Classical Numismatics Discussion
  Welcome Guest. Please login or register. 10% Off Store-Wide Sale Until 2 April!!! Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! Expert Authentication - Accurate Descriptions - Reasonable Prices - Coins From Under $10 To Museum Quality Rarities Welcome Guest. Please login or register. 10% Off Store-Wide Sale Until 2 April!!! Explore Our Website And Find Joy In The History, Numismatics, Art, Mythology, And Geography Of Coins!!! Support Our Efforts To Serve The Classical Numismatics Community - Shop At Forum Ancient Coins

New & Reduced


Author Topic: Two missing sestertii of Aemilian and Cornelia Supera, suggested by later mules?  (Read 910 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline curtislclay

  • Tribunus Plebis Perpetuus
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 11155
1. VESTA S C reverse, Vesta standing left, veiled, holding patera and transverse scepter, only one die known, coupled with early sestertius obv. dies of both Valerian I and Gallienus.

Cohen 214 cites this rev. for Valerian from the Paris specimen, of which he also furnishes a Dardel drawing; for Gallienus Cohen 1028 knew no actual specimen of  such a sestertius, but only a description of one in Banduri (1718).

Göbl 54 cites and illustrates for Valerian the same Paris coin, but for Gallienus an example that was described and photographed in Münzhandlung Basel 1, 1934, lot 2148. These were the only examples known to Göbl, who pointed out that they both shared the same rev. die (p. 79).

Recently another specimen of the Gallienus coin, from the same dies as Basel 1, 2148, turned up in Roma Numismatics E31, 26 Nov. 2016, lot 533; see the firm's illustration below. Roma cited for comparison Bertolami Fine Arts 9, 2014, lot 766; perhaps this is a third example of the same Gallienus sestertius, but I have been unable to locate a description or picture of it, in either CoinArchives Pro or the Bertolami website.

Now this VESTA rev. type was also used for Salonina, but at a considerably later stage of the reign, to judge from the style and debasement of the relevant antoniniani (Göbl 239). On the other hand the same VESTA type was the earlier of the two successive types used on antoniniani of Cornelia Supera, only a couple of months before the accession of Valerian and Gallienus; see picture below from CoinArchives Pro. It seems very likely that the VESTA S C die used on sestertii of Valerian and Gallienus in 253-4 was originally engraved for Supera. It would be neat if a VESTA sestertius of Supera eventually turns up, perhaps struck from the same reverse die as the sestertii of Valerianus and Gallienus! On the other hand, it is possible that the VESTA sestertius die or dies, though originally cut for Supera, were never used for her. No Rome-mint bronze coins whatever have so far been attested for Cornelia Supera, though those of her husband Aemilian, showing many types from both of his main issues, are all rare but nevertheless survive in at least several hundred specimens.
Curtis Clay

Offline curtislclay

  • Tribunus Plebis Perpetuus
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 11155
2. MARTI PACIF, Mars advancing left holding branch and spear and shield; see picture from CoinArchives below. This is one of the seven rev. types of Aemilianus' first issue of antoniniani, which began with the obv. legend

IMP CAES AEMILIANVS P F AVG, but then continued with

IMP AEMLIANVS PIVS FEL AVG.

Oddly enough, MARTI PACIF is the one rev. type of this issue which, so far, is not also known on bronze coins, either sestertii or middle bronzes. However, the same rev. type with S - C added does occur on a very rare early sestertius of Gallienus! Göbl 47bb, pl. 8, illustrates a specimen in Glasgow, and knew two others, though without indicating their whereabouts. Again it seems very likely that this MARTI PACIF S C rev. die was originally cut for Aemilian, but was then used a couple of months later for Gallienus, and perhaps also for Valerian I, if such a coin happens to turn up in the future. Since as stated above there was a substantial production of bronze coins in addition to antoniniani for Aemilian, it also seems likely that MARTI PACIF S C sestertii of Aemilian himself will eventually turn up.
Curtis Clay

Offline curtislclay

  • Tribunus Plebis Perpetuus
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 11155
That the VESTA S C and MARTI PACIF S C sestertius rev. dies of early in the reign of Valerian I and Gallienus were originally engraved for Cornelia Supera and Aemilian respectively is a fairly obvious idea, but it would still be nice to know which numismatist first proposed it! This is a question I haven't really been able to investigate. Certainly Göbl expressed this idea, both in his monograph of 2000, p. 79, and in the Aufbau article derived from his dissertation fifty years earlier, Num. Zeitschrift 74, 1951, p. 19. But Göbl gives no indication whether the idea was his own or he was following an earlier author. Maybe Voetter suggested it earlier in the century, but I do not have access to Voetter's article on the coinage of Valerian and Gallienus.
Curtis Clay

Offline timka

  • Caesar
  • ****
  • Posts: 805
Curtis, thank you for sharing your observations about new gaps...very much appreciated! - it is always interesting to learn about something that I got no clue about:)...

Offline curtislclay

  • Tribunus Plebis Perpetuus
  • Procurator Monetae
  • Caesar
  • *****
  • Posts: 11155
Just to confirm the obvious, that the Gallienus sestertius with rev. VESTA S - C is a normal product of the mint of Rome, the coin below shows the same obv. die coupled with one of Gallienus' regular rev. types, VICTORIA AVGG S - C, Victory standing left holding wreath and palm. A better specimen from the same dies is illustrated by Göbl, pl. 6, 30bb. 

Göbl overlooked that die link to the VICTORIA AVGG S - C type, but in his Table 1 he did note the use of the same obv. die of Gallienus with the ordinary rev. type PAX AVGG S - C, his 27bb, though the specimen of 27bb that he chose for illustration on pl. 4 is from a different obv. die so doesn't show the die link.
Curtis Clay

 

All coins are guaranteed for eternity