Numismatic and History Discussion Forums > Greek Coins Discussion Forum

Caligula sestertius depicting temple and bull on altar

(1/1)

Meepzorp:
Hi folks,

In another topic here in the Greek section of Forum, a Forum member recently asked for advice regarding a coin. Mark Fox identified the coin for the OP. He also provided a link to a past issue (March 2010) of Celator magazine.

I have a few observations:

1) I would like to thank Mark for providing that link. I didn't know that past issues of Celator could be viewed online.

2) In that issue of Celator magazine, one of the coins depicted is a sestertius issued by Caligula. On the reverse of that coin, Caligula is seen sacrificing at an altar in front of a temple. A bull is on top of the altar. I have an example of that issue. I purchased it several years ago. In all the years I have owned that coin, I never realized that there was a bull on top of the altar. On my particular example, it isn't that clear. However, after seeing the drawing in the Celator magazine, I now realize that it is a bull. If Mark hadn't provided that link, I wouldn't have come to that realization. You learn something new every day. This knowledge is all the more pleasing to me because, as many Forum members already know, I love MFB coins.

3) My example is attributed by the dealer as RIC 36. The example in Celator is attributed as RIC 51. I looked in acsearch, and this issue seems to have 2 different RIC numbers (36 and 51). It appears to be the same issue. Unless I am mistaken? Or is this one of those situations where a different (later?) edition of RIC uses a different number to classify it?

Here is a link to my example (first coin):

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/meepzorp/ri_caligula.htm

I am including a photo and line drawing of the Celator coin.

Meepzorp

Pekka K:
Both coins are RIC 36, as RIC 51 has different obverse legend:

C CAESAR DIVI AVG PRON AVG P M TR P IIII P P PIETAS

http://numismatics.org/ocre/results?q=fulltext%3Acaligula+51

Pekka K

Meepzorp:
Hi Pekka,

Thanks for the information.

This implies that the Celator coin is mis-attributed.

Meepzorp

Navigation

[0] Message Index