A Rare Pair

[Roman Collector]

I don't think I've posted these sestertii here at Numis Forums. Moreover, I've taken new photos of them. So, here they are! Enjoy.

Manlia Scantilla, wife of Didius Julianus, Augusta, 193 CE.
Roman Æ Sestertius; 28.8 mm, 22.62 g, 12 h.
Rome mint, 193 CE.
Obv: MANLIA•SCAN-TILLA•AVG, draped bust right.
Rev: IVNO REGINA SC, Juno standing left, holding patera and scepter; to left, peacock at feet, standing left, head turned up.
Refs: RIC 18a; BMCRE 32-36; Cohen 6; RCV 6083; Woodward, Didius, dies 6/-; Banti 2.

Didia Clara, daughter of Didius Julianus and Manlia Scantilla, Augusta, 193 CE.
Roman Æ Sestertius, 21.16 g, 30.5 mm, 6 h.
Rome, 193 CE.
Obv: DIDIA CLARA AVG, bare-headed and draped bust right.
Rev: HILARITAS SC, Hilaritas standing, head left, holding palm branch and cornucopiae.
Refs: RIC 20; BMCRE 38-41; RCV 6087.
Notes: obverse die 3, reverse die H, Woodward, "The Coinage of Didius Julianus and His Family." Num Chron. 121:71, 1961. Reverse die-match to BMC 40 and BMC 41 in the British Museum collection.

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

That is a rare pair!

I have a poorly preserved Didia Clara, not photographed.

[John060167]

Those are very cool, quite rare empresses indeed! I dont have either, but I do have Mr. Diddy J himself 🙂

AR denarius, 15.8mm, 2.72g, 11h

Obv: IMP CAES M DID IVLIAN AVG; laureate head of Didius Julianus right

Rev:PM TRP COS; Fortuna,,draped, standing left, holding rudder set on globe in right hand and cornucopia in left.

RIC IV 2a

Cheers and congrats!

Edited August 5, 2023 by John060167

[Ryro]

Hubba hubba! Didia Clara😍 She was supposed to be the foxiest woman in Rome. Incredible set my friend. And that toning is

Here's my not so foxy daddio. 

Didius Julianus
193 BCE. Denarius (Silver, 17 mm, 1.92 g, 6 h), Rome. IMP CAES M DID IVLIAN AVG Laureate head of Didius Julianus to right. Rev. CONCORD MILIT Concordia standing front, head to left, holding aquila in her right hand and vexillum in her left. BMC 2. Cohen 2 corr. (omits DID on the obverse in error). RIC 1. Harshly cleaned and very rough, otherwise, fair. Purchased from Leu Feb 2022

[ambr0zie]

Collecting Augustas is one of my favorite themes, I managed to get some scarce characters, but NOT Manlia Scantilla and Didia clara calibre. I don't even have Didius Julianus coins. Big congratulations!

However a question about the Didia Clara sestertius ... isn't it heavily tooled? Just asking, you know I am not an expert in this aspect, but I don't like some things. The drapery, the obverse legend (especially 10-11 o clock where I don't think the legend makes sense - letters and break) and especially the eye - looks very Picasso style. 

[Roman Collector]

1 hour ago, ambr0zie said:

Collecting Augustas is one of my favorite themes, I managed to get some scarce characters, but NOT Manlia Scantilla and Didia clara calibre. I don't even have Didius Julianus coins. Big congratulations!

However a question about the Didia Clara sestertius ... isn't it heavily tooled? Just asking, you know I am not an expert in this aspect, but I don't like some things. The drapery, the obverse legend (especially 10-11 o clock where I don't think the legend makes sense - letters and break) and especially the eye - looks very Picasso style. 

No tooling. It's extremely worn, G-VG at best, and the patina is thick, shiny, and difficult to photograph.

The legend reads DIDIA CLA at left. The rest of the legend isn't visible at all. 

The stuff that you refer to after the A at 11:00 are surface irregularities in the patina. It's not part of the legend.

The face is worn flat and there's next to nothing left of the eye.

The provenance of this coin is Pegasi Auction VI from April 8, 2002. Here's the catalog listing with their photo.

And here are some previous photos I've taken over the years.

Here's an obverse die-match from Woodward's study.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Roman Collector
Add photos

[ambr0zie]

I meant no offence. I trust your judgement and seeing the last pics everything is clear. Your initial photo is very deceiving. I think your last photo is the best, on the initial one the "fake legend after CLA" and especially the way the eye looks were veeeeeeery suspicious for me. Like a "new eye" much lower than the original eye, completely re-engraved. Your last 2 photos clarify. 

Here is what I saw judging only your initial pic

[Roman Collector]

Here's an obverse die-match:

My coin is so worn, the only thing left of the eye is the lower eyelid.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Roman Collector

[Marsyas Mike]

A while back I came across a real dog in an eBay lot - it is the Juno reverse type that a lot of dishonest folks like to create out of the same, far more common type issued for Julia Domna.  With a lot of squinting I thought it possible that is is a Manlia Scantilla 

Here's my post I from CT (from a @Roman Collector OP:

The Theory: You can tell a low-grade, legendless Manlia Scantilla coin from Julia Domna by the (nascent) double chin on the former. Julia Domna is never shown double-chinned - her jawline is firmly horizontal (at least that I could find). Manlia Scantilla's jawline is show at a roughly 45-degree angle; on better preserved specimens you can actually see a slight jowl. The Woodward plates (linked by @Roman Collector above) seem to support this double-chin theory. So do the coins RC features in the OP.

Julia Domna (from various auctions on acsearch; I can provide full references; the pic titles include the auction house) - note the firm, horizontally-oriented jawline:







Manlia Scantilla - note the slope of her jawline, age-appropriate for a Roman Matron (acsearch auctions):





This one is a bit ambiguous, somewhat diminishing my half-baked theory; but the chin/jaw is shorter than is usually seen on Julia Domna, if not sloped so much as the others:



The reason I am bringing this up is because of lot of very low-grade AEs I'm working on, which included this gem (18.23 grams on a dumpy 25 mm flan); the portrait just didn't look entirely like Julia Domna to me, so I started poking around the web and came across this CT post, and started looking a acsearch auctions, etc.:



So as you can see, as with all half-baked theories, I have an ulterior motive - I want to own a $5 Manlia Scantilla sestertius!! 

Unfortunately, none of the legend is visible, just a few ghost letters amongst the pitting, perhaps. But look at that jawline! 



Were I energetic, talented and dishonest, this could be smoothed and engraved into a definite Manlia Scantilla. But that's not going to happen on my watch - just a half-baked theory about Manlia Scantilla's slightly sagging jaw line. A boy can dream, can't he? 

Please feel free to demolish my jawline theory. Or tell me this theory already exists, in a footnote in RIC from 75 years ago. You won't hurt my feelings. 

 

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/from-franks-last-auction-a-julia-domna-spared-from-tooling.395279/#post-8354897

[Roman Collector]

6 minutes ago, Marsyas Mike said:

A while back I came across a real dog in an eBay lot - it is the Juno reverse type that a lot of dishonest folks like to create out of the same, far more common type issued for Julia Domna.  With a lot of squinting I thought it possible that is is a Manlia Scantilla 

Here's my post I from CT (from a @Roman Collector OP:

The Theory: You can tell a low-grade, legendless Manlia Scantilla coin from Julia Domna by the (nascent) double chin on the former. Julia Domna is never shown double-chinned - her jawline is firmly horizontal (at least that I could find). Manlia Scantilla's jawline is show at a roughly 45-degree angle; on better preserved specimens you can actually see a slight jowl. The Woodward plates (linked by @Roman Collector above) seem to support this double-chin theory. So do the coins RC features in the OP.

Julia Domna (from various auctions on acsearch; I can provide full references; the pic titles include the auction house) - note the firm, horizontally-oriented jawline:







Manlia Scantilla - note the slope of her jawline, age-appropriate for a Roman Matron (acsearch auctions):





This one is a bit ambiguous, somewhat diminishing my half-baked theory; but the chin/jaw is shorter than is usually seen on Julia Domna, if not sloped so much as the others:



The reason I am bringing this up is because of lot of very low-grade AEs I'm working on, which included this gem (18.23 grams on a dumpy 25 mm flan); the portrait just didn't look entirely like Julia Domna to me, so I started poking around the web and came across this CT post, and started looking a acsearch auctions, etc.:



So as you can see, as with all half-baked theories, I have an ulterior motive - I want to own a $5 Manlia Scantilla sestertius!! 

Unfortunately, none of the legend is visible, just a few ghost letters amongst the pitting, perhaps. But look at that jawline! 



Were I energetic, talented and dishonest, this could be smoothed and engraved into a definite Manlia Scantilla. But that's not going to happen on my watch - just a half-baked theory about Manlia Scantilla's slightly sagging jaw line. A boy can dream, can't he? 

Please feel free to demolish my jawline theory. Or tell me this theory already exists, in a footnote in RIC from 75 years ago. You won't hurt my feelings. 

 

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/from-franks-last-auction-a-julia-domna-spared-from-tooling.395279/#post-8354897

The best way to demonstrate it's a Manlia Scantilla and not a Domna is to find a die-match to either the obverse or reverse (reverse will be easier) in Woodward.

[Marsyas Mike]

17 minutes ago, Roman Collector said:

The best way to demonstrate it's a Manlia Scantilla and not a Domna is to find a die-match to either the obverse or reverse (reverse will be easier) in Woodward.

Thanks for sharing this - I'll put it in my files.  After looking it over, I didn't see anything here that seemed a fer sure die-match to mine (the arm on Juno is kind of like Popeye the Sailor Man's on mine).  In any case, mine is so awful I think a hamburger patty might be the closest match: 

Yep, I think this is it. 😁  I still believe the slightly sagging jawline is at least an indicator for MS - Julia Domna just never looked that matronly, at least on the examples I've seen.  

[ominus1]

..oh man...nice pickup on gals of the empire in the the year of the 5' RC....i have the male part of the group 🙂 

even worn, these coins demand a premium

 

 

sestertius Didius Juliianus  March-June 93AD

Juno reverse, Rome mint, 27mm, 18.24gms

[Julius Germanicus]

David Sear identified the Woodward die numbers of my Sestertii of the Family of Didius Julianus for me ☺️

 

Didius Julianus - obverse die 16 / reverse die F:

Manlia Scantilla - obverse die 1 / reverse die G:

Didia Clara - obverse die 1 / reverse die O:

 

[Finn235]

Nice ones! These ladies sure as heck aren't easy to find.

I have a matching set of denarii, both with enough problems to make them quite budget friendly

And hubby too for good measure

And just for kicks, I briefly owned one coin of every emperor and empress (except Titiana) in a denarius minted between January and December 193 - I've since upgraded the Pertinax and sold the Pescennius Niger to @Spaniard in favor of a nicer one minted in 194.