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« Last post by Luuk S on Yesterday at 02:09:53 pm »
Hi all
Recently i managed to acquire an extremely rare coin of the usurper Maximus of Hispania, see the picture below.
The auction company that sold it didn't identify it as such, however i'm 99% sure of the identification, specifically as RIC 1604 (AE3 coin)
The main giveaway was the mintmark SMBA on the reverse, as this mint was only used under Maximus. Also the bearded portret matches that of the usurper, even though most of this name is off flan.
When i was researching this usurper i read there are very few surviving coins, with estimates ranging from ~20 coins (P. Grierson), ~30 coins (Ira and Larry Goldberg auctions) to ~50 coins (Forum Ancient Coins).
This made me curious, so i searched the internet for all individual specimens which have been published online, either in auctions, collections or otherwise.
The result is the overview shown below, and i've managed to identify 51 individual Maximus coins as of yet, from which 44 are siliqua (RIC 1601), 4 are maioriana (RIC 1602/03) and 3 are AE3 (RIC 1604), including my own specimen. With the siliquae it was possible to match some coins which where struck with the same obverse dies, these are encircled in red.
However, i'm pretty sure there must be more specimens available, for instance those of auctions from before the internet era. Or just from private collections. Also, i don't own RIC X, and maybe there are some additional specimens in there.
So my question to you is: are there any missing specimens to this overview? Especially the bronzes have very few examples. If so, please post below. Then we can hopefully question once and for all how many coins of Maximus of Hispania have survived till today!
gr Luuk
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