Seth77's TOP 7 for 2024

[seth77]

After adding a budget-friendly top where I showed that a top 7 can be achieved with as little as 60EUR without it being just common LRBs and keeping at least some variety and historical interest, as well as a rather vast area of mints from Rome to Arabia Petraea with coins struck for Roman ladies (the topic can be seen here), I decided to go ahead and have a main top thread. 

The coins in this thread show my partially evolving and partially branching out of my main interests, while at the same time the dwindling time that I have to do research, which is the part that to me is the most enthusiastic aspect of numismatics and coin collecting. 

There is no particular order of preference, these coins just have an edge that makes them stand out to me; for some, that je ne sais quoi became apparent only after inspecting the coin in hand, which is always a wonderful surprise to experience. 

 

1. The shiny heavy Roman drachma

COMMODUS (177-192)
AR18mm 3.73g silver drachm, minted at Caesarea Cappadocia, c. 181-2
ΑΥΤ Μ ΑΥΡ ΚΟΜΟ ΑΝΤωΝΙΝΟϹ Ϲ; laureate head of Commodus with short beard right
ΥΠΑΤΟϹ Γ ΠΑΤ ΠΑ - ΤΡΙ; Mount Argaeus with trees on its slopes and star above
RPC IV.3 7079

Caesarea in Cappadocia has the distinction of being one of the most prolific mints in the Roman Empire, rivaling Rome and Antioch, and at times its continuous minting serves us well in offering a chance to cheaply add scarce Imperial figures that would have otherwise been too rare and too expensive from Rome. The silver coinage is very nice and stylishly put together, despite the subject matter being rather repetitive. This issue for Commodus is dated by his 3rd consulship and it is quite heavier than the regular denarius of the time. This is one of the coins that were a pleasant surprise to handle, since the surfaces are way better and smoother than the image would leave one guessing. 
From the bunch, this is the only coin that does not have an overt meaning and does not raise points of historical or iconographical discussion. It's just a pretty and shiny coin, way cooler than a denarius of Commodus.

 

2. The Olympian Games of 245

MARCIA OTACILIA SEVERA (244-249)
AE23mm 3.76g brass (orichalcum) assarion, minted at Hierapolis Phrygia c. 245
Μ ΩΤ ϹΕΥΗΡΑ; diademed and draped bust of Otacilia Severa, right
ΟΛΥΜΠΙΑ inside wreath, ΙΕΡΑΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ around wreath
RPC VIII unassigned 20726

Philip the Arab had a few important events celebrated on coinage at various minting places, of which the Roman 1000 year jubilee with the Ludi Saeculares in 248 and 2 editions of the Olympian Games, celebrated in the provinces in 245 and 249. This coin is likelier to belong to the issue of the summer of 245, since the reverse marking the games is shared at Hierapolis with a coinage for Philip II as Caesar (244-7). This has 11 entries in RPC, but I suspect that is way scarcer than many other types listed with less entries but which are at least yearly available at auction.

 

3. The Herm of Priapus

ANTONINUS PIUS (138-161)
AE18mm 4.15g copper unit, minted at Lampsacus c. 138.
AVT KAICAP ANTΩNINOC; bare head r.
ΛΑΜ[ΨΑΚΗ]ΝWΝ; ithyphallic herm of bearded Priapus standing left on monument base
RPC IV.2 2562

Priapus was worshipped at Lampsacus particularly because the citizens considered that it was his birthplace. His cult was the top local cult, which is obvious from the coinage ever since the Hellenistic autonomous period. This coin was minted for Antoninus Pius, likely in the early period of his reign, before accepting the title of Augustus or even as he was still Caesar for Hadrian. This early issue for Pius seems thus to follow the Imperial coinage minted for him in 138:
1. between February and July 138 Antoninus shares the Imperium with Hadrian (while being de facto ruler as Hadrian became increasingly incapacitated by illness)
2. July to December 138, after the death of Hadrian as Antoninus postponed accepting the title of Augustus in order to secure the deification of Hadrian and secure his position with the Senate
The bare head is regular during this period and in the provincial cities it is still used even well into the 140s. On this coinage here 138 seems to be the likeliest date: Antoninus is both Autokrator (=emperor) and Kaisar (=Caesar) but not Augustus. The provinces recognized the situation and marked it as an intermediate step between his status as de facto ruler and his status as both de jure and de facto, once Hadrian is deified and he accepts the title of Augustus.
The herm of Priapus is very well rendered as a clear symbol of the city and very likely representing at least one actual cult statue at Lampsacus.

 

4. Domitian's aegis and Annona

DOMITIAN (81-96)
AE28mm, 11.38g orichalcum dupondius minted at Rome in 85.
IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM COS XI CENS POT PP; radiate head in truncation right with aegis
ANNONA AVG - SC; Annona seated right, holding on lap by two ends a bag full of grain ears; before her, small figure standing to left, nude but for cloak, also holding two ends of bag with both hands; in background to right, ship's stern left.
RIC I 290

@David Atherton has an interesting commentary on this type, from his CT thread (here), with some annotations:

"Here we see Annona seated holding open a bag(?) of corn-ears and a mysterious small figure standing before her holding the other end of the bag with a ship's stern in the background. Overall, the reverse likely alludes to Domitian's care of the corn supply, hinted at by the stern, here a symbol of the all important African grain ships. The small individual before Annona has variously been described as a 'boy', a 'child', or ambiguously as just a 'figure'.
H. Mattingly has the most imaginative explanation in BMCRE II - 'Annona herself, the spirit of the corn-supply, and the ship, the symbol of the overseas corn, are familiar: but who is the small figure who stands before her? He is certainly no child, but only a man reduced to tiny proportions beside the goddess; and the fact that he is bare to the waist may suggest that he is an Italian farmer. If this interpretation is right, the type records a definite policy of Domitian to encourage the growing of corn in Italy.' Mattingly may be correct about the overall meaning, but the figure might indeed be a child, symbolic of the emperor's care for the citizens of Italy, through Annona's auspices providing them with grain."

The aegis on the emperor's truncated effigy is also fairly clear and sizeable, from a period when Domitian favored this representation of himself.

 

5. Arsinoe II of Egypt as Persephone on the Black Sea shore

ODESSOS
Autonomous coinage
AE13mm 2.15g copper unit minted c. 300BC
Arsinoe(?) as Persephone head right wearing wreath of grain ears, taenia, earrings and necklace
Theos Megas (as Hades?) reclining right on monumental base inscribed with ΟΔΗΣIΤΩΝ inscription; upside down late archaic-classical Greek amphora in field above.

Very interesting early coinage for Odessos, minted under Lysimachos as King of Thracia, possibly around the time he took Arsinoe II of Egypt as wife. Sometimes, the obverse figure is meant to resemble Arsinoe (Vladimir Bekov - Autonomous and pseudo-autonomous Odessos' coins from the collection of Aleksandar Rusev (III century BC - I century AD), JHAR 2015, p. 108) as in this case, but only briefly around 300/299, afterwards the coinage employs a more generic and less ornate effigy of Persephone. The symbolism of having a representation of Persephone on the obverse and of Hades-Theos Megas on reverse is also interesting and shows a glimpse into the local syncretic religion of Odessos during the early stages of the Hellenistic period.

 

6. Vulcan for Claudius II Gothicus

CLAUDIUS II GOTHICUS (268-270)
AE20mm, 3.25g, antoninianus, 1st issue of Antioch, ca. late 268.
IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG; Bust right, radiate, cuirassed and draped with paludamentum, seen from rear
REGI ARTIS; Vulcan stg. r., holding hammer in r. hand and pincers in l. hand.
Z in exergue
RIC V-1 215, RIC Online #1029

This reverse iconography paired with this legend appears nowhere else but at Antioch in the second phase of the first issue for Claudius II. Vulcan himself is a rare occurrence on Roman coinage, but here it almost seems like it alludes to a sort of local cult, possibly also related to the cult of the Cabeiri. As a god of fire, Vulcan is related to both civil and military craftsmen. At this point in history Antioch (and Syria at large) is under the influence of Palmyra but still under nominal Imperial rule while Claudius is involved in his Gothic campaign on the Danube and in the Balkans. 
Estiot and Mairat (in RIC V Online) date the first issue at Antioch for Claudius II from the late 268 to late 269. But the exergual mark Z is present in the (presumably) last billon antoninianii for Gallienus at Antioch (Gobl MIR 1670q, Gallienus Antoninianii p. 365), presumably around very late summer to September of 268. The continuation of the marking into the coinage of Claudius suggests a close chronological connection, with officina Z issuing the 1st emission for Claudius starting with that autumn.

 

7. Mithras from the Trebizond 

AE33mm 13.07g orichalcum multiple (sestertius?) minted at Trapezus in Pontus, c. 216-7
[ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙ Μ] ΑΥΡ ΑΝΤΩΝΕΙΝΟϹ ϹΕΒ; laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Caracalla, right, seen from rear
TPA[...]; Mithras wearing lorica underneath mantle and cape and Phrygian cap, riding horseback advancing right; to left at his back tree with long branches; to right at horse's hooves a burning altar and further to the right a column topped by raven
ΕΤ ΡΝΓ in exergue
RPC V.3 unassigned 77285

The literature that RPC is using for this era (Wojan) claims that Mithras was distinctive to Trapezus as a local deity before his cult gaining traction throughout the Empire. This representation though is not unique to Trapezus, it is used in the Black Sea area at large (Pontus Euxinus) by other mints like Tyras or Istrus -- notably at Istrus as early as the Antonine period. Mithras comes to be associated during the 2nd to early 3rd century to local chthonic deities like Theos Megas or with local heroes like the Rider of Tyras or the 'Thracian Rider' in Moesia Inferior and Thracia. To what degree is the horseback Mithras at Trapezus Mithras himself at this point and to what degree he had already become a syncretism of figures from the Greek archaic age to Persian and Hellenistic myths is hard to state. 
This is a very scarce coinage -- in fact Trapezus is not a main mint of Pontus, and were it not for its characteristic link to Mithras that is depicted on coinage, the mint at this time would not elicit much interest. Which makes the preponderance of Caracalla coinage, especially dated to 216-7 very interesting in itself: was Trapezus somehow linked to Caracalla's campaign East?
The similarity of the emperor's effigy with the Abu Qir gold medallion raises the mystery some more, and may put this coinage of Caracalla at this remote mint in connection with the emperor's famous imitatio Alexandri.
The town of Trapezus would, of course, grow up to become the main seat of the Byzantine principality 'Empire of Trebizond' after the crusader conquest of Constantinopolis in 1204 and it would maintain its independence until the second half of the 15th century.

 

So here is my TOP 7 2024. Hope you enjoyed it. Please vote for what you liked best (if any) and thank you for reading!

Edited December 27, 2024 by seth77

[panzerman]

I like the Claudius Gothicus! The Mithras/ Trebizond quite the coin....

 

Thanks for sharing your, "Budget Seven"

 

John

[Al Kowsky]

I voted for Claudius II Gothicus ☺️.

[shanxi]

Congratulations. Every coin tells a piece of history. You rarely see that. I voted for 2 but could have voted for all.

Edited December 27, 2024 by shanxi

[Grudissius Minimus]

Cool coins and informative annotations!

thanks for sharing!

[ambr0zie]

Coins with stories, historical importance and good reverses. That's what I like! 

I voted for Priapus (this type was high on my wish list and when I anxiously waited for one I spotted in an auction I witnessed the price going over the roof) and Claudius Gothicus, a scarce reverse with a scarce deity. I was not aware of this type. 

[DonnaML]

My favorite is definitely the Claudius Gothicus with the fantastic Vulcan on the reverse.

[CPK]

Nice ones!

[Qcumbor]

Persephone and Vulcano make a nice couple together : that's my votes

Q