, head to left, holding patera in her right hand and long scepter in her left. RPC IV.3 1833/3 (this coin). The fourth known specimen of this type. Ex. Leu Numismatik, Web Auction 30 (14 July 2024), lot 1607; Ex. Astarte, E-Auction 2 (9 December 2023), lot 241. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ma'nu VIII, Philoromaios, with Lucilla. Augusta, AD 164-182. AR Drachm (18.5mm, 3.51 g, 6h). Edessa, Mesopotamia ca. AD 167-169. ΛΟΥΚΙΛΛΑ ϹΕΒΑϹΤΗ, Diademed and draped bust of Lucilla right / ΒΑϹΙΛЄΥϹ ΜΑΝΝΟϹ ΦΙΛΟΡωΜΑ, Nike/Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm frond. RPC IV.3 1831/2 (this coin). The second known specimen of this type. Ex. CNG 126 (28 May 2024), lot 506. Ma'nu VIII, Philoromaios, with Lucilla. Augusta, AD 164-182. AR Drachm (17mm, 3.02 g, 6h). Edessa, Mesopotamia ca. AD 167-169. ΛΟΥΚΙΛΛΑ ϹΕΒΑϹΤΗ, diademed and draped bust of Lucilla right. / ΒΑϹΙΛЄΥϹ ΜΑΝΝΟϹ ΦΙΛΟΡωΜΑΙϹ, Hygieia/Salus seated left, feeding from patera serpent arising from altar and holding cornucopiae. RPC IV.3 1832/4 (this coin). The third known specimen of this type. Ex. Sol Numismatik, Auction XXIII (13 January 2024), lot 567. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Roman pillars on top of the acropolis of Edessa, now known as Urfa castle) Edessa was the capital of Osrhoene, a small kingdom located in Mesopotamia, on the far eastern edges of the Roman Empire, bordering the Parthian Empire. It acquired independence around 136 BC from the collapsing Seleucid Empire, through a dynasty of the nomadic Nabataean Arab tribe from Southern Canaan and North Arabia, known as the Osrhoeni. Osrhoene's name either derives from the name of this tribe, or from Orhay, the original Aramaic name for Edessa. (Remains of the Kizilkoyun necropolis, dating back to the time of the kingdom) After a period under the rule of the Parthian Empire, it was absorbed into the Roman Empire in AD 114 as a semiautonomous vassal state. While it aided Rome in their campaigns against the Parthians on several occasions, in AD 116, the Romans, under the general Lucius Quietus, sacked Edessa, and quelled an uprising which put an end to Osrhoene's independence. However, Hadrian restored the client kingdom under Ma'nu VII in AD 123. Following the Roman–Parthian War of AD 161–166, Marcus Aurelius expanded the forts and city walls, and stationed a garrison at the nearby city of Nisibis. (Remains of the Kizilkoyun necropolis, dating back to the time of the kingdom) In AD 195, following a civil war in which the kingdom had supported his rival Pescennius Niger, the emperor Septimius Severus mounted an invasion and annexed the territory as a new province, making Nisibis its new capital. However, the emperor did allow the current king, Abgar VIII, to keep the city of Edessa and a small territory surrounding it. In AD 212, Abgar VIII was succeeded by his son, Abgar IX. The new king, along with his son, were summoned to Rome in AD 213, and subsequently murdered on orders of the emperor Caracalla. About a year later, the Roman emperor ended the independence of the kingdom, and the remaining territory was incorporated into the Roman province of Osrhoene. --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Moneta is present on several other types, so nothing too uncommon seeing her name. If the reverse was associated with coins, I would like to think the design would have been different, perhaps a scene where coins are minted (like the voting scene on the Licinius Nerva type), or actual dies and coins, not just blacksmithing tools and Vulcans cap. Here is a rare control mark in Phil Davis collection, that I'd consider closer related to coins, as it actually depicts them:

Before I sold my collection of Roman Republican coins, I had a nice trio of Carisius coins 😊 I do however think that the theory suggesting the reverse of RRC 464/2 being tools to mint coins is incorrect, its just a sales gimmick to increase the price of the type. I'm very convinced the reverse just has attributes to Vulcan.