A long time ago, I traded this coin from a fellow
Forvm member, but until now, I didn't get the opportunity to discuss it. I must warn you, it is very worn and there's nothing beautiful about it, but it certainly is an interesting piece of
history.
The
overstruck type can be identified with some struggling as being an Antoninian of
Carausius,
IMP C CARAVSIVS
P F AVG,
radiate, draped and
cuirassed bust right /
PAX AVG,
Pax standing left, holding branch and
sceptre.
The
undertype is more difficult to determine. On the
obverse, on Carausius'
head, one can quite distinctively make out
Victory advancing right, holding
wreath in left hand and
palm over her shoulder. But who was the issuer? We know that
Carausius reused Gallic Empire
antoniniani quite frequently to
overstrike them with
his own
types, so it is tempting to assume that the
undertype here is Gallic, too. If that is true, and I am quite convinced it is, there are three options, since these are the only Gallic Empire ants with
Victory advancing right:
-
Postumus and
his very
rare VICTORIA GERMANICA reverse,
Zschucke 133,
Cunetio 2410
- Laelian with
VICTORIA AVG,
Zschucke 244-245,
Cunetio 2499-2501, or
-
Marius with
VICTORIA AVG,
Zschucke 247,
Cunetio 2507
Fortunately, some traces of the
portrait can
still be seen, and the small
head plus the long beard probably exclude
Marius. So it should be either
Postumus, or Laelian. Personally, I think it is the latter, since a.)
Postumus head usually looks bolder and heavily built and, more importantly, b.)
his VICTORIA GERMANICA issue would have been of considerably better silver
quality.
My conclusion thus is: a
Carausius antoninian with
PAX AVG reverse,
Pax holding
sceptre and branch, probably
overstruck on a Laelian antoninian with
VICTORIA AVG reverse,
Victory advancing right, holding
wreath and branch.
Lars
PS: Click on the pictures to zoom in.
