Three new extremely rare additions, minted at Carrhae.

[Michael Stolt]

The past weekend was very nice on my end, as I managed to acquire three new coins for my collection of Mesopotamian drachms.

Perhaps not in the most impressive of grades, but considering the rarity of nearly every type in the series, with the majority of types only being known by 1-3 specimens, one cannot be very picky once they come up for sale.

The coin of Marcus Aurelius is unique, and was unpublished until I uploaded it to RPC; the coin of Faustina Junior, the fifth known of the type (all other specimens are in museum collections), and was made new plate coin by RPC; the coin of Lucius Verus, is the second known of the type, and the type was previously unpublished.

 

Marcus Aurelius. AR Drachm (17mm, 3.20 g). Carrhae, Mesopotamia ca AD 165-169. ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙ Μ ΑΥΡΗ ΑΝΤΩΝΙΝΟϹ ϹΕ, laureate bust of Marcus Aurelius, right / YΠEP NIKHC TΩN KYPIΩN ϹΕ; Clementia standing, left, holding patera and long ornamented sceptre. RPC IV.3, 25346 (temporary).

 

Faustina Junior. AR Drachm (18mm, 2.60 g). Carrhae, Mesopotamia ca AD 165-169. ΦΑYϹΤΙΝΑ ϹЄΒΑϹΤΗ, draped bust of Faustina right, wearing stephane / ΥΠΕΡ ΝΙΚΗϹ ΡΩΜΑΙΩΝ, Providentia standing left, holding globe and cornucopia. RPC IV.3, 6498 (temporary).

 

Lucius Verus. AR Drachm (17mm, 2.78 g). Carrhae, Mesopotamia ca AD 165-169. AYT K Λ AYP OYHPOC CЄB, laureate bust of Lucius Verus right / YΠEP NIKHC TΩN KYPIΩN ϹΕ, Salus standing, left, holding short sceptre, feeding serpent from patera; serpent entwined around altar. RPC IV.3, 25343 (temporary).

 

Overview of the full collection:

 

Edited November 28, 2024 by Michael Stolt

[JayAg47]

That Faustina resembles the bust of Athena on Athens tetradrachm. 

[Michael Stolt]

49 minutes ago, JayAg47 said:

That Faustina resembles the bust of Athena on Athens tetradrachm. 

A little perhaps.

All dies from the Carrhae series, are straight up copies, of contemporary imperial types, that the engravers most likely had to work with when engraving the dies, possibly by engravers from Antioch, that made them there, or the engravers might have been brought along with the Roman army, when the invasion of upper Mesopotamia took place. This is why we see a lot of purely Roman deities on the coins, with no Greek equivalent, such as Fecunditas, Clementia, Aeternitas, and types such as the Armenian victory types, as well as the "SAECVLI FELICIT" type, featuring infant Commodus and Annius Verus.

Edited November 28, 2024 by Michael Stolt

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Very rare and interesting additions to the collection. Congratulations!