The Year of the Four Emperors....

In AD68 the Roman Empire hit a slight snag when the death of Nero brought the Julio-Claudian dynasty came to an end. This created all sorts of problems as to who would rule...

Between June 68AD and December 69AD there were 4 occupants of the imperial throne, as Rome witnessed the rise and fall of Galba, Otho and Vitellius before Vespasian finally managed to hold the throne. This raised a few very important questions about how the prinipate system really worked.

1) There is no legal system to determine a successor. How then is the next princeps chosen in this type of situation?

2) The princeps main powerbase is no longer the people but actually the army.

3) The troops actually have the real power as they decide who they acclaim emperor.

This is clearly a far cry from the founding ideals of the Roman Republic; which seems to be what the coinage of Galba, Otho and Vitellius promise. For example Galba struck coins with legends promising "LIBERTAS POPVLI ROMANI" (freedom to the Roman people) or "ROMA RENASCENS" (Rome Reborn) yet any change in the system can't have been his main focus given that he so quickly apponted Piso as his successor.

What happened next displays exactly the problems I mentioned above. The praetorian guard turned against Galba, as they never recieved the usual donative after the adoption of Frugi, and without the support of the military Galba was defenceless. He was murdered by the supporters of the new favorite of the Praetorians, Otho, in the Forum Romanum after a reign of only 221 days.

Here we see how crazy a situation the principate had caused. The Senate was not even consulted until after Otho had been raised to the purple, the power had shifted and it would never be returned.

Why does this interest me, as a Severan enthusiast?

Well because it shows the signs of the slippery slope that explains the propaganda of the Severan dynasty...

That however is another nights writing. so I'll end with a few new coins of Vespasian I just received for my shop.

Vespasian Fouree Denarius. 77-78 AD.

Obverse: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG laureate head right
Reverse: COS VIII in Exergue, yoke of oxen left

RIC II 107, 2.66g, 19mm

Vespasian Denarius. 71 AD.Tarraco

Obverse: IMP CAES VESP AVG PM laureate bust right
Reverse: TRI POT II COS III P P Pax seated l., holding branch and cornucopia

BMC 354, 17mm, 3.14g

Domitilla

Yesterday I received a package from a metal detectorist with some uncleaned's and a couple silvers described as "silvered and not solid silver". The picture showed what I thought to be a couple of Severan fourees and some regular uncleaned coins as you can see below.



Imagine my suprise when I get them home and discover that the coin on the left is definately not Severan but actually far earlier. It is actually a fouree with a Domitilla the Younger obverse and a reverse of Domitia.

I have never seen a coin of Domitilla before as the number of zeros on the end of the price tag makes the the few coin types known of her well out of my league. Anyway here is the obverse...

DIVA DOMITILLA AVGVSTA, draped bust right

and the reverse...

"PIETAS AVGUST"
Pietas seated left, holding scepter, a child before

Anyway even if it is an ancient fake this coin is still in pretty damn good condition with only a couple of minor breaks in the silver. It's definitely the closest I'll get to owning a denarius of either Domitia or Domitilla. Also it is pretty much unique afaik making it an excellent addition all round.

Loss of Coinarchives.com

This week collectors lost a very valuable free resource. For those of you who are unfamiliar, coinarchives.com was a repository of coins featured in most major numismatic auctions. With over 900,00 records, which included images and information as well as pricing, coin archives was a vital tool to a collector without access to reference catalogues. It also offered the major benefit of being up to date, allowing a user to study pricing trends and decide if a coin was worth purchasing rather than relying on a 20 year old publication.

coinarchives.com has now become a commercial venture meaning that it's massive content is now restricted to free users. Now free users can only search the last 6 months worth of data and it would appear that the admin don't feel the need to entice the masses to use their site. Instead of a reasonable $20-60 a year that most people would be happy to pay they opt for a massive $600 per year fee.

I mean clearly there is going to be more than 10 people out there who would pay $5 a month for every one who can afford $50 a month. So really this is just a sign that coinarchives.com would rather cater only for the larger dealers and auctioneers and not for the individual collector.

We can only hope they shall see the error of their ways and offer a more sensibly priced subscription in the near future.

Anyway back to a few coins. I've been sorting out the images for my new webshop, which should be online soon and I thought I'd share a few I particularly liked.

Maximianus Æ radiate fraction 295-299AD Cyzicus Mint

Obverse: IMP C MA MAXIMIANVS P F AVG, radiate draped bust right
Reverse: CONCORDIA MILITVM, emperor standing right receiving Victory on globe from Jupiter, Ke between.

RIC 15b, 20-21mm ,2.98g




Valentinian II 375-392 AD

Obverse: D N VALENTINI-ANVS P F AVG, diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right
Reverse: VRBS ROMA, Roma seated left on cuirass, holding Victory on a globe and a sceptre

RSC 76b. 0.84g 10mm

Heavily clipped but I really like the toning on the portrait.




Claudius II Gothicus Æ Antoninianus Antioch mint

Obverse: IMP C CLAVDIVS AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Reverse:FIDES AVG, Mercury standing left with purse & cauduceus, Z in ex.

RIC 207, 20-21mm, 4.12g,

As you can probably guess I'm a big fan of contrast. Hence yet another desert patina.

Finally before I go one that I just bought for my own personal collection....

Diocletian AE Follis. 295 AD Trier Mint

Obverse: IMP DIOCLETIANVS AVG, laureate head right
Reverse: GENIO POPVLI ROMANI, Genius standing left, holding patera & cornucopiae, A left TR in ex.

I don't often buy of this period for myself but the portrait style is definitely growing on me. Plus this coin has some degree of silvering whether it was once silvered or is billon I can't decide as it's almost 3am.

Anyway I have work tomorrow...

Barbarous Radiates

Today I got two new barbarous radiates through the mail.

For those who don't already know barbarous radiates (or barbs as I'll call them from now on) were imitations of the antoninanus mostly produced during the anarchy of the third century.

As you can see below the locals were not so adept at cutting ides and the result is often a wonderfully picasso-esque portrait. Unfortunately on these two examples the die cutter was unable to form letters so I can't tell exactly who they are supposed to be but all the same they are a fun addition to any collection due to their individual style.



Why they were made is a bit of a mystery as they are not the same as a contemporary forgery. They are generally much smaller in size than an actual antoninanus. The two examples above are only about 15mm across in comparison to another ant I have of Tetricus which is about 19mm and a lot thicker.

Some argue that these coins were minted as small change during a period where the Empire was so unstable that usable coinage was limited. The coins would not be used in trading with Romans and were instead reserved as a local currency.

Anyway as I have to go to work I will leave you with a link to some good articles and sources on imitations for you to glance through and get a better picture of these wonderful specimens.

http://esty.ancients.info/imit/imitationrefs.html

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. I'm about to start writing my dissertation on Severan coingae so when I start that I will be posting up my take on my research but until then I will mostly be posting new additions to my collection.

To start off with here are a few pieces I bought a few days ago.



Septimius Severus AR Denarius "Restitvtor Vrbis" Septimius Severus Denarius. 201-210 AD.

Obverse: SEVERVS PIVS AVG laureate head right
Reverse: RESTITVTOR VRBIS Roma seated left holding palladium & spear, round sheild below.
RSC 606. 2.95g 18mm

Severus Alexander Æ Sestertius "SPES PVBLICA"

Obv: IMPALEXANDERPIVSAVG - Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: SPESPVBLICA - S C across field, Spes advancing left, holding flower and raising skirt.

232AD (Rome).
Maxentius AE Folles. 307-308AD, Ticinum Mint

Obverse: MAXENTIVS PF AVG, Laureate bust right
Reverse: CONSERV VRB SVAE, Roma seated facing, head left, in hexastyle temple, PT in ex.

RIC VI 91, 6.83g, 25mm

I usually only buy Severan coinage but the style of the text on the Maxentius Folles was just so beautiful I had to have it.

I also buy a lot of uncleaned coins as I find it really fun trying to find out what is underneath centuries of dirt so hopefully once my new tripod arrives I will start posting up pictures of some of my works in progress for you to follow. If anyone wants to join me in this then you can find uncleaned coins and the occasional other treat in my ebay store here