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Happy Birthday Severus Alexander!!!


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6 hours ago, Severus Alexander said:

@zumbly, I had forgotten that your amazing Herakles/Pan/Satyr party coin was a Sev Alex!  How awesome is that!  One of my favourite coins of yours.  Great baby Sev portrait on the tet, and I would love to get a military bust Alexandria Troas.  It was likely issued late enough to be associated with SA's progress east to take on Ardashir.  All in all a marvelous provincial assortment... and I know you have many more! 🤯

Let's keep the banter going @Prieure de Sion (and @Al Kowsky), lots of fun.  Let me introduce some evidence that Sev was not a mama's boy, in fact he clearly drove her completely insane.  Look at these eyes:

image.jpeg.ac66c21513bbf9a75e9716407795d7bb.jpeg

^ obviously a contemporary imitation! 😁 Of the FECVND AVGVSTAE type, with blundered reverse legend. From the AK collection.

I'll respond to the rest of the posts tomorrow.

 

If that face came to my condo on Halloween night I wouldn't open the door 🤣!

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@maridvnvm, thank so much for the helpful commentary.  Your eastern oddities are fabulous, especially VIRVS!! 😆 My only other legend oddity (besides the Fortuna above) is this one (a variant of RIC 271):

image.jpeg.f00f929702ff1bac91254aef075d2f4f.jpeg

The type is already odd in that SA never had his second tribunician power and second consulship simultaneously (which RIC notes).  In addition, the obverse legend ends with a ridiculously narrow "D" and unbarred "A", and the reverse legend is missing the P at the end.  Note also the unusual "M" in the obverse legend.  Still, I'm inclined to think it official based on style.  What do you think?

I find three fairly distinct portrait styles on SA's early eastern denarii.  There's the crisp, formal one on the Roma seated just above.  Then there's a softer young portrait as on your Concordia and mine:

image.jpeg.82bbd054e7c73b1ad7d935da7a15faa6.jpeg

And then there's the wilder somewhat Elagabalus-like style on your marvellous Libertas/Aequitas mashup and my Fortuna above, which I'll paste in again here:

image.jpeg.1ab93a7b76fd736d3847fee2c4915a0d.jpeg

If I'm right about this and not just seeing things, I guess this stylistic variation might be explained by different issues?  (What's the best source on these issue numbers?)

 

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Hey @Steve, the ol' x6 collection maybe didn't have a ton of SA, but it made up for it in style and HEFT!  That Amasia is a fantastic hockey puck, I love it!  (And as far as this week goes [thanks for asking!], it seems I'm on the up-and-up!  Since being released from the hospital there's been no inkling of the difficulties that sent me there so suddenly.  Phew!)

Meanwhile I'll pretend tonight's game against Winnipeg didn't happen... 😏

Here's a new SA provincial I have, from Nisibis, where much of the action against Ardashir took place:

image.jpeg.52012e4805f2627c0612cd2b5168a67b.jpeg

@Valentinian, I love your page on those very interesting SA tetradrachmae, it certainly helped me when acquiring the couple that I have.  I find the metal composition argument pretty convincing that they were not only produced by Roman die engravers, but in fact struck in Rome and taken to Egypt.  Why, though?  

Here's a thought.  As you know, the Egyptian economy was a closed one, whereby the Roman provincial coinage made there was only used for local transactions, and not for cross-border transactions.  So if the Imperial government in Rome decided to send local-style coinage, it may have been because they wanted that money to be used only locally.  

There could be a number of reasons they'd want to do this.  Just an example: One occasion when funds would be sent would be when a new governor (or procurator), then living in Rome, was appointed and sent to Egypt... with a substantial packet of funds, normally.  Perhaps they were mindful of that governor using the money to exert undue influence in neighbouring Syria, for example.  Giving him the money in local coinage (rather than aurei and denarii) would make that more difficult.  (Interestingly: it seems a governor of Egypt, one Epagathus, was executed in 224 or 225!  Perhaps a lesson was learned, and the year 4 tets were produced for his replacement?  Pure speculation, of course;  there are probably plenty of other reasons why only locally-spendable coinage might be sent.  Still, kind of intriguing.)

Edited by Severus Alexander
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@Severus Alexander Your RIC 271 variant is neat. Here is a standard RIC 271 for comparison.

Severus Alexander denarius

Obv:- IMP C M AVR SEV ALEXAND AVG, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:- PONTIF MAX TRP II COS II PP, Roma seated left on a throne, holding Victory in her right hand and a reversed spear in her left, a shield rests on the ground beside the throne
Minted in Antioch. A.D. 223.
Reference:– RIC 271 (S). RSC 470

RI_077az_img.jpg

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This thread seems to be a great place to inflict my collection of eastern mint SAs on the Forum...all three of them.  Or at least I think I have three of Severus Alexander denarii from Antioch (or the vaguely East). 😀

This first one with Pietas is one of the first ancients I ever bought, c. 1987:

7545134_SeverusAlex.-Den.PietasRIC2921987a(1).jpg.044a1fc9842465d29fea0587a50c2d18.jpg

Severus Alexander      Denarius (222-223 A.D.) Antioch or Eastern Mint IMP C M AVR S[EVAL]EXAND AVG, laureate, draped bust right / PIETAS AVG Pietas standing left, holding right hand over altar, incense box in left arm. RIC IV 292; BMCRE 1057. (2.75 grams / 19 x 16 mm) Columbus, Ohio c. 1987 

This one features Victory, and back in 2017 when I attributed it, I seemed to have been confused as to whether it was RIC 215 or 302 - I need to update this!  There is a note from FORVM that I hope corresponds to it:

1801146847_SeverusAlex.-Den.VictoryRIC215Feb2017(0).jpg.613360a8f6d355c463bfbc8a09c44329.jpg

Severus Alexander    Denarius (c. 228-231 A.D.) Antioch Mint IMP SEV ALEXAND AVG, laureate and draped bust right / VICTORIA AVG, Victory advancing right, wreath raised in right hand, palm frond in left over shoulder RIC 215 or 302 (3.16 grams / 18 mm) eBay Feb. 2017      Lot @ $9.33

RIC:  "Denarii with the type of Victory running right holding wreath and palm (#215), appear to have been struck mainly in the East (Antioch). They are peculiar inasmuch as the obverse legend places their issue between 228 and 231 (probably in 231), but the style of portrait is youthful & characteristic of the earlier years of the reign."  (FORVM posting) http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=59413.0;wap2

This one's with Aequitas - since it is a limes issue, I'm not sure attributing it to a specific mint even makes much sense, but it seemed to have the "Antioch Look":

1995128454_SeverusAlex.-LimesDen.AequitasRIC274Mar2019(0).jpg.e2cfcd6a0d9edf359ac081547a020ad6.jpg

Severus Alexander  Limes Denarius (222-228 A.D.) Antioch Mint IMP CM AVR SEV ALEXAND AVG, laureate, draped bust right, seen from behind / AEQVITAS AVG Aequitas standing facing, head left, scales in right hand, cornucopiae in left.  RIC 274.  (limes, probably) (2.73 grams / 20 mm) eBay Mar. 2019

Any corrections to these Antioch attributions greatly appreciated - I don't trust my attribution skills when it comes to "style" considerations.  

Edited by Marsyas Mike
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 10/4/2022 at 3:20 AM, maridvnvm said:

An oddity mixing the legend and deity.

image.jpeg.6395f32167a49c05056f3ba5c5a48c02.jpeg

I also look for coins that can only be differentiated from the Rome mint based on style

Obv:- IMP C M AVR SEV ALEXAND AVG, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:- SALVS PVBLICA, Salus seated, feeding serpent rising from altar
Minted in Antioch
References - RIC -. BMCRE -. RSC -.
3.11 g. 20.11 mm. 0 degrees.

@maridvnvm, I just picked up a different (though likely more common?) Antioch legend/deity mixup!

image.png.80c2ee9b860321c4efcae2301401ebd6.png

Legend: Libertas; Depiction: Liberalitas.

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Since this thread has been revived to show unofficial or odd SA coins, I'll tack on mine. The reverse is the previously shown confusion of Liberalitas with legend reading Libertas AVG.  The obverse die seems fine but the cutter ran out of room after ALEXAND.  Next was a feeble attempt of an A under the bust but no sign of the VG.  Is this Antioch or just another Eastern city possibly with the same name? ex. Jonathan Kern, 1993 (aka the good old days)

rn0240bb0822.jpg.c2bb2a87b1b7c5fcf66b04863421486a.jpg

Like 'em big?  Ae 33 of Antioch (the one in Pisidia).  I see the big bad wolf but we seem to be missing one of the little pigs.  Now the test.  Is anyone paying attention?  This one also ran out of room after the D, crammed in the E and put the R under the bust with no sign of the AVG.  I wonder if there might have been some other emperors who would not have looked kindly on leaving out Augustus.  Two different Antioch using the same sign of disrespect or just accidents?  We will never know. 

pn1875bb2919.jpg.47bf04bba02bc0b4145fd53655ae75f5.jpg

 

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I love that eastern SA denarius, @dougsmit, with its confusion on both sides!  I do wonder if we're dealing with multiple mints here.  That would be fun research project, but a daunting one too.  Perhaps I'll give it a go?

Coincidentially I just picked up an obverse die match to your Pisidian Antioch! 🤯

image.png.63a40a7fcdecb6ee16da566e8f0f2880.png

I hadn't even noticed the R under the bust. (For shame.) I do like it when the engraver has to cram something in an unusual way.  Here's my favourite under-the-bust example, on an Alexandrian tet:

image.jpeg.b60738930effc11aeaf6f0b91845e269.jpeg

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