So this is where everyone went!

[Egry]

For the past month I’ve been been on Reddit  coin forums and haven’t frequented CT, only to come back and all the familiar names are gone…

skimming through a few chats only to stumble across a few hints of what happened and some kinda sketch looking link of where everyone went.

Anyway,  I’d like to share my latest acquisition . In my opinion one of the nicest Lucius Verus denarius I’ve come across yet. Let me know if you agree and please share any of yours.

ARI-145 Lucius Aurelius Verus, Roman Emperor of the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty from 161-169 AD, Silver Denarius (3.25g, 18mm), Rome mint 161 AD. Obverse: Bare head of Lucius Verus facing to the right, legend surrounds, “IMP L ΛVREL VERVS ΛVG”. Reverse: Providentia stands facing to the left, draped and holding cornucopia in left arm and globe in outstretched right hand, legend surrounds, “PROV DEOR TR P COS II”. RIC-463. Exceptionally sharp and choicely centred each side, lightly toned and visually powerful in hand, near Mint State, reverse good Extremely Fine. 

 

The Obverse Latin legend reads “Imperator Lūcius Aurēlius Vērus Augustus”, stating the majority of his regnal nomenclature as emperor. The Reverse Latin legend reads “Prōvidentia deōrum, Tribūnīciā Potestate, cōnsul secundum”, with an English translation of “Foresight of the Gods, holder of Tribunician power for the first time, Consul in his second term”.

 

[Qcumbor]

Nice to see you here too

Q

[Alegandron]

Welcome aboard @Egry!

LUCIUS VERUS AR


RI Lucius Verus 161-169 CE AR Denarius Providentia globe cornucopiae RIC 253

[Egry]

 Thanks guys.
 

Nice example @Alegandron!

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2022 by Egry

[Alegandron]

1 minute ago, Egry said:

 Thanks guys.
 

Nice example @Alegandron!

 

 

 

Thank you very much.  You need to post your Electrum in my Electrum Thread!  Would love to see it.

[Egry]

Just now, Alegandron said:

Thank you very much.  You need to post your Electrum in my Electrum Thread!  Would love to see it.

Will check it out. Still getting used to the new controls here! 

[Restitutor]

23 minutes ago, Egry said:

For the past month I’ve been been on Reddit  coin forums and haven’t frequented CT, only to come back and all the familiar names are gone…

skimming through a few chats only to stumble across a few hints of what happened and some kinda sketch looking link of where everyone went.

Anyway,  I’d like to share my latest acquisition . In my opinion one of the nicest Lucius Verus denarius I’ve come across yet. Let me know if you agree and please share any of yours.

ARI-145 Lucius Aurelius Verus, Roman Emperor of the Nerva-Antonine Dynasty from 161-169 AD, Silver Denarius (3.25g, 18mm), Rome mint 161 AD. Obverse: Bare head of Lucius Verus facing to the right, legend surrounds, “IMP L ΛVREL VERVS ΛVG”. Reverse: Providentia stands facing to the left, draped and holding cornucopia in left arm and globe in outstretched right hand, legend surrounds, “PROV DEOR TR P COS II”. RIC-463. Exceptionally sharp and choicely centred each side, lightly toned and visually powerful in hand, near Mint State, reverse good Extremely Fine. 

 

The Obverse Latin legend reads “Imperator Lūcius Aurēlius Vērus Augustus”, stating the majority of his regnal nomenclature as emperor. The Reverse Latin legend reads “Prōvidentia deōrum, Tribūnīciā Potestate, cōnsul secundum”, with an English translation of “Foresight of the Gods, holder of Tribunician power for the first time, Consul in his second term”.

 

Welcome to the forum! 🙂 That’s a real show stopper of a Verus right there 🤩

[ominus1]

..ah, nice Lucius Verus...one of the 'good 5(6)' 😄

[Egry]

1 minute ago, Restitutor said:

Welcome to the forum! 🙂 That’s a real show stopper of a Verus right there 🤩

Thanks. 
 

Over the last few weeks I’ve been pulling out  my ancients out of their 2x2 flips and assembling them Chronologically in their new home (the lighthouse mahogany cases).
 

Some I haven’t handled ever, purchases in a 2x2 and kept in it. The L Verus was one of them. Once I started handling it, it Alamo’s looked like it could be a forgery, but very good one. I had it checked out by someone with more knowledge than me, they concluded it was real but likely the soil it was found in caused the silver to give a bit of a dead tone. 
 

regardless I set out for a better example and came across this one, the rest is history 

[Egry]

7 minutes ago, ominus1 said:

..ah, nice Lucius Verus...one of the 'good 5(6)' 😄

Ah yes. How about I raise you with a the year of the six! 
 

[ominus1]

14 minutes ago, Egry said:

Ah yes. How about I raise you with a the year of the six! 
 

very nice! 🙂

[Curtisimo]

Nice to see you @Egry . Nice coin here is my Lucius Verus denarius  

Roman Empire
Lucius Verus (AD 161-169)
AR Denarius, Rome mint, struck ca. AD 165-166
Dia.: 18 mm
Wt.: 3.30 g
Obv.: L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX; Laureate bust right
Rev.: TR P VI IMP IIII COS II; Victory standing right holding palm branch and placing a shield inscribed VIC PAR on a palm tree
Ref.: RIC 566

 

[AncientNumis]

Welcome to this forum @Egry! Great to see you here and really really nice coin 😄 

[Alegandron]

LUCIUS VERUS


RI LUCIUS VERUS 161-169 AE24 As Rome L VERVS AVG ARMENIACVS Bare head r Mars trophy TR P IIII IMP II COS II S-C RIC 1377

[DonnaML]

Welcome, @Egry! Here's my own recently-acquired Lucius Verus denarius:

Lucius Verus AR Denarius, Rome Mint AD 165-169 [RSC] / AD 165 [Sear RCV II]. Obv. Laureate head right, L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX / Rev. Captive Parthia, wearing breeches and peaked cap, seated right on ground with hands tied behind back; to right in front of captive, quiver, bow, and shield; TRP V IMP III COS II. 19 mm., 3.26 g. RIC III 540, RSC II 273 (ill. p. 231), Sear RCV II 5358, BMCRE IV 385. Purchased from Savoca 133^rd Silver Auction, 15 May 2022, Lot 370.  

[Egry]

Just now, DonnaML said:

Welcome, @Egry! Here's my own recently-acquired Lucius Verus denarius:

Lucius Verus AR Denarius, Rome Mint AD 165-169 [RSC] / AD 165 [Sear RCV II]. Obv. Laureate head right, L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX / Rev. Captive Parthia, wearing breeches and peaked cap, seated right on ground with hands tied behind back; to right in front of captive, quiver, bow, and shield; TRP V IMP III COS II. 19 mm., 3.26 g. RIC III 540, RSC II 273 (ill. p. 231), Sear RCV II 5358, BMCRE IV 385. Purchased from Savoca 133^rd Silver Auction, 15 May 2022, Lot 370.  

Spectacular example @DonnaML

[Limes]

Hi there Egry, welcome to this board! There's defintely more activity here, then on CT these days... 

Congratulations on your Lucius Verus, the emperor that Rome hardly could enjoy, so to say. Although I think he loved partying more then ruling an empire. Your denarius is a very nice one, good portrait and sharp details.

Anyway, i have two Lucius Verus denarii, not as nice as yours. 

I love the portrait of this one, but his stare into the void makes me wonder what he's thinking about. Perhaps about the disapointing reverse? 

On this one he looks like he needs a snickers, and fast. But it's the historical reverse that attracted me to this one. 

[Etcherdude]

@Limes your Aequitas Lucius Verus has that certain look in his eye.

[Egry]

4 minutes ago, Limes said:

Hi there Egry, welcome to this board! There's defintely more activity here, then on CT these days... 

Congratulations on your Lucius Verus, the emperor that Rome hardly could enjoy, so to say. Although I think he loved partying more then ruling an empire. Your denarius is a very nice one, good portrait and sharp details.

Anyway, i have two Lucius Verus denarii, not as nice as yours. 

I love the portrait of this one, but his stare into the void makes me wonder what he's thinking about. Perhaps about the disapointing reverse? 

On this one he looks like he needs a snickers, and fast. But it's the historical reverse that attracted me to this one. 

Thanks for the welcome. 
 

I also have two, the one I posted is the recent replacement. The one it replaced has the same reverse as your second. Could you please expand on the historical significance of this reverse? 

[Steppenfool]

Welcome!

I stopped posting much and was waiting for a new forum like this ever since @Leo was banned from CT. It left all of the users unsure what had happened, but he was almost certainly caught in the website's harsh anti-spam filter which automatically banned you if you didn't respond to the verification link that often didn't arrive in people's mailboxes. The admins absolutely refused to address this issue and often blamed the user for not following instructions, or using out of date email providers. A few people on reddit/r/ancientcoins had mentioned they were also indiscriminately banned, and it took myself 3 attempts to make a CT account using 3 different e-mail providers ( my regular googlemail didn't work, only yahoo finally did) before I didn't get banned for not clicking a verification e-mail that never arrived.

This problem, now coupled with the very draconian moderation, has led to CT not benefitting from the population increase warranted for a burgeoning hobby. Hopefully the word about this site can spread, and we can get the Ancient Coin forum that the community deserves. 

Edited May 30, 2022 by Steppenfool

[Limes]

8 minutes ago, Egry said:

Thanks for the welcome. 
 

I also have two, the one I posted is the recent replacement. The one it replaced has the same reverse as your second. Could you please expand on the historical significance of this reverse? 

Well, you're in luck mr Egry 🙂 I did a write up about a coin of Marcus Aurelius, with a similar reverse as the Lucius Verus onen. Below the coin and part of that write up. Enjoy the read! 

Emperor Marcus Aurelius was part of the so called ‘five good emperors’ (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius), or ‘adoptive emperors’ (idem) or ‘the antonines’ (Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus and Commodus). The era ended when Marcus Aurelius appointed his son, Commodus, as his heir.

Marcus Aurelius was, together with Lucius Verus, the successor of Antoninus Pius. Under the reign of Antoninus Pius, the Roman Empire experienced its most peaceful and prosporus period in history. By the time Marcus Aurelius was to ascend the throne, he was 40 years old. Marcus Aurelius was to be known as a philosofical and gentle emperor. Despite his charactaristisc, it would become his destiny to be consumed with frontier warfare and other devestating occurences such as the outbreak of the plague which was brought back to Roman territory by the army that fought the Parthians.

The denarius shown below is one of the many, many coins struck under Marcus Aurelius commemorating the various frontier wars in the East against the Parthians and the North - the Marcomannic Wars. This specific type celebrates the victory over the Parthian empire. There are several interesting - and desirable ! - coins struck in these ‘warfare’ series, bronze, silver and gold issues of both Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. The coins with ‘vic par’ reverse, written on a shield held by Victory, is a well known type of course. Other types display bound captives, such as mine, or display the (re)-installation of Sohaemus as king of Armenia (struck under Antoninus Pius, and Lucius Verus (aureus, sestertius) for example).

 

About the war itself, it started just after the death of Antoninus Pius with the invasion of Armenia by Vologases IV of Parthia, in 161 AD. In response to the invasion of Armenia and following raids into Syria by the Parthian army, Lucius Verus headed east while Marcus Aurelius stayed in Rome. Either a dandy and charmer, or hardened wartime soldier-emperor (or somewhere in between), Lucius Verus (well, his generals of course), defeated the Partians in Armenia, reinstalled the Roman puppet Armenian king Sohaemus, and furthermore sacked the capital of the Parthian empire in 165 AD. For their efforts, Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius were given the honorary title ‘ARMENIACVS’, conqueror of Armenia, and hailed imperator.

[Egry]

3 minutes ago, Steppenfool said:

I stopped posting much and was waiting for a new forum like this ever since @Leo was banned from CT. It left all of the users unsure what had happened, but he was almost certainly caught in the website's harsh anti-spam filter which automatically banned you if you didn't respond to the verification link that often didn't arrive in people's mailboxes. The admins absolutely refused to address this issue and often blamed the user for not following instructions, or using out of date email providers. A few people on reddit/r/ancientcoins had mentioned they were also indiscriminately banned, and it took myself 3 attempts to make a CT account using 3 different e-mail providers ( my regular googlemail didn't work, only yahoo finally did) before I didn't get banned for not clicking a verification e-mail that never arrived.

This problem, now coupled with the very draconian moderation, has led. to CT not benefit from the population increase warranted for a burgeoning hobby. Hopefully the word about this site can spread, and we can get the Ancient Coin forum that the community deserves. 

Such optimism, I like it! 
 

I want to relate it to the optimism the people of the Palatine must have had when the concept of Rome was just a twinkle in their eye.  

[Egry]

6 minutes ago, Limes said:

Well, you're in luck mr Egry 🙂 I did a write up about a coin of Marcus Aurelius, with a similar reverse as the Lucius Verus onen. Below the coin and part of that write up. Enjoy the read! 

Emperor Marcus Aurelius was part of the so called ‘five good emperors’ (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius), or ‘adoptive emperors’ (idem) or ‘the antonines’ (Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus and Commodus). The era ended when Marcus Aurelius appointed his son, Commodus, as his heir.

Marcus Aurelius was, together with Lucius Verus, the successor of Antoninus Pius. Under the reign of Antoninus Pius, the Roman Empire experienced its most peaceful and prosporus period in history. By the time Marcus Aurelius was to ascend the throne, he was 40 years old. Marcus Aurelius was to be known as a philosofical and gentle emperor. Despite his charactaristisc, it would become his destiny to be consumed with frontier warfare and other devestating occurences such as the outbreak of the plague which was brought back to Roman territory by the army that fought the Parthians.

The denarius shown below is one of the many, many coins struck under Marcus Aurelius commemorating the various frontier wars in the East against the Parthians and the North - the Marcomannic Wars. This specific type celebrates the victory over the Parthian empire. There are several interesting - and desirable ! - coins struck in these ‘warfare’ series, bronze, silver and gold issues of both Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. The coins with ‘vic par’ reverse, written on a shield held by Victory, is a well known type of course. Other types display bound captives, such as mine, or display the (re)-installation of Sohaemus as king of Armenia (struck under Antoninus Pius, and Lucius Verus (aureus, sestertius) for example).

 

About the war itself, it started just after the death of Antoninus Pius with the invasion of Armenia by Vologases IV of Parthia, in 161 AD. In response to the invasion of Armenia and following raids into Syria by the Parthian army, Lucius Verus headed east while Marcus Aurelius stayed in Rome. Either a dandy and charmer, or hardened wartime soldier-emperor (or somewhere in between), Lucius Verus (well, his generals of course), defeated the Partians in Armenia, reinstalled the Roman puppet Armenian king Sohaemus, and furthermore sacked the capital of the Parthian empire in 165 AD. For their efforts, Lucius Verus and Marcus Aurelius were given the honorary title ‘ARMENIACVS’, conqueror of Armenia, and hailed imperator.

Great write up, thanks! I now have even more appreciation for the coin. 

[DonnaML]

Another Marcus Aurelius coin relevant to Armenia:

Marcus Aurelius AR Denarius, 165-166 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, M ANTONINVS AVG - ARMENIACVS* / Rev. Roma, helmeted and draped, seated left with round shield at side, holding Palladium [statue of Pallas Athena taken to Rome by Aeneas] in her extended right hand and short vertical scepter (or spear) in left hand, P M TR P XX - IMP III COS III.  RIC III Marcus Aurelius 155 corr. (erroneously describes Roma as seated on shield and identifies Palladium as Victory); RSC II Marcus Aurelius 490 at p. 210 (Palladium and short spear); BMCRE IV Marcus Aurelius 392 at p. 438 & fn. (Palladium and short spear); https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/C_1937-0708-53 (same specimen as BMCRE 392, with same description); Sear RCV II 4923 (Victory and spear). 18 mm., 3.14 g., 6 h. Purchased at Nomos Obolos Auction 22, 6 March 2022, Lot 610.**

*See Edward A. Sydenham, Historical References on Coins of the Roman Empire (1968 ed.; orig. pub. 1917) at p. 109, explaining that Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus assumed the title of Armeniacus after the defeat of the Parthians and the recovery of Armenia (placing a new vassal on the Armenian throne), a victory achieved in 163 by Statius Priscus while Marcus Aurelius remained in Rome and Lucius Verus, dispatched from Rome in command of the troops, spent the time in Antioch “in luxury and dissipation, relegating the conduct of the war to his generals.”

 

**Nomos AG characterized this type as “rare” in its auction description. I have found only five other specimens in ACSearch, two describing the figure held by Roma as the Palladium, and three as Victory. I believe that all are depictions of the same figure – which looks to me like the Palladium, not Victory -- identified differently by different authorities and dealers, rather than two actual variants. Similarly, with respect to the issue of whether Roma holds a short scepter or spear in her left hand, I detect no actual difference between the objects identified as one or the other. (I lean towards the scepter interpretation, because I see no spear point on any of the examples, although admittedly the tip of the object is concealed by the reverse legend.) In any event, I am not sure I agree with Nomos’s statement in its auction description that there is more than one real variant of this type, i.e. that “This type can be addressed as a variant of RIC 155, with Roma holding the Palladium and a sceptre instead of Victory and a spear.”  

 

[Qcumbor]

Since this welcome topic has turned to a Lucius Verus pile-on thread, here's mine

Lucius Verus, Denarius - Rome mint, AD 165 
L VERVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX, Laureate head of Verus right
TRP V IMP III COS II, Captive (Parthian or Armenian) seated right, before him, bow, quiver and shield
3.10 gr
Ref : Cohen # 273, RCV # 5358

 

Q