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Author Topic: Eastern denarii of Hadrian  (Read 123948 times)

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Offline curtislclay

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Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« on: August 20, 2007, 11:41:57 am »
Hadrian's main issue of Eastern denarii seems to have been produced c. 129-131 in connection with his second great provincial tour.

The obv. and rev. types generally copy those of Roman denarii.  Many of the types are rare, attested in only a couple of specimens, and it is not unusual for previously unknown types to emerge.

The usual obv. legend is HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS P P, a legend that was used at Rome in 128-9.

Considerably rarer are Eastern denarii with obv. legend HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS or HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, the first of which was used at Rome c. 125-8 and then again c. 129-131, and the second of which was Hadrian's latest obv. legend at Rome, used from c. 131 on.

My first coin, acquired at the recent ANA show in Milwaukee, has obv. legend HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS, rev. ROMA FELIX COS III P P, Roma seated l. on curule chair, holding branch and scepter, 3.01 g., 6h.

This is an exact copy of a Rome-mint denarius of c. 130-1, the second coin below, but is unpublished in Eastern style.  It is from the same obv. die as Strack pl. XX, *21, the third coin reproduced below, which has the earlier Roman rev. type P M TR P COS III, Mars advancing r. holding spear and trophy over shoulder.

That Mars advancing rev. type was used at Rome in the early 120s, but was evidently copied on Eastern denarii considerably later, c. 130!
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Offline curtislclay

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2007, 12:16:58 pm »
My second coin, perhaps just by engraver's error, has the two words of the obv. legend reversed, AVGVSTVS - HADRIANVS.  Rev. is COS - III, Minerva standing l. holding thunderbolt and spear, shield on ground behind her, 2.91 g., corroded, 6h, from Forvm.

Strack knew just three Eastern denarii with this transposed obv. legend, including one with this Minerva standing rev. type in the Trau coll., Strack's pl. XVIII, *18, reproduced below, which is from the same dies as my coin.  This Eastern rev. type is exceptional because it does NOT appear to be known on any Rome-mint denarius of Hadrian.  It is a common-enough type, being for example one of the four Minerva types repeated by Domitian on his denarii year after year during the second half of his reign.

The same Eastern obv. die of my coin was also used for Strack's pl. XVIII, *19 with rev. COS III, Eagle with spread wings standing on thunderbolt, also reproduced below.
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Offline curtislclay

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2007, 02:15:33 am »
I have now added above reproductions of the three die-linked coins in Strack.

In the first posting, the coin numbered *21 is from the same obv. die as my ROMA FELIX COS III P P coin.

In the second posting, *18 is from the same dies as my corroded AVGVSTVS - HADRIANVS / Minerva denarius, and *19 is from the same obv. die, but with Eagle standing rev. type.  The asterisk before Strack's numbers means "Eastern mint".

Thanks again to Susan Headley for making and editing the scans.   She produced three of the five images, all except the Rome-mint ROMA FELIX COS III P P, which is from CoinArchives, and my second acquisition, which is the seller's image, that is Forvm's!
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Offline Salem Alshdaifat

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2007, 02:31:28 am »
Thanks Curtis
one qustion plz, when you say Eastern where could that be???
regards
Salem

Offline curtislclay

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2007, 02:37:46 am »
Salem,

Probably Asia Minor, but that question has still to be resolved.

Perhaps the Eastern denarii can be attributed to one of the Asia Minor mints that also struck cistophori for Hadrian.
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Offline maridvnvm

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2007, 04:23:38 am »
Curtis,
Many thanks for sharing these fascinating coins. I, for one never knew that these eastern denarii existed and it is wonderful to see them. I notice that all the examples are struck on good sized flans. Is this typical of these issues?
Regards,
Martin

Offline Beast

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2007, 11:57:05 am »
Hadrian's Eastern denarii are rare and not well documented. I've been collecting them for a few years now in order to try to get enough examples so as to write a book on them as Metcalf did with Hadrian's AR Cistophori by mint.

Over the past 2 years, I have only been able to acquire 3 Antioch mint pieces and 13 other Eastern mint coins. The coins definitely were different "Eastern" mints, based on style.

Here is an Antioch mint example:



Hadrian, AR Denarius, 117-138, Antioch
IMP CAESAR TRAIAN HADRIANVS AVG
Laureate, cuirassed bust right, slight drapery on left shoulder
P M TR POT_ES COS III
Pax standing facing, head left, branch downward in right hand, cornucopiae in left
PAX in exergue
20mm, 2.91g
RIC II, --; BMCRE --; RSC --

And here are some other examples of completely different style/mint:



Hadrian, AR Denarius, 134-138 (?), Undetermined Eastern Mint
HADRIANVS-AVG COS III P P
Bare head right, slight drapery on left shoulder
FORTV_NA AVG
Clementia or Concordia standing facing, head left, patera in right hand, cornucopiae in left
18mm x 20mm, 3.02g
RIC II, 245a (Rome)



Hadrian, AR Denarius, 134-138, Undetermined Eastern Mint
HADRIANVS-AVG COS III P P
Bare head right
AEGYPTOS
Egypt reclining left, sistrum in right hand, left arm resting on modius filled with grain ears, ibis at feet
18mm x 20mm, 3.39g
RIC II, 297 (Rome)



Hadrian, AR Denarius, 131-132 (?), Undetermined Eastern Mint
HADRIANVS-AVG COS III P P
Bare head right
COS-III
Concordia or Clementia standing facing, head left, patera in right hand, cornucopiae in left
19mm, 2.76g
RIC II, --

Here is my page on Hadrian, which covers all of the Rome and other mint pieces I have or have had:

http://www.beastcoins.com/RomanImperial/II/Hadrian/Hadrian.htm

As far as I am aware, the largest single collection of Eastern mint Hadrian denarii sold as a collection was Michael Kelly's pieces by Spink in Auction 123, November 1997.  Mr. Kelly had 1 Antioch mint piece (Aequitas reverse) and 9 other "Asia Minor" mint examples. He sent me a copy of the auction catalogue to use for my research. Unfortunately, it seems that after looking at my collection for a while, Mr. Kelly got the bug again and has restarted collecting the Eastern mint coins!

--Beast

Offline curtislclay

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #7 on: August 21, 2007, 02:52:02 pm »
Beast,

A couple of comments:

Yes, the early Eastern denarii (Antioch) are from a different mint than the later ones (Asia Minor), but it would appear that the later Asia Minor series may all be from one rather than several mints.

You can't, I think, write a book about these coins based solely on the ones you manage to buy; you've got to collect all available material from museum and other private collections and innumerable published works too, as Metcalf did for the cistophori!  Plus, nowadays, all the material accessible via the internet.

You've got to study the Roman coinage of Hadrian too, since the date of the appearance of a certain type or legend at Rome provides the terminus post quem for its appearance on the Eastern denarii.  Mattingly's date of 134 for the introduction of the obv. legend HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P at Rome, for example, is a major obstacle to correctly understanding the Eastern denarii, since it is apparently a couple of years too late.  Assuming an even production of denarii year by year from 128 until 138, that obv. legend will have been introduced at Rome c. 131, meaning that the Eastern denarii do not have to last beyond 132 and can be plausibly associated with Hadrian's second provincial tour, which began in 128 and may also have ended in 131 or 132.

You have some very nice and interesting Eastern pieces, for example the three with the rarer obv. legend HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P that you show us above!

The last Hadrian denarius under mint of Rome on your website, with rev. COS III, Victory seated l., 2.41 g., is in fact also Eastern. 

Right above that coin you have two with rev. COS III, Aequitas standing l.  I am inclined to think, though it is not yet proven, that all coins with this type belong to the Eastern mint, their rather fine style being due to the fact that they are the mint's earliest coins, so still strongly under the influence of the mint of Rome, perhaps even using engravers from that mint.

Martin,

Since Hadrian's Roman denarii too are generally on ample flans, flan size has never been one of my conscious criteria for recognizing Eastern denarii, but maybe it contributes to my recognition of the Eastern "fabric"!
Curtis Clay

Offline Beast

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #8 on: August 21, 2007, 09:45:10 pm »
Curtis,

Thanks for the information and I'll go review the pieces you mention. I am actually keeping all of the information on any examples that come up for my research, which is why Michael Kelly sent me the Spink auction catalog. Hopefully there really will be enough pieces of data to put something together and I do somewhat collect Hadrian's Rome coinage as well, which will also help to compare for the research and chronology. Metcalf's book will also hopefully be of some guidance when comparing styles.

Best regards,

--Beast

ps - I still LOVE that first piece you showed me at the ANA show a couple of weeks ago. An excellent find!

Offline frederic W

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #9 on: August 29, 2007, 05:55:56 pm »
Very interesting ! Thank you.

Offline curtislclay

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #10 on: October 12, 2007, 03:06:26 am »
Here is another, nicer, Eastern denarius of Hadrian with reversed obv. legend, AVGVSTVS - HADRIANVS, rev. COS III, Crescent and seven stars, Strack *20, unique in Vienna (not illustrated by Strack or BMC).

The rev. type, as usual, is copied from denarii struck at Rome, even the legend placement in exergue occurs there, though usually the legend runs clockwise, COS on left and III on right.

The obverse of this denarius, in portrait style and transposed legend order, is quite similar to the cistophorus of Hadrian, Metcalf 298, Uncertain Mint A, as pointed out by Wolfram Weiser in a note in the Münzzentrum-Rheinland catalogue from which I got the coin.
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Offline slokind

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #11 on: October 12, 2007, 03:33:21 am »
That portrait of Hadrian on the denarius with crescent-and-stars reverse is the most memorable one (to my taste) that is have seen.  That is as wonderful as it is rarePat L.

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #12 on: October 12, 2007, 09:49:07 pm »
Great thread, and beast your collection of Hadrian alone is very impressive!
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Offline Beast

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #13 on: October 12, 2007, 09:54:44 pm »
Thanks Roma! I'm still learning quite a lot about the different styles with input from Curtis, Barry and Michael Kelly. Metcalf's reference for Hadrian's Cistophoric Tetradrachms is also helpful so I can put the coins side by side with the plates and attempt to match up mints. I've always been fond of Hadrian's issues, since there are so many different types and the two excellent travel series.

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Offline curtislclay

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #14 on: March 05, 2008, 10:04:49 pm »
This newly acquired Eastern denarius was previously unknown (2.88 g, 6h, illustrated below):

HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS P P, head laureate r.

P M TR P COS III, Minerva, helmeted and with aegis on her breast, sacrificing l. from patera over candelabrum-like altar and holding spear.

Copied from a Rome-mint denarius of c. 119-125, using a longer obv. legend, also illustrated below.

This older Roman rev. legend P M TR P COS III is rather rare on Eastern denarii.

The only common one is with rev. Aequitas standing, with legend COS III the commonest Eastern type of all, and perhaps the first one struck, in close to Roman style, as I suggested above.  Same type with P M TR P COS III: Strack *59, listing 12 spec. with various bust types.

Apart from Aequitas, Strack knew six Eastern types with legend P M TR P COS III, each of them in a single specimen only.

One, like mine, is an exact copy of a Roman denarius type with the same rev. legend, Mars advancing r., Strack *21.  This piece is illustrated in my first post above, because it shares its HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS obv. die with my ROMA FELIX COS III P P coin.

Four Eastern denarii, though using the old rev. legend P M TR P COS III, join it with types copied from more recent Roman issues, whose original rev. legend was generally COS III.  Types: 

Modius and six wheat ears, Strack *72.

Minerva standing r. resting l. hand on shield set on ground, Strack *70.

Liberalitas emptying cornucopia, Strack *60.

(probably) Roma seated l. on cuirass and shield, Strack *22.

The final Eastern denarius with rev. legend P M TR P COS III copies a rev. type of Trajan's, Jupiter holds thunderbolt over emperor, Strack *71.






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Offline curtislclay

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #15 on: August 24, 2008, 01:53:07 am »
Another novelty, which I acquired from Rauch 82, 23 April 2008, lot 16: this Eastern denarius of Hadrian copies the Wolf and Twins type of Domitian as Caesar, as is proved by the boat in exergue, which accompanied the Wolf and Twins type on coins only for Domitian

However, in addition to changing Domitian's COS V to COS III to fit Hadrian, the Eastern engraver also reversed the type for Hadrian; the wolf stands right not left.  He also changed the pose of the twins.  On Domitian's denarii and aurei they sit facing one another, both in profile, each raising one hand towards the she-wolf's teats.  On Hadrian's denarius they sit frontally, their legs crossed Indian-style, each raising both hands.  The twin on the left is clear, but the one on the right has largely fallen prey to a die break and can be seen only dimly.

Hadrian's portrait on this denarius is crude, which led to its being classified as a barbarous imitation ("Celtic") in the Rauch catalogue.  However, Strack illustrates two other Eastern denarii of Hadrian from the same obverse die, whose reverses show two well-known types from the series: COS III, Galley right, and COS III, Fortuna standing left holding rudder and cornucopia. See the scan below.  Susan Headley scanned the coin and the Strack images for me; the Domitian denarius is from CoinArchives.
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Offline curtislclay

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #16 on: August 24, 2008, 02:28:03 am »
By chance, my search for "Domitian and Wolf" on CoinArchives also brought up another crude Eastern denarius of Hadrian with the Wolf and Twins reverse type, pictured below, that was in UBS 73, 3 Sept. 2007, lot 306.

Here the she-wolf stands left and the Twins sit facing one another in profile, as on the prototype of Domitian, so without the changes in these two details made on my new coin above.  Note the boat in exergue, again guaranteeing the Domitian denarius as prototype.

The style of the UBS coin is quite crude on both sides, again misleading the cataloguer to attribute it as "Celtic".  I think it must certainly also belong to Hadrian's Eastern series, though I do not know of this same obverse die being used with other known reverse types of that series.  We know from my new coin, after all, that Hadrian's Eastern engravers did copy the Wolf and Twins type of Domitian Caesar; and it can hardly be coincidence that the UBS coin copies the same type, considerably more faithfully, and combines it with the commonest legend combination of Hadrian's Eastern denarii, HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS P P / COS III.
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Offline curtislclay

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #17 on: November 24, 2009, 10:49:12 pm »
I was able to acquire four rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian from Zach Beasley's sale of part of his collection in V-Auction 236, 5 Nov. 2009. These coins can all be seen on Zach's website and one of them he has also shown us above in this thread, but I want to post them again with a few comments about where the reverse types were taken from.

The first one has the commonest obverse legend HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS P P, but copies the earlier reverse legend P M TR P COS III and the LIB PVB, Libertas seated type from that issue, though eliminating the legend LIB PVB in exergue. This appears to be a new type in the Eastern series; I left it out in my list of Eastern denarii of Hadrian with rev. legend P M TR P COS III, earlier in this thread. Here is the coin, in the V-Auction image, and the Roman model from CoinArchives.
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Offline curtislclay

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #18 on: November 24, 2009, 11:27:58 pm »
The second coin has the standard Eastern legends, HADRIANVS AVG P P on obv. and COS III on rev., but copies a LATER Roman reverse type, the Italia type of Hadrian's travel series, which at Rome was struck only with the descriptive legend ITALIA, and with Hadrian's later obv. legend, HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P. The Eastern copy and the Roman original are shown below.

The Eastern mint also copied this Italia type with the proper Roman legends on both sides, HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P / ITALIA, Strack *76, and with obv. HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS / ITALIA, Strack *24, and obv. HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS P P, rev. ITALIA FELIX, Strack *62.

These Eastern coins are important for showing that the ITALIA type, and the rest of Hadrian's travel series, must have been struck EARLY in Hadrian's large last issue with obv. legend HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P at Rome, which probably lasted from c. 132 to Hadrian's death in 138. It is clear that the Eastern series only barely overlapped with this last large issue at Rome; most of the Eastern types and legends are earlier, and only a small number of Eastern denarii copy the new Roman obverse legend and the new types that were struck at Rome with that legend. Then the Eastern series ended, apparently because Hadrian had returned to Rome c. 132. Thus only the earliest Roman rev. types of the HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P issue, those that were produced by c. 132, can have been copied by the Eastern mint.

My new denarius is Strack *33, cited by him from three specimens in the Paris collection. Cohen 396-7, in describing these coins, called Italia merely "a woman", and RIC 346 followed Cohen; it was apparently Strack who realized that she is actually Italia, copied from the Roman ITALIA type.
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Offline curtislclay

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #19 on: November 24, 2009, 11:41:38 pm »
Third coin: the Asia type of Hadrian's travel series, copied in the East with the correct Roman legends on both sides, HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P / ASIA.

This coin is Strack *73, specimens in St. Petersburg, Naples, and the L.A. Lawrence Collection.

Same conclusion: the Travel series, since it was copied on Eastern denarii, must have been struck near the beginning of Hadrian's large last issue!
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Offline curtislclay

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #20 on: November 25, 2009, 02:22:44 pm »
Fourth coin, the one Zach has already shown above: obverse HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P, reverse copies the Roman FORTVNA AVG type, Fortuna standing left holding patera and cornucopia, but changes the legend to the typical Eastern COS III. See the Eastern coin and Roman model below.

This coin is apparently unpublished, but a similar Eastern denarius with the correct Roman reverse legend, FORTVNA AVG, is known: Zach illustrates a specimen from his collection above.

This FORTVNA AVG type, we may conclude, must have been one of the earliest in the HADRIANVS AVG COS III P P issue at Rome. On aurei, that same FORTVNA AVG type shares an obverse die with ADVENTVI AVG ALEXANDRIAE, confirming the early date: for the ADVENTVI coins are part of the travel series, whose early date is likewise shown by the appearance of the same types on Eastern denarii, as we have seen above.

As Barry Murphy noted in his V-Auction description, the obverse die of my coin was also used with the reverse COS III, Fortuna standing left holding rudder and cornucopia, BMC pl. 71.1 (Paris).

Another, much finer, specimen with the same die link was in CNG 63, 2003, 1353, and is shown below from CoinArchives. The obverse die was in a fresher state for this coin than for mine, not showing for example the long die break that on my coin proceeds in a curving line from the emperor's neck, through his hair, and into the field above his forehead, ending at the A of AVG in the legend.
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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #21 on: February 12, 2010, 03:45:40 pm »
This coin arrived at my place today - I had expected that several specialists would go for it and was pleasantly surprised to be the high bidder. This is an Eastern denarius with "moon and seven stars"reverse from the same dies as Curtis' specimen with the rare transposed obv. legend. I think it's worth showing here although it doesn't match Curtis' specimen in condition.

Rupert
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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #22 on: February 15, 2010, 05:59:50 am »
Hello Curtis,
Thank you for this great post.
One thing you mentioned causes me to ask a question that may not yet have an answer.
It relates to your mention of the possibility of a mint in Asia Minor. With my own fondness
for the city of Ephesus, that also being a city that struck cistophori, I wondered whether
you had had any additional thoughts about any of these denarii being struck there?
I'd love to hear your current thoughts on this, if you would be so kind as to offer them.
Best wishes,

Walter Holt
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Offline curtislclay

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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #23 on: April 15, 2010, 07:35:26 pm »
Walter,

I haven't gotten to the point where I am looking for stylistic parallels and trying to figure out where the denarii might have been struck!

Curtis
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Re: Two rare Eastern denarii of Hadrian
« Reply #24 on: September 09, 2010, 07:58:03 am »
Curtis,
I hope that you don't mind me adding a coin of my own to the thread.

Obv:- HADRIANVS AVGSTVS (sic) P P, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:- P M TR P COS III, Minerva standing right holding inverted spear in right hand, resting left hand on shield

I haven't been able to find any other example of this variety elsewhere but my literature covering this topic is lamentable.

Attached below.

It seems to copy the HADRIANVS AVGVSTVS P P, COS III, type (RIC 330) from Rome.

Obverse die match to the following example on Zach's website:-



Regards,
Martin

(CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

 

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