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Commodus AE16 from Antioch in Caria. Have you seen me? [*SOLVED: Lucius Verus & Nemesis!*]


Curtis JJ

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EDIT: Solved by @shanxi: [Lucius Verus, https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/4/11539, 2 spec., 1 ill.]

 

 

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO POST ANYTHING RELEVANT / ANY COINS IN THE SAME BALLPARK(S)!

Commodus Lucius Verus AE16 (Assarion?) from Caria, Antiochia. Nike Nemesis on reverse. [For Commodus:] Two types, very rare (Nike right, a few examples, published), and extremely rare (Nike left; 2 or 3 1 example, incl. mine, RPC Temp.).

The 2nd coin below is a recent purchase from a CNG group lot (one with the old collector envelope). Out of five coins, this is the one I was most interested in, being apparently unpublished. All five coins were from the Lindgren collection, but he doesn’t seem to have published this one in any of his three volumes.

For comparison: Nike RIGHT. 
SNG Cop 56 = 
RPC IV.2 (Temp.) 840 (4 specs, 2 ill). Only “very rare.” Savoca (Commodus, Antiocheia). [Correction: Both Savoca examples shown are Lucius Verus / Nemesis.]
NOT MINE (but with a very similar obverse die to mine):

5722658.m.jpg

Mine below. Nike Nemesis LEFT makes it extremely very rare/un (barely) published. 
I haven’t yet submitted mine to RPC. Thought I’d show it first and ask opinions. Has anyone seen this type? Any thoughts?

MY COIN:

LDE7EqG.png

Roman Provincial. Caria, Antioch ad Maeandrum AE Assarion (?) (16.5mm, 2.93g, 6h), temp. Commodus (Augustus, 180-192 CE) Lucius Verus (161-169 CE).
Obv: Uncertain [Μ ΑΥ ΚΟΜΜΟΔΟΣ (?)]
ΑV ΚΑΙ Λ ΒΗΡΟϹ Laureate head right.
Rev: ΑΝΤΙΟΧƐΩΝ. Nike standing left holding wreath and/or palm branch (?). Nemesis standing l. 
plucking chiton, holding bridle.
RefRPC IV.4 (Temp) 11539Possibly RPC IV.4 (Temp) 11541 [NOT ILLUSTRATED] = Alex G. Malloy XXXI (26 Oct 1990), 402. See also: Savoca 132nd Blue (7 May 2022), 527 (same rev. die?).
Prov: Ex CNG EA 518 (15 Jun 2022), 817 (part, 1 of 5, corr.); Henry Clay Lindgren Collection; old collector envelope (corr.). (According to the old collection envelope shown, the type is absent from: Lindgren; Imhoof-Blumer; BMC; Hunterian; SNG Cop.; SNG von Aulock; Weber; and... (I can't quite make out the last one).

 

1-2 more examples known:

RPC does have a Temp. entry for Commodus, Antiochia in Caria, with Nike LEFT (like mine):
RPC IV.4 (Temp) 11541. No photo (or weight) for RPC 11541. So I'm not certain, but probably my type
One example cited: Alex G. Malloy Auction XXXI (26 Oct 1990), Lot 402.
It might even be the same specimen, but if Lindgren bought it in 1990, he should’ve included it in his third volume.

One more in ACSearch. RPC doesn't list it. From ACSearch, recently at Savoca
(Possibly the same rev die as mine?).

NOT MINE:
image.jpeg.6dd8884ef0c043c322f254f021bcb197.jpeg

 

[Alt: Antiochia, Antiocheia, Antioch ad Maeandrum, Kommodus, Karia, Karien]

Edited by Curtis JJ
Edit: solved, L. Verus / Nemesis, much more interesting than Commodus / Nike. Yay!
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Bibliographic & Biographical Addendum:

By any chance, does anyone have Malloy Auction 31? It’s not among the Alex Malloy catalogs on Archive (about twenty total: 15 here, VI-XXI, plus 5 more here, I-V; I have them very lightly annotated in my “big list” of online catalogs for anyone who wants more detail). Not a hard catalog to buy, just haven't yet.

 

EDIT (now that we know it's Lucius Verus):

Does anyone have Bloesch – Winterthur?
Griechische Munzen in Winterthur [(1987-) 4 vol, 2 text, 2 pl.], by Hansjorg Bloesch. Band 2.

Besides the recent Savoca examples, Winterthur seems to have the only known (or published) specimen (ex Imhoof-Blumer Collection = RPC 11539.2, but not illustrated on RPC).

 

Henry Clay Lindgren (1914-2005) [on encyclopedia.com] was a prominent academic psychologist and collector of Greek bronze coins, including Roman Provincial. He lived and worked in Northern California.

Lindgren published three volumes based on his collection (and wrote that he was planning another volume). The first was with Kovacs in 1985 on coins of Asia Minor and the Levant; the second, in 1989, on European mints; the third, in 1993, included additions and corrections to the first two.

He had many unpublished coins and duplicates; he sold thousands of them through Antioch Associates. (He wrote that he started his fixed price lists and then auctions to sell his collection/duplicates, but it seems he also sold “inventory.”)

Below are my Lindgren vols. The third one is inscribed to a California coin collector (and ANA member in the 1990s). I don’t know anything more about the individual or their relationship.

gAiou7H.jpg

Lindgren I (Lindgren & Kovacs) = H. Lindgren & F. Kovacs. 1985. Ancient Bronze Coinage of Asia Minor and the Levant. San Mateo: Chrysopylon.

Lindgren II = H. Lindgren. 1989. Ancient Greek Bronze Coins: European Mints. San Mateo: Chrysopolon.

Lindgren III = H. Lindgren. 1993. Ancient Greek Bronze Coins. Quarryville: CNG.

cacZ968.jpg

[On a side note, I collect signed numismatic literature & bookplates. As far as I can tell, book and autograph collectors don’t seem to have any issues w/ sharing photos of signatures/bookplates/etc. I’ve only seen it suggested that it actually helps in detection of forgeries/fakes. But if anyone knows different, please let me know.]

Edited by Curtis JJ
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Ding ding ding! Thank you @shanxi! I agree entirely (including the double die match). I wondered about a different ruler but couldn't figure out what the legend should be....

I had actually searched for others from Caria, Antioch, but now I see now why I did catch the Lucius Verus: "winged Nemesis"!

I was searching for all Nike types from Antioch. But Nemesis is much cooler! 

Again, the one photographed specimen is from Savoca! (Lol.)

And thanks again!

Edited by Curtis JJ
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  • Curtis JJ changed the title to Commodus AE16 from Antioch in Caria. Have you seen me? [*SOLVED: Lucius Verus & Nemesis!*]

The really interesting thing is the inscription on the Savoca coin ...

https://www.acsearch.info/media/images/archive/126/5600/5722658.m.jpg

... it reads ΦΗΡΟC. (Yes, that ·I· is a phi.) This is interesting, because it indicates that in Antioch on the Meander in the second century CE, the V in Verus was no longer pronounced like a W, but as a fricative, either voiced (like a V) or unvoiced (like an F). In other places at the time, though, his name was spelled (in Greek) as OVHPOC, indicating the V in Verus was still pronounced as a glide (W sound).

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