Oldest Caracalla face with beard!

[Jochen]

Hi!

Here I have a coin of Caracalla from Pautalia.

AE 30
obv. AT KM AVR CEV - ANTWNEINOC
        bust, bearded, laureate, r.
rev. OVLPIAC - PAVTALIAC
        Tyche, draped and with Kalathos, stg. l., holding cornucopiae and rudder set on globe
Ruzicka 660; Varbanov 3255 var.

The obv. legend is not clear readable, but it is the beard of Caracalla which leads to the solution. Referring to Ruzicka the only possibility with the beard is the above obv. legend whichs leads to the attribution of #660.

Now Ruzicka states that this is 'the oldest long-bearded face' of Caracalla. The problem is that I don't know the meaning of this statement. Is this the first bearded portrait of Caracalla at all or only referring to Pautalia? And is this statement true (which then would add something particular to this coin)?

Any opinion highly welcomed!

Best regards

[curtislclay]

Jochen,
       Ruzicka 660 is correct, since your coin is from the same rev. die as the specimen ill. by R., pl. VII.5.
       "Earliest long-bearded portrait" I take to mean, the first portrait of Caracalla to show a full beard, that is immediately after he had grown it and the engravers began to depict it on the coins.
        Calling Caracalla's beard "long" is odd, however, since he is never depicted wearing a truly long beard.
        Otherwise, Ruzicka calls Caracalla's portraits at Pautalia "unbearded", "bearded", or "heavily bearded".
        One of the major shortcomings of these useful, comprehensive, and generally very perceptive older catalogues:  far too few illustrations, especially of the obverses!
     

[Jochen]

Thanks, Curtis! It adds a special feature to this coin even though it is one of the standard depictions.

Can we then date the coin to a special year?

Best regards

[curtislclay]

Jochen,
      I told you what I think Ruzicka means, but I don't know WHY he thinks that or if he is correct!
      On Roman coins Caracalla gets his full beard in TR P XII = AD 209.  But there is no guarantee that provincial mints would keep the portrait up to date.  On dated provincials you can often observe that the portraits are a couple of years behind those at Rome.  The provincial engravers haven't bothered or haven't been instructed to add the latest modifications.
     I think it is impossible to date your coin without a full study of Pautalia's coinage from the time of the disappearance of governors' names under Septimius until the end of the reign of Caracalla.

[Jochen]

Curtis, thanks for clearing that!

Best regards