Dattari 5279var

[Ed Flinn]

The seller attributed this Gallienus Alexandria tetradrachm as Dattari 5279var (not short beard).  I've got Emmett and Milne, but not Dattari.  The closest I see there is Emmett 3804(10), Milne 4079, which I expect to look like:

[/url] with a palm in the left field, and the regnal year in the right.

Does Dattari plate or adequately describe 5279 to distinguish between the two?  Am I missing something obvious?

[Schwami]

It looks like Curtis 1584 = Milne 4077, reverse: Eagle standing left, head turned back, wreath in beak; in field L / I.  (No palm tree.)

Milne 4079 has the palm tree on the left, and LI is in the field to the right of the eagle (not split by the eagle as on Milne 4077 and your coin).

[Ed Flinn]

Ah, I didn't see that properly in Milne, thanks!

[bpmurphy]

Ed,

If you care, the coin's not in Koln either. The second example is Koln 2913.

There is an example in Forschner's catalogue of the coins in the Frankfurt Museum, #1067. They give the following cross references: Dattari 5279; SNG Copenhagen 776.

Barry Murphy

[Ed Flinn]

OK, thanks.  Embarrassment of riches in Alexandrian catalogs!

[curtislclay]

According to Vogt, Die alexandrinischen Münzen, p. 208, the palm branch appears on MOST of Gallienus' Alexandrian coins in years 10-11, and on ALMOST ALL of them in years 12-15, in commemoration of his decennalia which were celebrated in year 10.

[Schwami]

I wonder want the seller meant by calling it a variant of Dattari 5279?  It looks like Gallienus does have a "short beard", maybe not too distinct because of the wear.

[Ed Flinn]

The notation is "Dattari 5279var (not short beard)".  Not only wear, but a bit of encrustation obscures the beard, which doesn't seem to have ever had quite the extent of, for example, the second coin in the original post.

[iwaniw]

It is Dattari 5279 and likely not a variety of that number. What makes the coin interesting is the fact that it was struck by the same die carvers as the L Theta issues which were very rare. This die carver issued other rare year 10 issues such as the Nilus Bust l., LI  (Curtis collection). The palm in the field on other specimens represents the decennalia.  In Emmett, the palm description on coins with eagles is included if it is part of the motif (ie, palm on wing -- even this may be a decennalis reference, but as this eagle type occurs elsewhere where the decennalia is not possible it was continued as a separate motif)

[mauseus]

Hi Ed,

You might want to track down the paper by Paul Legutko: 'The Revolt of Macrianus and Quietus and its effect on Alexandrian Coinage, AD 260-263' in Numismatic Chronicle 162 (2002), pp135-68.

He discusses the dating of t'drachms over this period, the palm/no palm dating around the decennalia, the hypothesis of the cruder coins, such as yours, as being from a temporary mint (and the reasons why plus dates of operation).

Regards,

Mauseus