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Author Topic: Unlisted dupondius of Severus Alexander  (Read 670 times)

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Offline mix_val

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Unlisted dupondius of Severus Alexander
« on: July 24, 2016, 10:14:14 am »
Just posted to my collection and unlisted dupondius

Obverse: IMP CAES M AVR(SEV)ALEXANDER AVG
Bust radiant right, draped
Reverse: P_ROVIDEN_TIA, S and C left and right in field
Providentia draped, standing front, holding in right hand wand over globe at feet left and in left hand sceptre
BMC Unlisted
Weight, 11.578 g; die axis, 11h.

A denarius (BMC 138-140 also shown below) and quinarius (BMC 110*) of this type are listed in the Coins of the Roman Empire in the BMC, 3rd issue, 223 AD.   It seems probable that both Sestertius and As of this type were also issued and are yet to be discovered.   Curtis Clay has commented on the rarity of early bronzes which I reproduce in part...

 "How to account for the rarity of these middle bronzes?  Well, firstly, Alexander at first carried on the policy of Elagabalus, Macrinus, Caracalla, and Septimius of producing few bronze coins of any sort: Alexander's sestertii too of 222 are rare!  Only from 223 on did Alexander revert to a fairly substantial production of bronze coins, a policy that was to be carried on by his successors until Valerian and Gallienus in the first years of their joint reign.

Why so few asses of Alexander in 222?  Probably because, as under those same predecessors from Septimius to Elagabalus, asses were hardly produced any more in the course of the year for ordinary circulation, but only in Nov.-Dec. of each year for use as New Year's presents on 1 January. 

So Alexander struck virtually no asses from his accession in March 222 until the end of the year, but a reasonably large issue for 1 Jan. 223, with the types PROVIDENTIA DEORVM, SECVRITAS PERPETVA, and the same two types with legend PONTIF MAX TR P II COS P P or P M TR P II COS P P."

Bob Crutchley
My gallery of the coins of Severus Alexander and his family
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/index.php?cat=16147

Offline curtislclay

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Re: Unlisted dupondius of Severus Alexander
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2016, 07:42:49 pm »
A nice acquisition!

Not entirely unlisted, however.

A middle-bronze reverse of this type, apparently from the same die as your coin, and presumably also a dupondius although the obverse is not depicted, is shown in the drawings of coin types printed for O. Voetter's lecture on the chronology of the undated coins of Severus Alexander, delivered in Vienna on 1 March 1899, pl. 5. Presumably Voetter had seen such a coin in a private collection, perhaps the very rich Trau collection which was dispersed in 1935.

A specimen of this dupondius was also shown in Numismatikforum by the Swiss middle-bronze collector Gabriel in Jan. 2014. Apparently from the same dies as yours: see his picture below.

Apparent date of this Providentia type: 223 AD. You point out that a silver quinarius with the same type has a dated legend of 223, P M TR P II COS P P.  Moreover, a dupondius in my collection seems to be from the same obv. die as your PROVIDENTIA AVG coin, and has rev. PONTIF MAX TR P II COS P P, Securitas seated l. before altar.

It is curious that this PROVIDENTIA AVG type is common on denarii, but very rare in bronze (only these dupondii known). Similarly, the PAX AETERNA AVG type is common on denarii, but in bronze only very rare sestertii are known. A possible explanation occurs to me. In 222 Alexander's bronzes used the same rev. types as his aurei and denarii, but in 223 the rev. types of his bronzes diverged from those of his precious metal coins. Perhaps the PROVIDENTIA AVG and PAX AETERNA AVG types were introduced together early in 223, and at first the plan was to strike bronzes with the same types, as in 222, but very soon it was decided to vary the bronze types, so PROVIDENTIA AVG was replaced by PROVIDENTIA DEORVM, and  PAX AETERNA AVG was replaced by Pax seated left with dated legend PONTIF MAX TR P II COS P P.

If the rare PROVIDENTIA AVG dupondii were indeed struck at the same time as the rare PAX AETERNA AVG sesterii, then we can expect that both types were originally struck in both denominations, so PROVIDENTIA AVG sestertii and PAX AETERNA AVG dupondii may remain to be discovered.

Curtis Clay

Offline mix_val

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Re: Unlisted dupondius of Severus Alexander
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2016, 08:12:28 pm »
PAX AETERNA AVG dupondius never occurred to me but of course you're correct.  My thanks for your insights!
Bob Crutchley
My gallery of the coins of Severus Alexander and his family
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/index.php?cat=16147

 

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