Colorising my Collection - Antoninus Pius 'Pharos of Alexandria' Drachm

[AncientCoinnoisseur]

Here it is in all its glory 🙂 One of my favourite reverses, artistically beautiful and in this coin I find it to be of particularly fine style.

ANTONINUS PIUS, AD 138-161
AE Drachm (33.03mm, 24.83g, 12h)
Struck AD 138/9 (Regnal Year 2). Alexandria mint.
Obverse: [ΑΥΤ Κ Τ] ΑΙΛ ΑΔΡ ΑΝΤⲰΝΙΝΟϹ [ЄΥϹЄΒ] = [Αὐτ(οκράτωρ) Κ(αῖσαρ) Τ(ίτος)] Αἴλ(ιος) Ἁδρ(ιανὸς) Ἀντωνῖνος [Εὐσεβ(ής)] =  [Aὐt(okrátor) K(aῖsar) T(ítos)] Aἴl(ios) Ἁdr(ianὸs) Ἀntonῖnos [Eὐsev(ís)] = [Emperor Caesar Titus] Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus [Pius]
Bare-headed, draped and cuirassed bust of Antoninus Pius right.
Reverse: L B = of Year 2. Isis Pharia, wearing headdress with solar disk, feathers and cow horns, holding billowing sail and sistrum, standing to right before the Pharos of Alexandria, which is surmounted by a statue of Helios-Serapis and two tritons blowing a conch.
References: RPC IV.4 74 (This coin, Plate 7, Number 13), Dattari-Savio 8561 (This coin illustrated, Plate 135), Figari-Mosconi 645 (This coin).
From the collection of Giovanni Maria Staffieri, ex. Italo Vecchi, London, June 1988, from the collection of Giovanni Dattari (1853–1923). Very Fine. Rare.

 

I've recreated a nighttime scenery on the reverse with the lit Pharos.

I have tried to be as accurate as possible with everything, as usual:

• The paludamentum is described as being either white or 'porpora', which is a red-purple color obtained by murex shells.
• The medallion / fibula was usually golden in color.
• Antoninus is cuirassed, as can be desumed by better preserved obverses of the same die, hence the brown leather under the paludamentum.
• I have accurately traced all the letters from a die match I superimposed to my coin. Some letters are visible when lit from the right angle, others are not, but I decided to keep the gold where the inscription is supposed to be. 
• Isis has a headdress that for the longest time I thought was just the solar disk with horns, but while this is obvious in some dies (where there is a perfect circle flanked by two thin lines curving upwards), this one puzzled me, since it had almost a 'heart shape' on top and two wide protrusions on the sides that curve downwards. I came to the conclusion that it shows the other headdress usually associated with Isis, as shown in this statue of Isis from Alexandria. Note the feathers on top, that usually form a 'heart shape', and the two wide feathers on the sides. It might be wrong, but it's the one that fits the shape of my die the most. Antoninus also minted two drachms with a portrait of Isis on the reverse: one where she wears the solar disk and horns and another with this headdress I just showed you, so it is not completely out of the question!
• The color of the dress of Isis was desumed from various tombs and wooden statues, where she wears this red-orange dress.
• Same thing with the color of the hair and the skin.
• The sails in ancient times were usually white or tan colored, so I went with that.
• The sistrum was colored after surviving specimens and 1:1 replicas made by museums.
• The triton and the statue on top were possibly bronze, so I used ancient Greek bronze statues for the color palette.
• The lighthouse was colored after various reconstructions I found and the surviving Pharos of Abusir. I took the artistic liberty of adding a touch of red, as can be seen from various reconstructions. This is not present in the coin die, but something I decided to add and that could have realistically been there.
• Finally, I had three versions: one where I didn't color the sky, one where I had a daytime scene (but it felt off) and this one with the nighttime scene and the lit pharos. I decided to go with this since nighttime is when the lighthouse was really needed 🙂 

 

Bonus: The 'Frankenstein coin' I made by combining the best parts of all the die matches I could find, after perfectly aligning them. This is what a perfect specimen could have looked like and what I have used as a base to colorise my coin:

 

 

What do you think? 😄 

Edited November 14, 2024 by AncientCoinnoisseur

[CPK]

Very nice! Imagine what it must have looked like fresh from the mint. 🤩

[Curtisimo]

That’s a beauty. The colorization on the lighthouse came out great. A Pharos type is still on my list someday.

[AncientCoinnoisseur]

@CPK Thank you! The closest I can think of is my ‘Frankenstein coin’ I made by blending the best parts of other die matches, but before the colorisation (I think I had a slightly better one saved with better surfaces, but I can’t find it right now):

@Curtisimo Thank you! And good luck with your search! I suggest you go after a Hadrian with the same reverse, they seem to be way more common and affordable. I lucked out with my Antoninus, but I’ve noticed that in general if you are not too picky with the condition of the coin (like I was), you can find great deals. For example, this one hammered for 190$. There are also versions with just the pharos. I tried to snag this one but I knew it was way over my budget. More worn versions hammer for way less and show the main features of the pharos really well!