Best Decius portait

[DimitriosL]

Greetings,

So the couple last weeks i ve been looking for a nice Trajan Decius antoninianus. I am mostly a portait guy meaning that, apart from the general aesthetic of the coin, i place great value on the portrait of the ermperor/deity (style, resemblance to statues etc). However, from what i ve seen portaits of Decius are mostly hit or miss. Some go into the uncanny fish eyed style of later rulers while others , mostly his bronzes, can be pretty decent and dramatic. Is that an antoninianus issue? Please post your decius portraits. Btw, i was close at getting this one. in good condition, above average style and province reverse but something in the eyes bugged me. What do you think?

P.S How can u dissern if a portait is close to life? Comparison with statues? Descriptions by historians?

[Ryro]

Excellent portrait! I'm partial to mine, but the one you almost got is nice. 

I'm not sure what you had against his eyes. My only problem, which isn't much of one, is the green verdigris on the reverse. 

Anyways, here's my favorite Decius. 

Trajan Decius, AD 249-251. Struck between July-Dec, 250 AD. Silver Antoninianus (4.12 g) minted at Rome, AD 250. Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Trajan Decius right. Reverse: Abundantia (Abundance) standing right, emptying her cornucopiae. RIC 10b, RSC 2. Meticulously detailed portrait. Ex El Iberico Collection. Saturnalia 2020 gift from @bcuda 

[CPK]

That's a nice portrait, and a cool reverse too. It is an antoninianus - you can tell by the radiate crown. A denarius would be laureate - not that they were striking silver denarii that late in the Roman empire. The last good silver circulation denarii were issued under Phillip I, I believe, and those are extremely rare.

 

[DimitriosL]

5 minutes ago, Ryro said:

Excellent portrait! I'm partial to mine, but the one you almost got is nice. 

I'm not sure what you had against his eyes. My only problem, which isn't much of one, is the green verdigris on the reverse. 

Anyways, here's my favorite Decius. 

Trajan Decius, AD 249-251. Struck between July-Dec, 250 AD. Silver Antoninianus (4.12 g) minted at Rome, AD 250. Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Trajan Decius right. Reverse: Abundantia (Abundance) standing right, emptying her cornucopiae. RIC 10b, RSC 2. Meticulously detailed portrait. Ex El Iberico Collection. Saturnalia 2020 gift from @bcuda 

Thats a lovely Decius. Seems much more natural than the one i missed( wrinkles, stare, facial hair. Mine is almost robotic. Maybe i am wrong but it seems the perspective of the eyes is of. Almost as if its looking straight at you. Nevermind still a pretty decent coin. 

[DimitriosL]

8 minutes ago, CPK said:

That's a nice portrait, and a cool reverse too. It is an antoninianus - you can tell by the radiate crown. A denarius would be laureate - not that they were striking silver denarii that late in the Roman empire. The last good silver circulation denarii were issued under Phillip I, I believe, and those are extremely rare.

I am sorry i put it wrong. English obviously isnt my first language. I meant is the lower quality of the portraits an antoniniani issue or a decius issue in general? From what i ve seen his bronzes tend to be more artistic. The canvas is ofcourse much bigger on the double sestertii but these are some fantastic portraits. Too bad i never seem to find anything close to that on antoniniani.

[CPK]

1 minute ago, DimitriosL said:

Oh I see. I think you are right - the bronzes do seem to more consistently show higher levels of artistic quality. Perhaps the production of antoniniani were more rushed because of need (e.g., to pay soldiers.)

Those are some fantastic coins!

Here is my only Decius, a bronze, but too worn to show off much artistry:

TRAJAN DECIUS, AD 249-251
AE As (28.92mm, 12.00g, 1h)
Struck AD 250-251. Rome mint
Obverse: IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG, laureate and cuirassed bust of Trajan Decius right
Reverse: DACIA, Dacia standing left, draped in long robe, holding Dacian standard (draco) with wolf's head, S C across fields
References: RIC IV 112c, RCV 9422
A scarce type with attractive earthen highlights. Double-struck on reverse.

[Curtis JJ]

Very nice Antonianus for the OP coin, and several others posted after. In a roundabout answer to the question, coins are often considered the best surviving portraits for most of the Roman Emperors. Later in the Empire, realism was abandoned. But at this point, I believe the Imperial mints still placed a very high emphasis on providing a realistic portrait. "Warts and all," as they say. 

Not sure what academic scholars think, but I enjoy Andreas Pangerl's book on the topic of portraits. (A bit pricey, but beautiful. German and English text.) There are a couple sample pages online: https://www.romancoins.info/Book on Portraits.html & https://www.romancoins.info/Kurz Katalog 29-01-17 Kleinkurzkurz.pdf

And a few others (Kent-Hirmer [Numiswiki entry] & the little book by Franke/Hirmer [photos of my copy on Reddit]). I also like Lanckoroński (1944) Das römische Bildnis in Meisterwerken der Münzkunst -- but wouldn't recommend the hard copy to anyone without first checking it out online from the very nice digitization by Uni. Heidelberg: https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/lanckoronski1944/0001/

[Victor_Clark]

These are things you can worry about but never be certain...each die is hand engraved and will always be different.

[Curtis JJ]

Here's my favorite Trajan Decius portrait of that type:

Trajan Decius AR Antoninianus (4.01g), Rome, 250/1 CE.
Obv: IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG. Bust of Trajan Decius, laureate, draped, cuirassed, right.
Rev: DACIA. Dacia, draped in long robe reaching feet, standing left, holding Draco (vertical staff with head of ass, wolf, or dragon?).
Ref: RIC 12b: http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.4.tr_d.12B
Prov: Ex Harlan J Berk BBS 215 (4 May 2021), Lot 201, ex Christian Blom, 3 Feb 1964. (I'm convinced this coin is from the Bill Behnen Collection, although it wasn't listed as such or in their main Behnen sales, but C. Blom 1964 is when/where Behnen bought many coins, and I noticed others of his sold without mention.)

 

For contrast ... Here's my worst (this is a plated ancient forgery, obviously engraved by an amateur, not from the official Imperial mint):

Edited February 6 by Curtis JJ

[DimitriosL]

Very nice! Cheers

[Octavius]

Two sestertii and an Adventus antoninianus of Decius....

[DimitriosL]

The coin i posted was eventually aold for 60 eu. What do you think? Also why some auction houses tend to gather outrageous hammer prices? Money laundering? Lol 

[DimitriosL]

1 minute ago, Octavius said:

Two sestertii and an Adventus antoninianus of Decius....

Amazing  portraits! Gorgeous antoninianus

[Al Kowsky]

SYRIA, Antioch. Herennius Etruscus (eldest son of Trajan Decius), AD 251. Billon Tetradrachm: 10.88 gm, 27 mm, 6 h. 5th Officina. McAlee 1153e; Prieur 636.

SYRIA, Antioch. Hostilian as Caesar (youngest son of Trajan Decius), AD 251. Billon Tetradrachm: 11.74 gm, 27 mm, 8 h, 7th Officina. McAlee 1160e; Prieur 652 (only 2 examples cited). V. Rare.

SYRIA, Antioch. Herennia Etruscilla (wife of Trajan Decius), AD 249-253. Billon Tetradrachm: 11.37 gm, 27 mm, 11 h, 3rd Officina. McAlee 1165c.

 

Edited February 6 by Al Kowsky
spelling correction

[panzerman]

Nice coins!

Here are some of mine/

[ambr0zie]

Here is my version of the type - not the same quality but I think it was the same engraver. Initially I thought it is an obverse die match but not the case since the legend position is different 

 

And although it is difficult to compete against @Al Kowsky, here is another Antioch with a good portrait 

[DimitriosL]

2 hours ago, ambr0zie said:

Here is my version of the type - not the same quality but I think it was the same engraver. Initially I thought it is an obverse die match but not the case since the legend position is different 

 

And although it is difficult to compete against @Al Kowsky, here is another Antioch with a good portrait 

Interesting comparison! Very similar style indeed. 

[DimitriosL]

2 hours ago, ambr0zie said:

Here is my version of the type - not the same quality but I think it was the same engraver. Initially I thought it is an obverse die match but not the case since the legend position is different 

 

And although it is difficult to compete against @Al Kowsky, here is another Antioch with a good portrait 

Interesting comparison! Very similar style indeed. 

[Furryfrog02]

There is only 1 Trajan Decius in the FF collection but I like his portrait. It doesn't get shared enough so here he is:

Trajan Decius 
249-250 AD
Antoninianus
Obverse: IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG, radiate bust right, draped & cuirassed
Reverse: ADVENTVS AVG, Decius on horse riding left, with left hand raised in salute & scepter in other arm

[Orange Julius]

10 hours ago, Furryfrog02 said:

There is only 1 Trajan Decius in the FF collection but I like his portrait. It doesn't get shared enough so here he is:

Trajan Decius 
249-250 AD
Antoninianus
Obverse: IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG, radiate bust right, draped & cuirassed
Reverse: ADVENTVS AVG, Decius on horse riding left, with left hand raised in salute & scepter in other arm

That’s a great coin, special that it’s relatively uncleaned… so many even worn coins are polished up. I love seeing coins where you can see both all of the design elements and the results of nearly 2000 years of history! Leave that one as-is!

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

This Decius features the personification Abundantia (Abundance). Decius is known for favoring the old gods, sacrificing to the emperor, and also for persecutions of Christians who refused to do so. He basically made an attempt to turn back the clock to a time of old Roman values. It didn't really work as he was killed along with his son Etruscus at the battle of Abritus in the summer of 251 by Gothic forces led by their king Cniva. It marked the first time a Roman emperor had been killed in battle.

 

[Tejas]

Great coins shown here. I love those portraits.Here my favorite portraits from my collection: 

The first one is the youngest-looking portrait of Decius that I have ever seen. The emperor seems to be clean shaven with a slight sideburn and moustache, which is usually the look of emperors under 20 years. The second portrait type is a rather scarce I think. The third one is common, but I like the fine style. And the last portrait seems to show Decius as an old man:

Edited February 8 by Tejas

[Ursus]

On 2/6/2024 at 11:17 PM, Furryfrog02 said:

There is only 1 Trajan Decius in the FF collection but I like his portrait.

That's a nice one!

 

On 2/6/2024 at 5:36 AM, Octavius said:

Two sestertii and an Adventus antoninianus of Decius....

At least in my eyes, your first sestertius gets serious bonus points for a clear and discernible depiction of Roman scale armour on the bust. That's a detail I look for in coins of Decius.

 

On 2/6/2024 at 3:21 AM, DimitriosL said:

What do you think?

Honestly, the portrait is above average imho, yet the reverse would have bothered me for two reasons. First, the die break on Dacia's face seriously impacts the overall appeareance of the coin. Secondly, the head of the dragon standard (draco) that Dacia holds is somewhat blurry. I consider this the most important detail of this reverse type. Personally, I would thus prefer a coin, even in lower grade, with a sharply struck standard.

My Decius coins were all bought because of the provincial reverses. The first one is a Dacia-type antoninianus and features what I call the "wolf's head" standard. (I'm still searching for a nice "bearded dragon's head" standard.) The portrait is nothing to write home about but has scale armour:

Trajan Decius, Roman Empire, AR antoninian, 249–251 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP C Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG; bust of Trajan Decius, draped, cuirassed, and laureate, r. Rev: DACIA: Dacia standing left, holding draco. 22mm, 3.66g. Ref: RIC IV Traian Decius 12.

The second one shows the two Pannoniae. This one I actually bought for the fine portrait style. Look, for example, at the naturalistic depiction of Decius' receding hairline at the temples, or at his nasolabial grove. For the good style (and good provenance), I was willing to live with some reverse weaknesses and wear:

Trajan Decius, Roman Empire, AR antoninianus, 249–251 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG, bust of Trajan Decius, draped and radiate, r. Rev: PANNONIAE, the two Pannoniae standing, holding standards. 23mm, 4.14g. Ref: RIC IV,3 Trajan Decius 21b. Ex Warren Esty; ex PMV Inc., "Late Summer List" 1982, lot 94; ex Dorset County Museum.

The last one shows the genius of the Illyrian army. The portrait shows what I call the "barracks emperor style:" Decius' features are sharp, expressive and slightly overemphasized. (And again, the portrait gets extra points for scale armor.) I am quite bothered by the die break and flat strike on the reverse, though. This coin was a chance purchase and I'm not certain that I won't "upgrade" it at some point.

Trajan Decius, Roman Empire, antoninian, 249–251 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG; bust of Trajan Decius, radiate, draped and cuirassed, r. Obv: GENIUS EXERC ILLVRICIANI; Genius of the Illyrian army standing l., holding patera and cornucopia, modius on head, standard to r. 23mm, 4.67g. Ref: RIC IV Trajan Decius 16. Ex H. D. Rauch (Vienna), auction 50, lot 424.

Edited February 8 by Ursus

[DimitriosL]

4 hours ago, Ursus said:

That's a nice one!

 

At least in my eyes, your first sestertius gets serious bonus points for a clear and discernible depiction of Roman scale armour on the bust. That's a detail I look for in coins of Decius.

 

Honestly, the portrait is above average imho, yet the reverse would have bothered me for two reasons. First, the die break on Dacia's face seriously impacts the overall appeareance of the coin. Secondly, the head of the dragon standard (draco) that Dacia holds is somewhat blurry. I consider this the most important detail of this reverse type. Personally, I would thus prefer a coin, even in lower grade, with a sharply struck standard.

My Decius coins were all bought because of the provincial reverses. The first one is a Dacia-type antoninianus and features what I call the "wolf's head" standard. (I'm still searching for a nice "bearded dragon's head" standard.) The portrait is nothing to write home about but has scale armour:

Trajan Decius, Roman Empire, AR antoninian, 249–251 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP C Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG; bust of Trajan Decius, draped, cuirassed, and laureate, r. Rev: DACIA: Dacia standing left, holding draco. 22mm, 3.66g. Ref: RIC IV Traian Decius 12.

The second one shows the two Pannoniae. This one I actually bought for the fine portrait style. Look, for example, at the naturalistic depiction of Decius' receding hairline at the temples, or at his nasolabial grove. For the good style (and good provenance), I was willing to live with some reverse weaknesses and wear:

Trajan Decius, Roman Empire, AR antoninianus, 249–251 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG, bust of Trajan Decius, draped and radiate, r. Rev: PANNONIAE, the two Pannoniae standing, holding standards. 23mm, 4.14g. Ref: RIC IV,3 Trajan Decius 21b. Ex Warren Esty; ex PMV Inc., "Late Summer List" 1982, lot 94; ex Dorset County Museum.

The last one shows the genius of the Illyrian army. The portrait shows what I call the "barracks emperor style:" Decius' features are sharp, expressive and slightly overemphasized. (And again, the portrait gets extra points for scale armor.) I am quite bothered by the die break and flat strike on the reverse, though. This coin was a chance purchase and I'm not certain that I won't "upgrade" it at some point.

Trajan Decius, Roman Empire, antoninian, 249–251 AD, Rome mint. Obv: IMP C M Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG; bust of Trajan Decius, radiate, draped and cuirassed, r. Obv: GENIUS EXERC ILLVRICIANI; Genius of the Illyrian army standing l., holding patera and cornucopia, modius on head, standard to r. 23mm, 4.67g. Ref: RIC IV Trajan Decius 16. Ex H. D. Rauch (Vienna), auction 50, lot 424.

Beautiful coins you got there! Nicely put. The reverse didnt bother me that much ( only the head perhaps) but was more concerned with the expressionless, although high grade, “botoxed” face. Gotta keep looking for the right one i guess. Cheers!

[DonnaML]

My two favorite Trajan Decius portraits, one Imperial and one Provincial:

Trajan Decius, AR Antoninianus, 249-250 AD, Rome Mint. Obv. Radiate and cuirassed bust right, IMP C MA Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG / Rev. Dacia standing left, wearing cloak over left shoulder and, with right hand, holding Dacian battle-standard surmounted by Draco (dragon’s head or wolf’s head), D-A-CIA. RIC IV 12(b), RSC IV 16, Sear RCV III 9368. 22.28 mm., 4.09 g.

 

Trajan Decius, billon Tetradrachm, 249-251 AD, Syria, Antioch Mint. Obv. Radiate bust right, three pellets below (•••) (= 3^rd Officina), ΑΥΤ Κ Γ ΜƐ ΚΥ ΔƐΚΙΟϹ ΤΡΑΙΑΝΟϹ ϹƐΒ / Rev. Eagle standing left on palm branch, head left, wings spread, wreath in beak, ΔΗΜΑΡΧ ƐΞΟΥϹΙΑϹ [= Tribunicia Potestas], in exergue: S C. [Group II, Officina 3.] RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Online IX 1644 (see https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/9/1644 ); Prieur 540 (11), McAlee 1120c (Group 2) (see p. 368), BMC 586. 24 mm., 12.85 g.