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Two interesting Quintillus antoniniani


Tejas

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I bought two antoniniani of Quintillus. Both coins are common, but they have  somewhat unusual measurements, one being extremely heavy and the other has an unusually large flan (for Quintillus).

The first coin below weighs 5.3 gr., which is very heavy for coins of Quintillus. The coin is also very well centered and I think this is about the best portrait of Quintillus that I have ever seen (on AE coins).

Questions:

Is the coin from the mint of Rome or is this Siscia?

Can the green deposits be removed savely?

Quin.PNG

The second coin weighs 2.77g, whhich is rather normal, but it has a diameter of 22mm. Since the obverse is well centred it shows the entire obverse die, which is very rare for coins of Quintillus. 

Quin1.PNG

Edited by Tejas
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Interesting. My Quintillus is missing some of the legend and it's on quite a small flan. Portrait is good though. 5.3 grams is definitely a keeper in your case.

Still I have yet to photograph mine (so therefore I cannot share it)!

Edited by Ancient Coin Hunter
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Great coins! That’s first one is Siscia I believe and has a great portrait, very similar to mine below.

QuintillusSisciaRICV-1-79.JPG.1012b9fe101e7c5b465b82c290f16118.JPG
Quintillus, AE antoninianus. Siscia mint. IMP CM AVR QVINTILLVS AVG, radiate, draped, cuirassed bust right / VBERITAS AVG, Uberitas standing left, holding purse and cornucopiae. Q in right field. Normanby hoard 1235, Minster hoard 300, Appleshaw hoard 313, Alföldi VII.23; RIC 78 var (Obv legend); Sear -.

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quin.jpg.bf72567fc563107c4415850c67ffd726.jpg

Quintillus (270 A.D)

Æ(S) Antoninianus
O: IMP CM AVR CL QVINTILLVS AVG, radiate, draped bust right.
R: FORTVNA REDVX, Fortuna standing left with rudder and cornucopiae. Z in exergue.
Rome Mint, 270 A.D.
2.65g
18mm
Appleshaw hoard 305; RIC 19 var (cornucopiae)

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I did snap a photo after all (this eve)...portrait is OK but the top of his head is sort of missing. Definitely will be upgrading this one.

Quintillus A.D. 270

AE Antoninianus, Rome mint, 2.8 grams 20mm

Obverse: IMP CM AVR CL QVINTILLVS AVG Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right

Reverse: FIDES MILITVM; FIDES standing left, holding standard and vertical scepter. Epsilon in right field.

Reference: RIC 18

 

PXL_20240112_230155925.jpg.f01a88c1cacbbcc3be0eddc05d29b308.jpg

 

 

nqv2eivm.png

Edited by Ancient Coin Hunter
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On 1/12/2024 at 5:50 PM, Orange Julius said:

That’s first one is Siscia

Thanks. That makes sense. The portrait is almost identical that another coin from Siscia in my collection:

 

11.PNG

Edited by Tejas
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The big question regarding Quintillus' reign is its duration. According to the sources, Quintillus was chosen to succeed his brother Claudius II by the Senate and he ruled for 17 to 170 days. If his reign lasted only 17 days, this would imply that the coins minted at Mediolanum, Siscia and Cyzicus were all postumous. However, most of his coins are from Rome, suggesting that his reign was longer, perhaps 170 days.

Apparently, he was judged to be a capable ruler. Eutropius described him as "a man of singular moderation and aptitude for governing, comparable, or perhaps superior, to his brother."

I recently bought the most curious Quintillus antoninian I have ever seen. The design and lettering is very accomplished, but the portrait is so far off that I don't know what to make of it.

11.PNG

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My only Quintillus is this Rome mint SECVRIT AVG:

QuintillusSECVRITAVGantoninianus.jpg.63d51090d3efce175477ac4353c33a0b.jpg
Quintillus, AD 270.
Roman billon antoninianus, 2.95 g, 20 mm.
Rome, 11th officina, issue 1, end AD 270.
Obv: IMP C M AVR CL QVINTILLVS AVG, bust right, radiate, cuirassed and draped with paludamentum, seen from the front.
Rev: SECVRIT AVG, Securitas standing left, legs crossed, holding short scepter in right hand, leaning on column with left elbow; officina mark XI in right field.
Refs: RIC 31; MER/RIC temp 1194; Cohen 63; RCV 11451; Normanby 1197; Hunter 17.

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Yes, these are the officina numbers in Latin and Greek. Rome minted for Quintillus in 12 officinae:

  • PAX AVGVST is A = 1st officina
  • ...
  • LAETITIA AVG is XII = 12th officina

 

Mediolanum minted for Quintillus in 3 officinae 

  • MARTI PACI and LVNA PACIF is P = 1st officina
  • FIDES MILIT is S = 2nd officina
  • CONCO EXER is T = 3rd officina

 

Siscia seems to have minted in at least 4 officinae

  • TEMPORVM FELI is P = 1st officina
  • ...
  • VBERITAS AVG is Q = 4th officina

 

Edited by Tejas
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Here are 3 Quintillus coins, the last one was my last coin from 2023.

It came in a 3 coin lot ( 3 different emperors ) and was listed as Claudius II.

IMP C M AUR CL QUINTILLUS AVG ; Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right

APOLLINI CONS : Apollo stg. l., holding laurel - branch and lyre on rock.

RIC V (1) 9; ROME; 3,20 gr;

quint1.jpg.bc9208b33e000ae3170eddc86ea8e46b.jpg

IMP C M AUR CL QUINTILLUS AVG :  Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right , ( seen from rear ? )

CONCORDIA AVG : Concordia stg. l., sacrificing at altar and holding double cornucopiae

RIC V (1) 13 ; Rome ; 2.36 gr

quint2.jpg.015a6c2ce44a8c2b79c4b4bdffeab10b.jpg

IMP QUINTILLUS AVG : Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right , ( seen from rear ? )

FORTUNAE RED : Fortuna standing left with rudder and cornucopiae

RIC V (1) 54?, Mediolanum, 2.19 gr

quint3.jpg.8afd7712bc6ef25c67b7e393ea335522.jpg

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There are some excellent Quintillus portraits in this post. I've always liked his coins. Maybe because it amazes me that they would or could produce such a diverse range of coins for such a short reign.

I have a few AE Antoniniani of his that are presentable, at least by my standards.

This is actually one of my favorite RIC of any ruler. (I should redo the photos, though.) Previously owned by @Orfew and before that by Elvira Clain-Stefanelli (1914-2001), who was author of my favorite coin book, the 1,848 pp. masterpiece Numismatic Bibliography (1985), in addition to being an important Smithsonian curator and many other things. This is the only tray tag in my collection that I'm confident was written in her hand (confirmed by comparing to her inscription on my copy of her much shorter Select Numismatic Bibliography [1965, 406 pp.; photo on Imgur]).

image.png.927f41b64dbc4bd95329779a41b35733.png

 

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I noticed that the mint of Rome used Greek numerals for the officinae 1-9 and Roman numerals for 10-12. Siscia and Mediolanum used only Roman numerals for their officinae 1-4 and 1-3, respectively.

Does anybody know of a good publication on the coins of Quintillus?

Edited by Tejas
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I put together a list of the mints and officinae, which minted for Quintillus. As you can see most officinae minted only one reverse type. Given that Quintillus's reign lasted for a maximum of half a year, the coin production is quite impressive. All types appart from those indicated in grey are quite commen. I think that it is possible that they were minted with reverse dies of Claudius II, at least in the case of the VICTORIAE GOTHICAE reverse. I thought I have seen a MARS VICT reverse once, but I'm not sure.

 

image.png.89ec1802d369c04eab05e9af632ed46f.png

Edited by Tejas
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3 hours ago, Tejas said:

I put together a list of the mints and officinae, which minted for Quintillus. As you can see most officinae minted only one reverse type. Given that Quintillus's lasted a maximum of half a year, the coin production is quite impressive. All types appart from those indicated in grey are quite commen. I think that it is possible that they were minted with reverse dies of Claudius II, at least in the case of the VICTORIAE GOTHICAE reverse. I thought I have seen a MARS VICT reverse once, but I'm not sure.

 

image.png.89ec1802d369c04eab05e9af632ed46f.png

That's a great summary! Thanks! 

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