The coinage of
Probus at
Lugdunum is partitioned into 9 emissions by
Bastien which are broadly associated with the early and later Periods identified by
RIC. Many coins have to be placed into these periods / emissions purely based on their
style as the other elements of the coins are otherwise identical. Emissions 1 to 4 would be associated with the early Period and have broad heads with thick necks and where a
cuirass is present have very little of the
cuirass visible. Emission 5 was created to celebrate the victorious return of
Probus through
Lugdunum after a campaign in
Gaul and introduces a range of elaborate busts. Emissions 6 to 9 are associated with the later period where the busts are somewhat narrower and the profile is longer than that on the early emissions and where a
cuirass is visible there is more
cuirass shown.
Typical "Early"
cuirassed bust:-
Typical "Later"
cuirassed bust:-
The draped and
cuirassed bust is common across all the mints for
Probus and a common enough at
Lugdunum but having said this is does not typically occur in the Early period and only becomes commonplace in the Later period.
Bastien does however identify two example of the Draped and cuiarssed
bust type appearing in Emission 3 (
obverse legend of
IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG), both with the
FIDES MILITVM reverse type, one (
Bastien 177) coming from
Officina 2 (II in exe) and the other (
Bastien 179bis) coming from
Officina 3 (III in exe). I have attached cans of these below. These coins come from the same
obverse die. A further example of the
bust type occurs in Emission 4 (shortened
obverse legend of
IMP C PROBVS
P F AVG), also with the
FIDES MILITVM reverse type.
I have obtained a new example of the
bust type from Emission 3. My example
comes from the same
obverse die but is now paired with the
MARS VICTOR reverse type from
Officina 3 (III in exe).
Obv:–
IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG,
Radiate, draped and
cuirassed bust right; seen from rear
Rev:–
MARS VICTOR,
Mars walking right, holding spear and
trophy.
Minted in
Lugdunum (III in exe) Emission 3,
Officina 3. November – December A.D. 276
Reference:–
Cohen -.
Bastien -, Batien Suppl I -. Batien Suppl II -.
RIC 37
Bust type C
corr. (
RIC cites
bust type A this chould be
Bust Type C and
RIC likely cites examples from the later period in this case)
Obverse die match to
Bastien 179
bust, which is
FIDES MILITVM from the same emission
Weight 4.53g. 23.51mm.
180 degrees 
The
bust can be seen to be much braoder than those of the later emissions illustrated below for comparison.
Regards,
Martin
