New Septimius Severus Sestertius

[Julius Germanicus]

 

L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP V – Laureate head of Septimius Severus right /

SAECVLI FELICITAS S C – Felicitas standing left, right foot on prow, holding caduceus and cornucopiae

Sestertius, Rome 195 AD

31,5 mm / 23,53 gr / 12 h

RIC 692a (R 1), BMCRE 560, Sear 6439, Banti 145 (3 specimens, same dies as the plate coin: A. Cahn 71, 1931)

Here is my newest (and third) Sestertius of Septimius Severus. The reverse has seen better days, but I bought this coin exclusively for the portrait which is the finest of this ruler that I have so far. According to Sear, this is a restoration of a type used by Commodus in AD 192, the final year of his reign.

Please show your Sestertii of Septimius Severus!

 

Edited November 8, 2022 by Julius Germanicus

[Prieure de Sion]

Oh thats a great bronze - can you please give us the diameter and weight... thx.

[Qcumbor]

Excellent portrait style, beautiful !

Q

[ambr0zie]

Exceptional. This reminds me I should add some Severan sestertii in my collection as I only have a Domna, a Mamaea and a Severus Alexander.

[CPK]

Great coin! It is indeed a marvelous portrait. I've yet to acquire any of the Severans but they are up on the list. Congrats!

[Julius Germanicus]

5 hours ago, Prieure de Sion said:

Oh thats a great bronze - can you please give us the diameter and weight... thx.

Thank you! I edited the OP accordingly.

The seller also listed the responsible  officina as „3e“. I wonder what the criteria for such an assessment may be. 

[Edessa]

Septimius Severus, AD 193-211. Æ Sestertius (29mm, 24.57g, 11h). Rome mint, struck AD 196. Obv: L SEPT SEV PE-RT AVG IMP [VIII]; Laureate and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind. Rev: [P M] TR P IIII COS II [P P]; Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm; S-C across fields. Ref: RIC IV 725; Cohen 420; BM 591. Good Fine, nice brown patina.

[Marsyas Mike]

Very handsome coin, @Julius Germanicus.  Sestertii of Septimius Severus are hard to find in my price range, but sometimes I manage to snag one - the nice thing about his coins is that even very worn ones can have expressive, interesting portraits despite the wear.  Here's one I got earlier this year, definitely a worn one:

Septimius Severus Æ Sestertius (c. 195-196 A.D.)     Rome Mint  L SEPT SEV PERT AV[G IMP V or VII], laureate head right / [see note for possible reverse legends], SC in ex., S. Severus standing left, holding Victory on globe and spear, being crowned by Roma (or Virtus), holding parazonium (24.77 grams / 30 mm) eBay Feb. 2022 Attribution:  Parts of obverse and reverse legends missing; so it could be either one of these:  RIC 693: (195 A.D.):  Obv.:  L SEPT SEV...IMP V Rev.:  VIRTVTI AVG or RIC 702a (195-196 A. D.):  Obv.:  L SEPT SEV...IMP VII Rev.:  DIVI M PII F P M TR P III COS II P P

Along the same lines, here's an AE from Cappadocia with a Helios countermark; I really liked the portrait on this one: 

 

[Mucius Scaevola]

I just thought that I already saw this coin somewhere else.. 😉 Than I remembered where.. 😄 

Congrats!

[Al Kowsky]

18 hours ago, Julius Germanicus said:

 

L SEPT SEV PERT AVG IMP V – Laureate head of Septimius Severus right /

SAECVLI FELICITAS S C – Felicitas standing left, right foot on prow, holding caduceus and cornucopiae

Sestertius, Rome 195 AD

31,5 mm / 23,53 gr / 12 h

RIC 692a (R 1), BMCRE 560, Sear 6439, Banti 145 (3 specimens, same dies as the plate coin: A. Cahn 71, 1931)

Here is my newest (and third) Sestertius of Septimius Severus. The reverse has seen better days, but I bought this coin exclusively for the portrait which is the finest of this ruler that I have so far. According to Sear, this is a restoration of a type used by Commodus in AD 192, the final year of his reign.

Please show your Sestertii of Septimius Severus!

 

J.G., Lovely portrait on that sestertius ☺️. Most of the sestertii I've seen of Severus display more die wear on the reverse 🤨.

[Al Kowsky]

[Ursus]

That's a very attractive new acquisition! I just have this one here to show:

Septimius Severus, Roman Empire, AE sestertius, 195–196 AD, Rome mint. Obv: L SEPT SE[V P]ERT AVG IMP VII;  29.5mm, bust of Septimius Severus, laureate, with drapery on l. shoulder, r. Rev: [DIVI] M PII F [P M] TR P III COS II P P; Felicitas, draped, standing l., foot on prow, holding caduceus in r, hand and cornucopiae in l. hand. 29.5mm, 20.23g. Ref: RIC IV Septimius Severus 701b.

[Limes]

Attractive obverse! 

Here's the one I got this year. I don't have any other bronzes of Septimius Severus. 

[Julius Germanicus]

On 11/8/2022 at 4:19 PM, Al Kowsky said:

What a beauty! One of my favourite Severus reverse designs.

Your coin is RIC 676d and Banti No.11 with 8 specimens listed and the plate coin (A. Vinchon, 1976, ex Bement collection) from the same obverse die, by the way.

[Steve]

SWEET!! ... Julius-G, congrats on snagging that cool Sept Sev Sestertius

 

Ummm, here is my ol' Sep-Sev Sest ... such cool coins, in-hand, eh?

Septimius Severus Sestertius

Obverse: IMP CAES L SEPT SEV PERT AVG - Laureate head of Septimius Severus

Reverse: VIRT AVG TR P AVG - Virtus holding Victory and spear

Date: 193 AD

Diameter: 28.4 mm.

Weight: 18.8 gr.

References: RIC 657 (S)

Ex-stevex6

Edited November 9, 2022 by Steve

[kapphnwn]

Septimius Severus Ae sestertius 195-196 AD Obv  Bust right laureate drapery on far shoulder. Rv Fortuna standing left holding rudder and cornucopia RIC 706 26.26 grms 3 mm Phot by w. Hansen

After Septimius ascended to the throne, his issues of sestertii were initially while still scarce more common than the period from circa 200 AD to about 207-208 AD when the issue of this denomination picks up again.    

[Al Kowsky]

1 hour ago, Julius Germanicus said:

What a beauty! One of my favourite Severus reverse designs.

Your coin is RIC 676d and Banti No.11 with 8 specimens listed and the plate coin (A. Vinchon, 1976, ex Bement collection) from the same obverse die, by the way.

J.G., Thanks for the added info ☺️! I searched a long time before for this type appeared at auction & paid an arm & a leg for it 💪🦿.

[dougsmit]

Four sestertii make one denarius.  Here is a denarius worth of Septimius AE.  The first three are sestertii, the next with radiate crown is a dupondius and the last two are asses.   

[Severus Alexander]

Great portrait indeed!  Sometimes you gotta have it, even if the reverse isn't up to snuff.

Of all my AE portraits of Septimius, I might like this provincial the best, from Perinthos in Thrace:

Here's another provincial I bought for the portrait.  Not because it's a good portrait, though. 🙃 

 

^DECAPOLIS, Petra: Turreted Tyche seated left on rocks, holding small stele, right hand extended, within distyle temple. Spijkerman 34.

 

@dougsmit has posted a few things not often seen, including the early Virtus sestertius and the late dupondius.  Here's a combo, even less often seen 😁:

 

 

[Qcumbor]

2 hours ago, Severus Alexander said:

Here's another provincial I bought for the portrait.  Not because it's a good portrait, though. 🙃 

That one is weird, I love it !

Q

[dougsmit]

IMO it is usual for there to be a Provincial portrait better than that of Rome and much worse.  Some Provincial mints had really great talent, others had the local magistrates brother-in-law who need a job.  Rome had a number of die cutters and they usually ran the range from exceptional to poor.  I have bought several coins solely for the die quality which I value above grade.  The ten denarii shown below were all 193 AD Septimius. I consider all of them good work but they don't look at all alike. No one really knew all that much about Septimius since he had been in the field for many years.  I'm not sure which of these 193 guesses I like best.  Septimius' appearance is best known in the later period after the civil wars.  What DID he look like in mid-193 when these were made? Two of these show straight hair.  

I don't know if this site has a limit but I am showing ten because that other site would not allow more.  Old habits are hard to break.  I do wonder how many different dies there were that first year. Were all as different as these?

 

[DonnaML]

7 hours ago, dougsmit said:

IMO it is usual for there to be a Provincial portrait better than that of Rome and much worse.  Some Provincial mints had really great talent, others had the local magistrates brother-in-law who need a job.  Rome had a number of die cutters and they usually ran the range from exceptional to poor.  I have bought several coins solely for the die quality which I value above grade.  The ten denarii shown below were all 193 AD Septimius. I consider all of them good work but they don't look at all alike. No one really knew all that much about Septimius since he had been in the field for many years.  I'm not sure which of these 193 guesses I like best.  Septimius' appearance is best known in the later period after the civil wars.  What DID he look like in mid-193 when these were made? Two of these show straight hair.  

I don't know if this site has a limit but I am showing ten because that other site would not allow more.  Old habits are hard to break.  I do wonder how many different dies there were that first year. Were all as different as these?

 

Wonderful variety! I see that at least a few of them got the three-pronged beard right. FYI, there doesn't seem to be a limit here on photos per post. I've posted as many as 17 or 18 without difficulty

[mc9]

Here are a Sestertius and a Denarius from Septimus Severus

Sestertius :

obv. : L -  SEPT SEVE - RUS PIUS AVG

head laurated right

rev. : PM TR P XVIII COS iii P P // SC

RIC IVa 789  , 26.52 gr ,  31.85 mm

Denarius :

SEVERUS - PIUS AVG

laurated head right

PART MAX P M  TR P XVIIII

Trophy and two captives

Denarius ,  3.34 gr  , 18.44 mm ,

A.D. 201 - 202 ,  RIC IVa 176

 

 

 

 

[rhj959]

Found this in a field recently.

Edited November 11, 2022 by rhj959

[Ocatarinetabellatchitchix]

Very nice new acquisition Jens: we share the same passion for big Bronzes. About another hobby, I really miss your Lego creations. Have you built something new lately @Julius Germanicus?

Edited November 11, 2022 by Ocatarinetabellatchitchix