White whale! Herennius Etruscus as Augustus!

[Finn235]

I had long ago written this one off as out of my league - until my (IMO) middling bid won it in the last Leu auction!

Herennius Etruscus, as Augustus

May-June 251

AR Antoninianus

Obv: IMP C Q HER ETR MES DECIO AVG, Radiate, draped bust right

Rev: VICTORIA GERMANICA, Victory advancing right with wreath and palm

This coin is the epitome of why I love the obscure, the ironic, and the rare odds and ends of the imperial series. Those who know the history of Herennius Etruscus know that he was appointed Augustus by his father, Trajan Decius, practically as he was walking out the door to lead the armies against the Germanic king Cniva who had been wreaking havoc on Moesia. As Caesar, Etruscus had engaged the forces of Cniva in battle for a costly strategic victory, and for whatever reason, they believed that it was safe to under-estimate their foe. Leaving the young Hostilian at home, both Etruscus and Decius led three legions and chased Cniva to what was supposed to be an easy victory, but they were tricked and driven into a swamp, where Etruscus was killed by an enemy arrow early in the battle. Decius gave a rousing speech to his troops before leading the charge to break free and regroup, but he was also killed, and the Roman legions were nearly annihilated. The few survivors escaped and fled to the support of the nearby Trebonianus Gallus, who admitted a humiliating defeat, allowing Cniva to retreat unmolested with his captives and spoils, and promised a large tribute to keep him out of Roman territory.

But, for a brief moment when this coin was being struck - none of that had happened yet. The new emperor was riding off to certain victory, the barbarian threat about to be crushed forever, and a long and promising career ahead for Herennius Etruscus and his brother Hostilian. It's a single, fleeting moment immortalized forever in a tiny coin.

From a numismatic standpoint, the coinage of Etruscus as Augustus is puzzling, as nearly all of it seemed to be part of an emergency issuance. Most examples are overstruck on earlier denarii, especially the broad-flanned issues of Severus Alexander and Maximinus Thrax. Others, like this, are woefully underweight (this one is only 2.00 grams, and appears to have been struck on a deliberately underweight flan, hammered extra thin) and many others appear to be even lower quality silver than should have been permissible for 251 AD. Although there are three reverse types from this emission (Mars, Mercury, and Victory), all coinage of Etruscus as Augustus is extremely rare, perhaps with 100-200 total known specimens.

So, safe to say this probably takes the cake for "best purchase of 2023!"

Feel free to post anything related, and especially if there are any more out there!

Edited April 9, 2023 by Finn235

[Roman Collector]

Coingratulations, @Finn235! A true white whale!

I only have the fellow as Caesar, just before he was promoted to Augustus.

Herennius Etruscus as Caesar, 249-251 CE.
Roman AR antoninianus, 3.83 g, 22.4 mm, 11 h.
Rome, 5th emission, early 151 CE.
Obv: Q HER ETR MES DECIVS NOB C, radiate and draped bust, right.
Rev: PRINCIPI IVVENTVTIS, Apollo seated left, holding branch and resting left elbow on lyre.
Refs: RIC 146; RSC 24a; Cohen --; RCV 9522; Hunter 9; ERIC II 40.

[Severus Alexander]

Wow, fabulous score!!! Huge coingratulations!!!

I'm thinking there must not be many slots left to fill in your Augusti/Caesars/Divo/other issuers collection that are obtainable for less than 1K...

Since you mentioned overstrikes, here's an Etruscus overstruck on a Plautilla denarius, oriented so you can see the ghostly Plautilla portrait in its natural position:

And here's his bro as Augustus. He lasted a bit longer in the position under T-bone:

 

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

That's a great addition and an emperor that I'm missing from my trays.

[Julius Germanicus]

There was no time to strike Sestertii for Herennius Etruscus as Augustus which prooves the shift towards the urgent need to strike Silver for the payment of the soldiers first before seeing a chance to serve the general public‘s need for small change (a mere thirteen years before the Roman mint struck a comparable amount of both denominations for Gordian I and II from day one of their even shorter reign).

The mint DID according to all sources however also strike AUREI of the same type for Herennius Etruscus as Augustus, but these remain an enigma as I have never seen even a picture of one.

Herennius Etruscus as Caesar
Sestertius, 250/251 A.D.
28,67 mm / 15,70 gr
Q HER ETR MES DECIVS NOB C / PIETAS AVGG S C
RIC 167a corr.(draped); Cohen 12; Sear 9531, Banti 1

 

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Just a Caesar for me...

TD said," The death of one soldier is of little consequence to the Republic" in referring to the fallen Etruscus.

 

[ominus1]

...a placeholder coin for a placeholder emperor  🙂

[Al Kowsky]

Finn, Nice score ☺️. Pictured below is my only example of Herennius Etruscus.

SYRIA, ANTIOCH. Herennius Etruscus, as Caesar. AD 251. Billon Tetradrachm: 10.88 gm, 27 mm, 6 h Officina 5. McAlee 1153e. AWK Collection.

[Marsyas Mike]

Congratulations @Finn235 - that is a good catch indeed.  Unfortunately I do not have an Imperial type for HE, but I did get this little provincial in a undescribed eBay lot last year - with Latin titles, at least:

Herennius Etruscus  Æ 23 (251 A.D.) Cremna, Pisidia · IMP CAES · Q · ER · ETR ·  MES DECIVM, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / GEN COL CREM, Genius standing left holding patera and cornucopia, lighted altar left. RPC IX 975. (5.60 grams / 23 mm) eBay June 2022 Lot @ $0.99

Note:  RPC states "Die-links  1-10: same pair of dies."  But from examples online, it seems at least two dies used; this one matches Museum of Fine Arts  Boston No. 63.888; the reverse die matches RPC IX 975 ex. 1.  Dots not noted in obverse legend in RPC and elsewhere. RPC additional reference: vA Pisidien II, 1482–9

Here are a few die-matches (and examples in better knick than mine):

 

[Finn235]

Thanks all!

@Severus Alexander, you are absolutely correct, there aren't many holes left to fill in my set that are obtainable without going over the $1k mark, which I assume will need to be broken eventually. This is actually just one of several in the set of "Caesars who are very common but had an exceedingly short reign as emperor".

The others would be 

Diadumenian, made emperor while Macrinus was still technically rightful emperor, but Elagabalus had already risen as a usurper 

I need a less ambiguous type, but I'm still adamant that the awkwardly placed CE beneath the bust indicates that he had just been promoted to Sebastou. His imperial types as Augustus are unobtainable; I think fewer than 10 are known in any metal?

 

Hostilian, as posted above, was made emperor upon receiving word that Decius and Etruscus were killed - he lasted only a few months (at least 1 or 2, possibly up to 5) and died of illness

 

Saloninus is a very high profile target of mine - he declared himself emperor while under siege by Postumus, and minted coins for the last few weeks of his life. I've attempted to win the three that I've seen up for auction since about 2017, and struck out every time.

 

Tetricus II is an enigma - IIRC, there are a couple coins that are minted for Tetricus II Augustus and are generally accepted as both genuine and official. They shouldn't exist however, as we have no evidence otherwise that his father even promoted him, as he fully expected to lose to Aurelian and be executed after. Barbarous coins of Tetricus II as Augustus exist, and are obtainable with patience

 

Other than that, I still need Gordian II, and I'm up in the air over the extent to which Constantine III and Constantius III are really necessary to have a "complete" emperor set through the death of Valentinian III. My imperatorial set is actually pretty sparse, so that will hopefully be my next major undertaking.

[Finn235]

On 4/9/2023 at 2:22 PM, Ancient Coin Hunter said:

Just a Caesar for me...

TD said," The death of one soldier is of little consequence to the Republic" in referring to the fallen Etruscus.

 

I think it's fascinating how much the bust here looks like the one on Al's tet

On 4/9/2023 at 5:47 PM, Al Kowsky said:

Finn, Nice score ☺️. Pictured below is my only example of Herennius Etruscus.

SYRIA, ANTIOCH. Herennius Etruscus, as Caesar. AD 251. Billon Tetradrachm: 10.88 gm, 27 mm, 6 h Officina 5. McAlee 1153e. AWK Collection.

One thing I've mused on in my collection is the extent to which consistency = accuracy. The mint workers under Decius in particular seemed to be pretty evenly divided between the realism and idealism school of thought - about half of the coins show very idealized busts, and the other half show very human flaws. Etruscus' coinage from Rome in particular tends to err on the side of "idealized but unremarkable teenager"

[Tejas]

Congratulations! Herennius Etruscus with VICTORIA GERMANICA reverse has also been a white whale of mine for a long time. I was able to get the coin below on Ebay not too long ago:

 

Obv: IMP C Q HER ETR MES DECIO AVG

Rev: VICTORIA GERMANICA

Mint: Rome

Date: Summer AD 251

Measurements: 2.34 gr., 22mm, 1h

Great condition, well centered and one of the finest known.

 

I like your write-up about the coin. I would add the fact, that it is of some historical/linguistic importance as well. The coin comes from a time, when the name Goths or Gothi was not yet well established enough to be used on a coin. This would change in the 20 years following the events of AD 251. Also the coin shows that the Romans did refer to Goths as Germans, despite the usual rule that suggests that ethnic names were strictly linked to geography. Instead, the coin suggests that the Romans also considered language and (perhaps) culture.

 

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by Tejas

[Orange Julius]

While not pretty, here’s my barbarous initiation of Tetricus II, shown here as Augustus:

[Severus Alexander]

16 hours ago, Finn235 said:

I need a less ambiguous type, but I'm still adamant that the awkwardly placed CE beneath the bust indicates that he had just been promoted to Sebastou.

This makes sense.  I have some questions for you though, based on browsing acsearch. For some reason, all the AEs from Antioch for Diadumenian seem to end in  "...NINOC C",  "...NINOC CE", or simply  "...NINOC."  The ones ending in "CE" seem awfully common to have all been struck in the 2-3 weeks that Diadumenian was Augustus, especially when compared to his tetradrachms as Augustus, and even more so if we include the legends ending in "...NINOC C".  

The AEs and the tets of Diadumenian as Caesar are quite different from each other.  For Diadumenian as Augustus (looking at Syrian mints more generally), the tets begin with AYT, as for his father, whereas his tets as Caesar begin KAI.  All the AEs seem to begin with KAI which suggests they were all struck as Caesar.  But then what does "C" and "CE" signify?  We don't find this on the tets, only "CEB."  Macrinus's Antioch tets all seem to end in "CEB" too. (Sometimes part of it is tucked under the bust.) Whereas Macrinus's AEs also include "C" and "CE" endings.

So I'm left puzzled by what the "C" and "CE" mean on the AEs.  Should be Sebastos. But there are surely too many Diadumenian AEs with these endings for them to have all been struck in a couple weeks.  I'm thoroughly confused! 🤪 Maybe the Antioch mint workers were too?

 

Edited April 12, 2023 by Severus Alexander

[John Conduitt]

Not a universally popular guy, it seems. But we still need his coins 😁

Herennius Etruscus (under Trajan Decius) Antoninianus, 250-251

Rome. Silver, 20-22mm, 4.53g. Bust of Herennius Etruscus, radiate, draped, right; Q HER ETR MES DECIVS NOB C. Herennius, in military attire, standing left, holding rod in right hand and transverse spear in left hand; PRINCIPI IVVENTVTIS (RIC IV, 147). Found in Britain.

[savitale]

Wow! I had taken Herennius Etruscus and Hostillian off my list because I thought they were only available as Caesar. Very cool!

[Tejas]

15 hours ago, Orange Julius said:

While not pretty, here’s my barbarous initiation of Tetricus II, shown here as Augustus:

"barbarous initiation" sounds really mysterious 🙂

[Tejas]

On 4/9/2023 at 5:08 AM, Finn235 said:

From a numismatic standpoint, the coinage of Etruscus as Augustus is puzzling, as nearly all of it seemed to be part of an emergency issuance. Most examples are overstruck on earlier denarii, especially the broad-flanned issues of Severus Alexander and Maximinus Thrax. Others, like this, are woefully underweight (this one is only 2.00 grams, and appears to have been struck on a deliberately underweight flan, hammered extra thin) and many others appear to be even lower quality silver than should have been permissible for 251 AD.

This is an interesting observation. I noted the same, when I got my coin. I guess they stepped up the money supply ahead of the campaign against the Goths to pay for supplies and troops. Then again, this does not explain well why these coins are so rare today. Maybe the coins were rejected by the population, which noticed the subpar standard, leading to their removal from circulation.  

[Orange Julius]

8 hours ago, Tejas said:

"barbarous initiation" sounds really mysterious 🙂

Haha, yes that’s sounds dark and mysterious! Imitation I meant!