First largesse on Antoninus Pius sestertius

[Charles S]

Yesterday I received this sestertius of Antoninus Pius commemorating his first largesse to celebrate his accession.  It is very rare and I wanted to share is with you all.

Æ Sestertius (26,3g, Ø 33mm, 12h). Rome, AD 139.
Obv.: ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P, laureate head right, drapery on left shoulder.
Rev.: [P M TR P] COS II or [tr POT] COS II around, LIBERALITAS / [AVG] in ex., S C, Antoninus, togate, seated right on curule chair on platform on left; beside him Liberalitas, draped, standing right, emptying cornucopiae held in both hands into toga of citizen standing below, right of the platform.
RIC 540; BMCRE 1142; Cohen 480 (50 fr.); Strack 816a (note p.344 #50a); Banti 203 var. (1 spec.)
Ex Comptoire des Monnaies Anciennes, Lille (May 2015).

The original specimen Cohen used to describe his #480 is in very bad condition and Cohen had to guess to fill out the missing parts of the reverse legend.  Strack corrects this legend based on other coins issued at that time.  Very unfortunately, the very same parts of the reverse legend are practically illegible also on my specimen !

Regards,
Charles

[Jay GT4]

Exceptional find! It's still majestic in this condition. Pity about the legend.

[okidoki]

very nice Charles,
looks like citizen hold something in hand.

looks like this reverse

[Jay GT4]

very nice Charles,
looks like citizen hold something in hand.

looks like this reverse

Don't think so....that is Spes isn't it?

[okidoki]

yes Spes.

Maybe citizen is spes ??
same head and pose

[FlaviusDomitianus]

Congrats Charles, great find.

Alberto

[Charles S]

yes Spes.

Maybe citizen is spes ??
same head and pose

Nothing to do with Spes, okidoki.  Spes holds a flower in one hand and lifts the back of her dress with the other.  That is very different from the citizen who is simply holding up a fold in his toga with both hands to receive the gift, as you can also appreciate on many other Liberalitas reverses which are better preserved than this specimen.   In this case, the citizen is receiving the gift from a cornucopiae which is emptied in his toga.   In many other cases he receives in his toga a fixed amount of coins from a coin counting board.

[okidoki]

yes Spes.

Maybe citizen is spes ??
same head and pose

Nothing to do with Spes, okidoki.  Spes holds a flower in one hand and lifts the back of her dress with the other.  That is very different from the citizen who is simply holding up a fold in his toga with both hands to receive the gift, as you can also appreciate on many other Liberalitas reverses which are better preserved than this specimen.   In this case, the citizen is receiving the gift from a cornucopiae which is emptied in his toga.   In many other cases he receives in his toga a fixed amount of coins from a coin counting board.

ah i see, thank you for explaining,
all the best,

Eric

[curtislclay]

Apparently from the same dies as Strack, pl. VIII, 816a (L.A. Lawrence Coll., holed).

There is also a variant type commemorating the same largesse with platform scene left not right and an attendant with coin counter rather than Liberalitas emptying cornucopia. Strack pl. VIII, 816 illustrates a VF specimen of this variety in Florence with full legends: LIBERALITAS / AVG in two lines in exergue, TR - POT C - OS - II around, S - C across field.

[Charles S]

Apparently from the same dies as Strack, pl. VIII, 816a (L.A. Lawrence Coll., holed).

There is also a variant type commemorating the same largesse with platform scene left not right and an attendant with coin counter rather than Liberalitas emptying cornucopia. Strack pl. VIII, 816 illustrates a VF specimen of this variety in Florence with full legends: LIBERALITAS / AVG in two lines in exergue, TR - POT C - OS - II around, S - C across field.

Thank you Curtis for the detailed information.  I just checked the BM collection, and they have both coins you mention.  The holed specimen is exactly the same as Strack's , so the Vienna specimen that Cohen described.  The other one is a different specimen of the variant type with attendant, not at all as good as Strack's illustrated specimen where the rev. legend is very clear.

[curtislclay]

Thanks for posting the pictures.

The holed specimen was never in Vienna: it was in the L.A. Lawrence collection in London when Strack saw it, and doubtless passed from there directly to the BM. Many Lawrence coins were acquired by the BM, for example purchased in 1946 with funds from the Oldroyd Bequest, or donated in the early 1950s by E.S.G. Robinson.

I was told that Lawrence had some 80 cabinets of Roman coins, so probably well over 50,000 coins. Thousands and thousands of those were rare or unpublished, but that fact did not impress A.H. Baldwin's, whose introduction to the 1950 Glendining auction of the collection stated:

"The Lawrence Collection of Roman coins consists of a vast agglomeration of specimens, generally in very inferior state of preservation. The majority of these had to be catalogued in big lots, their commercial value not warranting a full description, but museums and private collectors seeking for individual coins may find in these lots many desiderata."

[Charles S]

The holed specimen was never in Vienna: it was in the L.A. Lawrence collection in London when Strack saw it, and doubtless passed from there directly to the BM.

Thank you Curtis, for putting that straight.  I found the same type (same rev. die) in Banti 203 (Asta Internazionale del Titano 6, 6-8 oct. 1980) with rev. legend TR P COS II according to Banti's description.  Unfortunately, the plate is not good enough to verify the rev. legend.