- The Collaborative Numismatics Project
  Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! NumisWiki Is An Enormous Unique Resource Including Hundreds Of Books And Thousands Of Articles Online!!! The Column On The Left Includes Our "Best of NumisWiki" Menu If You Are New To Collecting - Start With Ancient Coin Collecting 101 NumisWiki Includes The Encyclopedia of Roman Coins and Historia Nummorum If You Have Written A Numismatic Article - Please Add It To NumisWiki All Blue Text On The Website Is Linked - Keep Clicking To ENDLESSLY EXPLORE!!! Please Visit Our Shop And Find A Coin You Love Today!!!

× Resources Home
Home
New Articles
Most Popular
Recent Changes
Current Projects
Admin Discussions
Guidelines
How to
zoom.asp
Index Of All Titles


BEST OF

AEQVITI
Aes Formatum
Aes Rude
The Age of Gallienus
Alexander Tetradrachms
Ancient Coin Collecting 101
Ancient Coin Prices 101
Ancient Coin Dates
Ancient Coin Lesson Plans
Ancient Coins & Modern Fakes
Ancient Counterfeits
Ancient Glass
Ancient Metal Arrowheads
Ancient Oil Lamps
Ancient Pottery
Ancient Weapons
Ancient Wages and Prices
Ancient Weights and Scales
Anonymous Follis
Anonymous Class A Folles
Antioch Officinae
Aphlaston
Armenian Numismatics Page
Augustus - Facing Portrait
Brockage
Bronze Disease
Byzantine
Byzantine Denominations
A Cabinet of Greek Coins
Caesarean and Actian Eras
Campgates of Constantine
Carausius
A Case of Counterfeits
Byzantine Christian Themes
Clashed Dies
Codewords
Coins of Pontius Pilate
Conditions of Manufacture
Corinth Coins and Cults
Countermarked in Late Antiquity
Danubian Celts
Damnatio Coinage
Damnatio Memoriae
Denomination
Denarii of Otho
Diameter 101
Die Alignment 101
Dictionary of Roman Coins
Doug Smith's Ancient Coins
Draco
Edict on Prices
ERIC
ERIC - Rarity Tables
Etruscan Alphabet
The Evolving Ancient Coin Market
EQVITI
Fel Temp Reparatio
Fertility Pregnancy and Childbirth
Fibula
Flavian
Fourree
Friend or Foe
The Gallic Empire
Gallienus Zoo
Greek Alphabet
Greek Coins
Greek Dates
Greek Coin Denominations
Greek Mythology Link
Greek Numismatic Dictionary
Hellenistic Names & their Meanings
Hasmoneans
Hasmonean Dynasty
Helvetica's ID Help Page
The Hexastyle Temple of Caligula
Historia Numorum
Holy Land Antiquities
Horse Harnesses
Illustrated Ancient Coin Glossary
Important Collection Auctions
Islamic Rulers and Dynasties
Julian II: The Beard and the Bull
Julius Caesar - The Funeral Speech
Koson
Kushan Coins
Later Roman Coinage
Latin Plurals
Latin Pronunciation
Legend
Library of Ancient Coinage
Life in Ancient Rome
List of Kings of Judea
Medusa Coins
Maps of the Ancient World
Military Belts
Military Belts
Mint Marks
Monogram
Museum Collections Available Online
Nabataea
Nabataean Alphabet
Nabataean Numerals
The [Not] Cuirassed Elephant
Not in RIC
Numismatic Bulgarian
Numismatic Excellence Award
Numismatic French
Numismatic German
Numismatic Italian
Numismatic Spanish
Parthian Coins
Patina 101
Paleo-Hebrew Alphabet
Paleo-Hebrew Script Styles
People in the Bible Who Issued Coins
Imperial Mints of Philip the Arab
Phoenician Alphabet
Pi-Style Athens Tetradrachms
Pricing and Grading Roman Coins
Reading Judean Coins
Representations of Alexander the Great
Roman Coin Attribution 101
Roman Coin Legends and Inscriptions
Roman Keys
Roman Locks
Roman Militaria
Roman Military Belts
Roman Mints
Roman Names
romancoin.info
Rome and China
Sasanian
Satyrs and Nymphs
Scarabs
Serdi Celts
Serrated
Siglos
The Sign that Changed the World
Silver Content of Parthian Drachms
Star of Bethlehem Coins
Statuary Coins
Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum
Syracusian Folles
Taras Drachms with Owl Left
The Temple Tax
The Temple Tax Hoard
Test Cut
Travels of Paul
Tribute Penny
Tribute Penny Debate Continued (2015)
Tribute Penny Debate Revisited (2006)
Tyrian Shekels
Uncleaned Ancient Coins 101
Vabalathus
Venus Cloacina
What I Like About Ancient Coins
Who was Trajan Decius
Widow's Mite
XXI

   View Menu
 

Forum's Portrait Gallery

Most experienced collectors are able to tell what emperor issued a coin just by looking at the obverse portrait. This skill is impressive to non-collectors and beginners, but more importantly it is also useful to identify those coins so worn that legends cannot be easily read anymore.  The gallery above is a display of characteristic portraits from coins and we hope it will be helpful to those seeking to identify roman coins.


The Twelve Caesars

Augustus 27 B.C.-14 A.D.AgrippaTiberius


GermanicusAgrippina Sr.CaligulaClaudius


NeroGalbaOthoVitellius


VespasianTitusDomitian

Most experienced collectors are able to tell what emperor issued a coin just by looking at the obverse portrait. This skill is impressive to non-collectors and beginners, but more importantly it is also useful to identify those coins so worn that legends cannot be easily read anymore. The gallery above is a display of characteristic portraits from coins and we hope it will be helpful to those seeking to identify roman coins.

Links to Other Pages of FORVM's Portrait Gallery

The Twelve Caesars
The Adoptive Emperors
The Severan Period
Crisis and Decline
Recovery of the Empire
The Secessionist Empires
The Tetrarchy
Constantinian Era
The Late Empire


Click Here for Coins of The Twelve Caesars For Sale at Forum Ancient Coins


The 12 Caesars in Gold - Joe Geranio

A set of the Twelve Caesars in gold. Includes the following aurei: ,bJulius Caesar / A. Hirtius (8.11 gm). CRI 56. Good VF // Augustus / Gaius and Lucius Caesars (7.90 gm). RIC 206. Good VF // Tiberius / Livia (7.77 gm). RIC 25. VF // Gaius Caligula / Divvs Augustus (7.60 gm). RIC 1. Fine, ex jewelry // Claudius / Pax (7.78 gm). RIC 38. VF // Nero / Jupiter seated left (7.73 gm). RIC 52. Good VF // Galba / Roma (7.66 gm). RIC 59. VF // Otho / Victory (7.25 gm). RIC 13. Fine, ex jewelry // ; A VITELLIVS GER IMP AVG P MAX TR P / VESTA P R QVIRITIVM (7.32 gm). RIC -. Near EF, a few scuff marks // Vespasian / Pax (7.10 gm). RIC 18. Fine // Titus, Caesar / Annona (5.44 gm). RIC 218 (Vespasian). Fine, ex jewelry // Domitian, Caesar / Domitian on horseback (7.01 gm). RIC 232.  From our Friends at CNG.


PORTRAITS IN THE ROUND - Julio Claudian Portrait Study - Joe Geranio

I've tried to add as many profile portraits (from our friends at the Julio Claudian Iconographic Association) as possible to help with your journey.

Roman Emperor Augustus as Pontifex Maximus, BC 12


Palazzo Massimo, Rome

This most famous statue comes from the Via Labicana. The solemn look of Augustus refers to portraits of Hellenistic Royals. It is sometimes assumed that this representation of Augustus was created after the death of the emperor, who presents himself here as Pontifex Maximus, which was the highest religious position in the Roman Empire. He adopted this ministry in 12 A.D. (photo Hans Ollerman-not for re-use without permission)

Profile to help with Julio Claudian Numismatic Studies- Augustus

This relief head, which was inserted in to a modern background slab in the early 19ith century, depicts Augustus with minor straits of age, a characterisation used regularly during the reigns of his successors Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius.  (Used with Permission from our Julio Claudian Member Rien Bongers)

Acquired in Rome in 1791. Marble, 30-50 AD.

Tiberius (14-37 A.D) Bronze Portrait -Museo Archeologico Provinciale, Brindisi -

(Used with Permission from our Julio Claudian Member Rien Bongers)

Tiberius (14-37 A.D) Bronze Portrait -Museo Archeologico Provinciale, Brindisi -

(Used with Permission from our Julio Claudian Member Rien Bongers)

Caligula- 37-41 A.D.

(Used with Permission from our Julio Claudian Member Rien Bongers) I first identified this portrait as Caligula in 2006, you can see by the tag below it is listed as a portrait reminscent of Caligula

http://portraitcaligula.blogspot.com/2006/11/unpublished-portrait-of-caligula.html Pozzuoli, Rione Terra; cistern of the furthest eastern edge of the 'cardio' of S. Procolo. Medium/fine grained with parian marble. First decade of the 1st century. This portrait depicts a young prince from the Julio-Claudian family; the hairstyle with the slightly puffed-up fringe, arranged in a 'swallow's tail', almost in the centre of the brow to form a little connection with the right eye, distinguishes the iconography of some of the descendents of Augustus. Regarding the physiological features, the portrait is remniscent of portraits of Germanicus or his sons, in particular Caligula, emperor from 37 to 41 AD.

Caligula- 37-41 A.D. (Used with Permission from our Julio Claudian Member Rien Bongers) I first identified this portrait as Caligula in 2006, you can see by the tag below it is listed as a portrait reminscent of Caligula?

http://portraitcaligula.blogspot.com/2006/11/unpublished-portrait-of-caligula.html

Pozzuoli, Rione Terra; cistern of the furthest eastern edge of the 'cardio' of S. Procolo. Medium/fine grained with parian marble. First decade of the 1st century.
This portrait depicts a young prince from the Julio-Claudian family; the hairstyle with the slightly puffed-up fringe, arranged in a 'swallow's tail', almost in the centre of the brow to form a little connection with the right eye, distinguishes the iconography of some of the descendents of Augustus. Regarding the physiological features, the portrait is remniscent of portraits of Germanicus or his sons, in particular Caligula, emporer from 37 to 41 AD.

Roman Emperor Claudius.

From Cerveteri, Italy.

Time of Emperor Claudius, A.D.41-54.

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen. (Photo from Hans Ollermann)

Roman Emperor Claudius.

From Cerveteri, Italy.

Time of Emperor Claudius, A.D.41-54.

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen. (Photo from Hans Ollermann)

A ROMAN BRONZE IMAGO CLIPEATA OF THE EMPEROR CLAUDIUS CIRCA MID TO LATE 1ST CENTURY A.D.

This is very rare to find a Julio Claudian Princeps on something other than coinage or in the round. This radiate portrait of Claudius quite rare and shows the Princeps as Pontifex Maximus (see items flanked rt. and left) simpuvium and littus. Claudius ruled from 41-54 A.D.

Of hammered sheet, sculpted in high relief within the concave tondo, the Emperor depicted wearing a radiate crown, with a full cap of short comma-shaped locks of hair, a single hooked lock before each prominent ear, with a broad cranium and tapering chin, his face with emphatic signs of aging in the two furrows of the forehead and bags under his wide eyes, the pupils articulated, the brows modelled, the rounded nose with pronounced naso-labial folds, the small mouth with full lips, the neck creased, wearing a toga with V-shaped folds at the neck and a pallium over the shoulders, the bust flanked by the symbols of the office of pontifex maximus, a dipper (simpuvium) to the left and a wand (lituus) to the right, framed by a raised band of Lesbian kymation off set by beading, the edges folded over a lead backing
9 3/4 in. (24.7 cm.) diameter

Provenance:
Found at the Roman settlement of Derventio, near Stamford Bridge, Yorkshire, England in 1991.
The Property of a Gentleman; Christie's, London, 8 July 1992, lot 168.
The Property of a Gentleman; Christie's, London, 5 July 1995, lot 197.
with Royal-Athena Galleries, New York, 1996 (Art of the Ancient World, 1997, no. 53).

Notes:

THE STAMFORD BRIDGE TONDO PROPERTY FROM A NEW YORK PRIVATE COLLECTION

Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus was born in Lyon, France (ancient Lugdunum) in 10 B.C. He was the youngest son of Drusus and Antonia the Younger (the niece of Augustus and daughter of Marc Antony). Due to poor health and a pronounced stammer, his family assumed that he would never achieve success. According to Suetonius (Lives of the Caesars: Claudius, III,2), even his own mother considered him "a monster, a man whom Mother Nature had begun to work upon but then flung aside." He was not granted any major position during the reigns of Augustus or Tiberius, but in 37 A.D., during the reign of his nephew Caligula, he shared the consulate and presided at the public games in the Emperor's absence. Claudius was possibly involved in the plot to assassinate Caligula, and he succeeded his nephew at the age of 51 as the fourth Emperor of Rome on 24 January 41 A.D. (see Kleiner, Roman Sculpture, pp. 129-134 and Varner, ed., From Caligula to Constantine: Tyranny & Transformation in Roman Portraiture, p. 114). In 43 A.D. Claudius ordered the invasion of Britain by a force of 40,000 soldiers. Following the successful campaign, Camulodunum (Colchester) was made the capital. After his murder in 54 A.D., Claudius was deified by a decree of the Senate under Nero. A temple was begun at Camulodunum in his honor, but was destroyed during the Boudican revolt of 60 A.D. Another was completed in Rome by Vespasian.
The presence of the radiate crown worn by Claudius on the Stamford Bridge Tondo suggests that, like the temples dedicated in his honor, this portrait was a posthumous creation, as Claudius's successor Nero was the first Roman emperor represented wearing such a crown during his lifetime (see Varner, op. cit., p. 128). The discovery of the Stamford Bridge Tondo in Yorkshire attests to Claudius's popularity in Britain. Its original function is unknown.

For another imago clipeata of Claudius now in the Louvre see p. 166 in Massner, "Zum Stilwandel im Kaiserporträt claudisher Zeit" in Die Regierungszeit des Kaisers Claudius (41-54 n. Chr.).

NERO - (photo by William Storage) See his Rome 101 Site for Great Portrait Site!

The "Palatine Nero" - Museo Palatino (formerly Terme inv. 618). For a detailed disussion of the portraiture of Nero, see www.rome101.com/Portraiture/Nero/

NERO - (photo by William Storage) See his Rome 101 Site for Great Portrait Site!

The "Palatine Nero" - Museo Palatino (formerly Terme inv. 618). For a detailed disussion of the portraiture of Nero, see www.rome101.com/Portraiture/Nero/

The Julio Claudian Iconographic Association is a non profit discussion group for those interested in Julio Claudian portrait study from Princeps Augustus to Nero. We have over 400 members from coin collectors to Art History professors.A target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/julioclaudian/">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/julioclaudian/

Joe Geranio

JCIA

 

All coins are guaranteed for eternity