Aelius, the almost emperor (show your Aelius!)

[Coinmaster]

Hi all, I've just acquired this interesting denarius from Aelius. Who? Aelius, the almost emperor:

Lucius Aelius Caesar (13 January 101 – 1 January 138) was the father of Emperor Lucius Verus. In 136, he was adopted by the reigning emperor Hadrian and named heir to the throne. He died before Hadrian and thus never became emperor. After Lucius' death, he was replaced by Antoninus Pius, who succeeded Hadrian the same year. (see more here)

On the front: L AELIVS CAESAR, reverse: TRIB POT COS II // PIETAS (in field), Pietas standing right, raising hand and holding incense box; to right, altar. Struck in Rome, 137.
What attracted me was not only the nice portrait, but the additional letters IB on the reverse. This makes this coin the latest denarius of Aelius. It seems (very?) rare as well. The coin was wrongly determined by the seller as RIC 438. It turned out to be RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 2714. On page 258 I see two references, among this plated copy. Another reference is 'rö 10039', although I can't find what this abbreviation stands for? An image is shown on plate 48 (2714). I guess this denarius was struck around these same last days of December, as the ailing Aelius exchanged the temporary for the eternal on the 1st of January 138.

Please share your Aelius coins below, thanks!

Edited December 17, 2023 by Coinmaster

[JayAg47]

A denarius and an As of Aelius, both bought from ebay misattributed as Hadrian. 

[Tejas]

Beautiful coin! I think Aelius' portraits are particularly attractive and artistic.

Here is my one in only Aelius:

[Limes]

Thats a great coin, very nice portrait! Below is my only Aelius coin. 

[Roman Collector]

That's lovely, @Coinmaster! Here's a well-circulated sestertius with the ultra-common Spes reverse type. 

[Furryfrog02]

Try as I might, I have yet to snag an Aelius for the collection. I think he will be one of my 2024 goals.

[Qcumbor]

Beautiful mature portrait on that denarius @Coinmaster

My sole Aelius so far, not as good as yours I'm afraid

Aelius, Denarius - Rome mint, 137 CE
L AELIVS CAESAR, bare head right
TR POT COS II, Spes standing left holding flower and lifting skirt
3.25 gr
Ref : Cohen # 55, RCV # 3977

Q

 

[ambr0zie]

Not the most beautiful coin in the world, but good enugh to represent Aelius in my collection.

18 mm, 2,80 g.
Aelius, as Caesar 136-138 AD. AR denarius. Rome.
L AELIVS CAESAR, head of Lucius Aelius, right / TR POT COS II, Salus standing left, holding patera and sceptre; to left, altar with snake coiled around.
RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 2645; Old RIC II Hadrian 434; BMCRE 977 (Hadrian); RSC 54.

[Roman Collector]

[LONGINUS]

That's a great looking coin, @Coinmaster ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

The portrait is so lifelike, it looks as though the emperor is preparing to address us in Latin.

I’m definitely going to add one to next year’s list. Thank you for posting.

[shanxi]

Nice coins. My only Aelius is quite worn.

Aelius as Caesar
136-138 AD
AR Denarius
Obv.: L AELIVS - CAESAR, Head bare right.
Rev.: TR PO T - COS II Felicitas standing left holding caduceus and cornucopia
Ag, 3.12g, 17mm
Ref.: RIC 430
Ex HJB

 

 

[El Cazador]

7 hours ago, Coinmaster said:

Hi all, I've just acquired this interesting denarius from Aelius. Who? Aelius, the almost emperor:

Lucius Aelius Caesar (13 January 101 – 1 January 138) was the father of Emperor Lucius Verus. In 136, he was adopted by the reigning emperor Hadrian and named heir to the throne. He died before Hadrian and thus never became emperor. After Lucius' death, he was replaced by Antoninus Pius, who succeeded Hadrian the same year. (see more here)

On the front: L AELIVS CAESAR, reverse: TRIB POT COS II // PIETAS (in field), Pietas standing right, raising hand and holding incense box; to right, altar. Struck in Rome, 137.
What attracted me was not only the nice portrait, but the additional letters IB on the reverse. This makes this coin the latest denarius of Aelius. It seems (very?) rare as well. The coin was wrongly determined by the seller as RIC 438. It turned out to be RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 2714. On page 258 I see two references, among this plated copy. Another reference is 'rö 10039', although I can't find what this abbreviation stands for? An image is shown on plate 48 (2714). I guess this denarius was struck around these same last days of December, as the ailing Aelius exchanged the temporary for the eternal on the 1st of January 138.

Please share your Aelius coins below, thanks!

Looks suspicious , might be cast… I would check with some other local dealers if you have achance

Edited December 17, 2023 by El Cazador

[PeteB]

AELIUS, Caesar. 137 AD. Philippopolis, Thrace. (Æ 33; 21.34 gm)Obv: Λ AIΛIOC KAICAP,  cuirassed bust of Aelius, r., bare head, with paludamentum seen from rear. Rev. ΦIΛIΠΠOΠO - LEITΩN, Female figure wearing polos standing l., holding patera in r. hand and poppy and two ears of corn in l. hand; on l., river-god (Hebrus) reclining. BMC__ ; SNG Cop.__; Moushmov__; Varbanov 643, rarity 9!; RPC III, 753

[Coinmaster]

1 hour ago, El Cazador said:

Looks suspicious , might be cast… I would check with some other local dealers if you have achance

The coin will be posted after the holidays, so I haven't seen it in hand. It's not from Ebay but from a dealer. I checked on beforehand if this coin is listed (by Ilya Prokopov), but this one is (fortunately) not. Because this denarius type doesn't exist in the previous RIC, I think it's genuine. But of course, you never know when buying online. Thanks for your warning.

[Coinmaster]

@El Cazador, the coin arrived! I made a few photos, I hope they're good enough. What do you think, fake or not? The rim differs in thickness and has some cracks. But 'm no expert in this.

 

[CPK]

On 12/17/2023 at 6:38 AM, Coinmaster said:

Hi all, I've just acquired this interesting denarius from Aelius. Who? Aelius, the almost emperor:

Lucius Aelius Caesar (13 January 101 – 1 January 138) was the father of Emperor Lucius Verus. In 136, he was adopted by the reigning emperor Hadrian and named heir to the throne. He died before Hadrian and thus never became emperor. After Lucius' death, he was replaced by Antoninus Pius, who succeeded Hadrian the same year. (see more here)

On the front: L AELIVS CAESAR, reverse: TRIB POT COS II // PIETAS (in field), Pietas standing right, raising hand and holding incense box; to right, altar. Struck in Rome, 137.
What attracted me was not only the nice portrait, but the additional letters IB on the reverse. This makes this coin the latest denarius of Aelius. It seems (very?) rare as well. The coin was wrongly determined by the seller as RIC 438. It turned out to be RIC II, Part 3 (second edition) Hadrian 2714. On page 258 I see two references, among this plated copy. Another reference is 'rö 10039', although I can't find what this abbreviation stands for? An image is shown on plate 48 (2714). I guess this denarius was struck around these same last days of December, as the ailing Aelius exchanged the temporary for the eternal on the 1st of January 138.

Please share your Aelius coins below, thanks!

A portrait worthy of an aureus! What a beautiful coin. Congratulations!

[Dafydd]

A really nice coin congratulations. Here is mine not quite the quality of yours.

 

 

AELIUS (Caesar, 136-138). Denarius. Rome.

Obv: L AELIVS CAESAR.
Bare head right.
Rev: TR POT COS II / PIE - TAS.
Pietas standing right, holding acerrum and dropping incense onto lighted and garlanded altar to right.

RIC 439 (Hadrian).

Ex Numismatic Neumann Auction 73 2019.

Edited December 20, 2023 by Dafydd

[lordmarcovan]

This well-worn example from my old 2007-08 novice collection is the only Aelius I have owned to date.

[DonnaML]

@Coinmaster's coin looks real to me -- and looks great! -- but nobody should take my word for it!

Like most of us, I have only one, worn, Aelius, although the portrait is decent-looking and -- something important to me -- his name is still legible.

Aelius Caesar AR Denarius, 137 AD. Obv. AELIVS CAESAR, bare head right / Rev. TR POT COS II, Felicitas standing left, holding caduceus and cornucopiae. RSC II 50, RIC II Hadrian 430 (1926 ed.), Sear RCV II 3973.18 mm., 2.70 g.

[El Cazador]

14 hours ago, Coinmaster said:

@El Cazador, the coin arrived! I made a few photos, I hope they're good enough. What do you think, fake or not? The rim differs in thickness and has some cracks. But 'm no expert in this.

 

Hello, thanks for posting these… yeah, i think it looks authentic based on the new pictures (perhaps lighting on the OP was off) - great coin, Congratulations!

[Coinmaster]

How interesting: 'A good case can be made that Aelius may actually have been the illegitimate son of Hadrian, with perhaps the strongest evidence being that after Aelius' death he mourned for him like a lost son, and even made the adoption of Lucius Verus by Antoninus Pius a condition of Pius' adoption by Hadrian. Hadrian had also arranged the engagement of Aelius' daughter, Fabia, to Pius, so in reality he arranged for Aelius' son to become an Augustus and Aelius' daughter to become an Augusta. The adoption of Aelius was marked by games and a donative.'

Source: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Aelius

[Coinmaster]

Hi all, I've checked all the coins I could from this denarius type. It looks like my coin is a double die match. What do you think? Also, the reverse of the plate coin from RIC II, Part 3² Hadrian 2714 looks like a die match with the other two?

PS: I still don't know what the reference source: RÖ 10039 stands for. Who knows this riddle?
PS2: I don't know how to customize the photos, they are a bit too large now when pasting.

 

[Praefectus]

https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/praefectus_coins/130/product/phrygia_kibyra__aelius_as_caesar_ad_136138__18_extremely_rare/1214421/Default.aspx

[Valentinian]

On 12/17/2023 at 4:38 AM, Coinmaster said:

Hi all, I've just acquired this interesting denarius from Aelius.

I think it is a fake. I don't think Aelius, or any emperor, ever had a hairstyle like that with waves over the ear and along the forehead. Take a close look at high-quality Aelius pieces (e.g. in Pangerl, 500 Years of Roman Coin Portraits, or Kent and Hirmer, Roman Coins, or the 20 pieces illustrated in BMC Roman. They all show only tight curls, never waves. 

Die matches are fairly unusual for denarii and double die matches are even more so--unless, of course, forgeries are made by copying a single prototype. If you find another Aelius denarius that has that hairstyle, it may be another fake from that source. 

Edit. P.S.  I once bought a gorgeous Hadrian sestertius that turned out to be that way from tooling. It had wavy hair and, after lots of study, I figured out that waves like it had were not original. Ever since, I have been alert to the warning signals that wavy hair on of coins second-century males send. 

Edited December 24, 2023 by Valentinian
a P.S.

[Coinmaster]

Thank you for your oppinion @Valentinian! This really asks for a deep dive into the Aelius coins! You might be wright (I hope you don't haha!), so let's analyze this coin production.
 

Abdy (2019) writes in RIC about this coin type: RIC II, Part 3² Hadrian 2714 (with image plate 48, see also above), with reference to Strack 399 and to 'RÖ 10039' (see below).

Seaby (1979, 3rd ed.) writes on p.163 about this coin type (42a, see attachment), with reference to BMC (see below), and again to Strack 399 (collections 'Sofia and Vienna'). The 2 coins from Vienna I have found (see attachments), the one from Sofia I couldn't find online. 

Strack (1933) refers to this publication: Strack, Paul L. Untersuchungen zur römischen Reichsprägung des zweiten Jahrhunderts, Teil II: Die Reichsprägung zur Zeit des Hadrian. (Stuttgart, 1933). Unfortunately, I can't find this PDF online. If somebody have this publication, I'd be grateful if coin no. 399 could be found and shared? I think Strack 399 and RÖ 10039 is the same coin, but I'd like to be sure.

Mattingly (1936) writes about the BMC. On page 368 in note 1003 there is mention about a PIETAS denarius of this type in Mouchmov (1912), p.45 (see also the attachment). I've checked this publication, but could find it(?), see here. At least this coin type seems to exist in 1912.

In the online collection of Vienna/Wien I found this beautiful denarius of this Aelius type, which originates from the collection of Ernst Moritz Herzfelder (1865-1923). See attachment (RÖ 40893) and here.

In this same collection also the above mentioned RÖ 10039 (see attachment and here).

Finaly, two plated coins are known, this one from the BMC and this one from the CNG auction. The reverse differs but the obverse is a die match I think. Both with head left.

About the 'waves', I'm not so sure. I do see them like the downward curl on the mustache. Here some examples with more or less waves: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. But than again: I'm realy not sure. 

To conclude: there seems to exist, at least from 1912 onwards, this rare denarius coin type from Aelius with the letters TRIB on the reverse instead of TR. The coins from the collection in Vienna have a reverse die match. The earlier shown coins have both a obverse and reverse die match. I think they are also reverse die match with the older coins from Vienna, look for example to the letter P from PIE, that is a little elevated and almost touch the letter B from TRIB (see the four reverses in the latest image below). I think it's save to conclude this coin type is at least rare.

Many thanks for your opinions!

Edited December 25, 2023 by Coinmaster