Bride of "My Favorite Coin"

On 21 June 1999, my wife and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. A few days later the postman delivered a coin that I had only dreamed might exist. Those of you who have followed this site for any time may have visited my essay 'My Favorite Coin' which tells the story of a denarius of Septimius Severus that I consider very special. The new coin is a similar issue in the name of his wife Julia Domna. Part of the story of this type will be repeated on this page but anyone who sees anything of interest here needs to visit 'My Favorite Coin'. As I will say again below, if any of you know of any other coins with similar 'IVST' reverse legends, I would very much like to hear from you. Whether the coins are for sale or held in a public collection, I would enjoy knowing of their existence.

This page will be presented in a different format from most on this rather dry site. You are invited to attend the numismatic wedding of two denarii that were, quite literally, made to be together forever.

The Bride Julia Domna silver denarius - 194 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IVLIA DO-MNA AVG VICTOR IV ST AVG Victory seated left with wreath & palm C 250 RIC 634a	The Groom Septimius Severus silver denarius - 194 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IMP CAE L SEP SE-V PEPT AVG COSI VICTOR IV ST AVG Victory walking left with wreath & palm unlisted with COS I

Soon after being proclaimed emperor in the Spring of 193 AD, Septimius Severus eliminated Didius Julianus at Rome. (Actually all that was necessary was to approach the city and supporters of Didius took care of the 'elimination' ... but that's another story.) The idea of ousting Didius also had occurred to Clodius Albinus in the West and Pescennius Niger in the East. A hasty (and temporary) alliance was formed with Albinus and Septimius set out to challenge Pescennius for the Empire. All the coins on this page date to the time of this civil war. Mints (number not fully certain) in the East supplied denarii for the effort. The location of these operations is far from certain and the possibility of a traveling mint is quite good. Following the elimination of Pescennius, the Eastern mints seem to have settled in Syria with Emesa, home town of Julia Domna, being the traditionally suggested site. The coin is of the style assigned to the earliest period of issues for Julia in the East.

The reverse legend is what sets this coin apart from the multitudes. 'Emesa' denarii are famous for their lack of originality. Types were copied from a variety of originals but most popular were the coins mirroring the issues of Pescennius. Many of these designs were never before used on Roman coins but exist for both sides of this conflict. Of the numerous types shared in this manner, the rarest and most interesting is VICTOR IVST AVG. The full name of the 'enemy' was Gaius Pescennius Niger Iustus. Iustus ('the just') compared neatly with Severus ('the severe') and was abbreviated on most of Pescennius' obverses. One rare type used the title on the reverse. I regret greatly not being able to show you a VICTOR IVST AVG of Niger. One can be seen as #314 in Volume V of Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum. The Septimian mint copied the type for a very brief period of time before it was replaced by a much more appropriate VICTOR SEVER AVG. One can only imagine the displeasure of Septimius in finding that his mint was (accidentally?) promoting the victory of the 'Just' one. One has to wonder if someone lost their life over this matter.

The RARE Septimius IVST issue is listed in the standard literature (Cohen, BMC & RIC). The legend and seated Victory type was reported for Julia but never before seen by me. The coin here, "the Bride", confirms that the legend was used with the Julia obverse. Can anyone confirm the existence today of the coin Cohen quoted? The Julia type is unusual in that Victory is shown seated rather than walking. Other Septimius Victory types use the seated figure but I have not seen the seated Victory combined with the IVST legend even on a coin of Septimius. This certainly should exist and needs to be found. It would be a "father of the bride". Other members of the family do exist and attended the wedding to have their pictures shown below.

Grandfather Septimius Severus - silver denarius - 193 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IMP CAE L SEP SE-V PERT AVG VICTOR IV ST AVS Victory walking left with wreath & palm	Great Uncle Septimius Severus - silver denarius - 193 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IMP CAE L SEP SE-V PERT AVG VICTOR IV ST AVG Victory walking left with wreath & palm

On the right is Grandfather's twin brother but they are fraternal twins since this one actually reads AVG. The reverse die is different in style as well as spelling. That would make this coin fit the listing in the catalogs (RIC 362, BMC 338) even though 'Grandfather' is misdescribed. This illustrates the difficulty encountered in cataloging rare coins which might be missing legends. One can make mistakes assuming the reading of missing letters. In this case, the coin from which the British Museum description was made did not fit the description but there do exist other specimens that do. This coins also illustrates a difficulty when doing die studies since the obverse dies of both coins were the same but the specimens are each missing so much (and so different) legend that it is hard to see that die link.

Bridesmaids - Sisters of the Bride
Julia Domna - silver denarius - 194 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IVLIADO-MNAAVG BONIEV ENTVS 'Good Times' stg	Julia Domna - silver denarius - 194 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IVLIADO-MNAAVG VENER VICTR Venus stg (back)

Two sisters of the bride and "Bridesmaids" for the wedding are die linked denarii of Julia Domna that share the obverse die of the "Bride". This die is certainly the earliest 'Emesa' mint Julia obverse and is the most common one found with reverses also used by Septimius. Perhaps it was in use before the mint was informed that it was proper to have a separate series of types for the Augusta. The portrait is neither young nor lovely. Many Eastern Julia coins that are certainly later are much more flattering. Julia was considerably younger than Septimius; perhaps this die was cut by someone not aware of this fact. This would seem to be evidence that the mint was not (yet?) located in her home town of Emesa. This is just one of many details pertaining to the Eastern coins that will require further study before we can understand the subject.

More Bridesmaids - Friends of the Bride
Julia Domna - silver denarius - 194 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IVLIADO-MNAAVG BONI EV ENTVS IICOS 'Good Times' stg	Julia Domna - silver denarius - 194 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IVLADO-MNAAVG MONET AVG.. Moneta standing

Friends from school are also serving as bridesmaids. That the school was more a party venue than a serious academic institution is suggested by spelling variations on the coins. Another hint is that their reverse types honor 'Good Times' and 'Money'. On the left is a coin that appears to have spelling problems on both sides but I am of the opinion that the dies were perfectly normal and the extra and missing material is due to the coin being double struck (not uncommon on these coins). After writing off the obverse 'DOMINA' and reverse 'BONVENTVS', however, we are left with the reverse IICOS. Placing consul dating on the reverse in this manner was done for a very short period on coins of Septimius as we will see when we get to the groomsmen. Consul dating in any form on a coin of a woman is probably a sign that the mint did not have a firm grasp on the dating conventions they were attempting to follow. Consul dating for Septimius was soon moved to the obverse while this coin is the only one I have seen used with a Domna obverse. Some may call it a 'mule' but I believe that the degree of type mixing between Septimius and Julia found from this mint suggests more a lack of care or understanding of the ways the Rome mint would have done thing than a series of accidents.

On the right we have a misspelled obverse die reading IVLA for IVLIA. This error exists on more than one die suggesting it was not just a slip of the hand that cut it. The reverse of the coin illustrates another oddity from this mint that I wish I could explain to some degree. Following the legend are dots (here two). I would like to say that this is an early attempt at marking workshops within the mint (or even a branch mint??) but the fact is that I do not know their meaning. Similarly unexplained dots occur on enought dies from this mint that it seems likely there was a code in use. Deciphering that code remains for the future.

Best Man Septimius Severus - silver denarius - 194 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IMP CAE L SEP SE-V PERT AVG COSI-I VICTOR SEVE R AVG Victory walking left with wreath & palm	Head Usher Septimius Severus - silver denarius - 194 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IMP CAE L SEP SE-V PERT AVG COSII VICTOR SEVE R AG Victory walking left with wreath & palm

"Groomsmen" for our wedding are minor varieties of a relatively less scarce type than other coins on this page. "Best Man" is the type that replaced VICTOR IVST AVG: VICTOR SEVER AVG. This example shows the obverse legend variety 'COSI-I' with the numeral split by the point of the bust. On some dies (this included), the split could have been forced by a failure to plan ahead and leave space for the last "I". Other dies, however have enough space that it seems obvious that the split was intentional. It probably indicates use of some 'secret code' relating to internal mint practices or even branch mint existence. Like the COS I dies (the "Groom"), which was covered on 'My Favorite Coin', the matter of the split numeral COS I-I legends requires more study.

The "Head Usher" is another minor variation from the norm. Here the 'V' of AVG was omitted leaving a reverse legend VICTOR SEVER AG. This type was reported in BMC and RIC quoting the specimen in the great Reka Devnia hoard (1 specimen). This example is another coin from the Roger A. Bickford-Smith collection. It should be remembered that the diecutters at this mint probably read no Latin. Legend errors and omissions are not unusual at 'Emesa'. The "Groom" replaces the 'R' of PERT with a Greek rho resulting in PEPT. These variations often involve letters not present in the Greek alphabet. The AVS on "Grandfather" could be an example of the use of the first two and last letters of AVgustuS or the 'S' could be the confusion of a cutter not having either 'G' or 'S' in his native alphabet. Specialists (including amateurs like me) enjoy such minor varieties but, until there is a great deal more interest in these issues as a whole, there will be little or no market value increase assigned to such coins. Quite a few other "relatives" of the "Groom" are shown on my 'Emesa' pages.

Ushers
Septimius Severus - silver denarius - 194 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IMP CAE L SEP SE-V PERT AVG LEG VIII AVG IICOS TRP COS Legionary standards	Septimius Severus - silver denarius - 194 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IMP CAE L SEP SE-V PERT AVG MONETAE AVG IICOS Moneta standing

The remaining groomsmen are two examples of the scarce IICOS on reverse series that we saw above with a bridesmaid. Both use dies from the first series (they are not both the same die but one you have seen above) as appropriate for IICOS reverse coins. On the left is the IICOS version of the Legionary (VIII AVG) from the early period. This mint also struck legionary coins for XIIII but these are too late to make this page. Most interesting to me is the use of IICOS at the right and COS dating in exergue on the same die. This really suggests that the mint received word to add the consul date to the coins and had no idea how to do it. On the right is a more normal Moneta reverse but the coin shows traces of another strike (overstrike or doublestrike?) at the far right edge of the reverse. Overstrikes in this series are of great interest to me but I can not convince myself that this is one.

Priest Septimius Severus - silver denarius - 193 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IMP CAE L SEP SE-V PERT AVG COS AETERNITAS AVS Crescent & 7 stars

Guests
Julia Domna - silver denarius - 194 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IVLIA DO-MNA AVG FELICIT TEMPOR Basket of fruit	Septimius Severus - silver denarius - 194 AD Syrian mint 'Emesa'? IMP CAE L SEP SE-V PERT AVG COS-II FELICIT TEMPOR Basket of fruit

"Guests" at the wedding include a married couple: the "Baskets". This scarce 'Emesa' type shows a basket of fruit and grains surrounded with FELICITAS TEMPORVM (sometimes shortened as here). Both coins were struck by the same reverse die. It is very unusual to find Roman coins of different rulers that are dielinked. Eastern denarii of Julia Domna include both the expected "female" types (Venus, etc.) and reverses shared with Septimius. At Alexandria, different dies were cut for each ruler even when the design was the same but, at 'Emesa', it is not unusual to find examples of shared dies. This would make it likely that coins were struck for Septimius using the seated ("Bride") type and for Julia with the walking ("Groom") Victory. Whether any have survived and will come to light from new hoard material remains to be seen. The number of varieties known for the Eastern mints of Septimius has increased greatly in the last fifty years. Many coins struck in the East are included in hoards found in the Middle East and Eastern European lands that have been providing collectors with so many coins in recent years. The chance of still more new finds is excellent.

Many other "friends" and "relatives" of the "Bride" and "Groom" are shown on my Severus/Domna overview pages and on several other pages linked from the Severus section of my Index Page Menu. Few of you will be interested enough to view all of these. I challenge you to create similar pages that present your numismatic interests. The Internet is what we make it. This site has been my way of sharing my hobby with the world. Will you contribute to the base of web based numismatics or wait for the professional dealers to decide to add more educational sections to their sales sites? The choice is yours. The preceding sermon was brought to you as part of the wedding ceremony. Thank you for sharing our happiness. ;)

Conspicuous for their absence in my little drama is any coins designated as parents of the happy couple. That was done to leave open the possibility that I might someday obtain one of the types I am hoping exists. There is one reverse known to me that would quality. It is the IICOS added version of the VICTOR IVST AVG walking type. I have seen photos both with portrait facing right (Dura Hoard) and left (at auction well over my head financially). Perhaps one will turn up in a junk box near me. At present, most of the coin varieties shown on this page are rare. For years I searched in vain for a Septimius with VICTOR SEVER AVG. Finally, a few years ago, I attended a show where one dealer had three. Since then so many have come to market that the type with normal spellings is no more than scarce. I wonder if this will be duplicated for the VICTOR IVST AVG coins? I hope it will. Certainly finding a large number would reduce the value of my coins but the additional interest it would add to my chosen specialty would be worth the monitary loss. What will I find next? ... a Julia with VICTOR SEVER? ... a Septimius with seated IVST? ... or something entirely different? This is, for me, the thrill of collecting. If any of you know of any coins of these types, I would love to hear from you (whether they are for sale or not).

This page is dedicated to my bride of 42 years who tolerates not only the collecting of these coins but the time I spend doing this web page.

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(c) 1999-2011 Doug Smith