Probus Lugdunum OTD

[mauseus]

Hi,

Santa called early! I ordered this coin from a major London dealer yesterday afternoon and it dropped through my letterbox this morning!

Antoninianus
IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG
Radiate, cuirassed bust right holding spear
ABVNDANTIA AVG
Abundantia standing right holding cornucopia
Lugdunum, -/-//IIII
RIC 59

Bastien's 5th issue (thanks Martin!). A rare bust type I couldn't resist it, even with the double struck obverse.

Regards,

Mauseus

[whitetd49]

Both sides of that coin are remarkable.  Never seen that obverse portrait.  Is that a snake emerging from the "cornucopia"?

[Robert_Brenchley]

I like the double strike.

[slokind]

And I like the string of figs or string of ?, coming from Abundantia's cornucopiae, making it look like a manual sausage-filling tube!  But that is unjust to the quality of the coin.  Perhaps the engraver intended a succession of round fruits poured from the Horn.
Pat L.

[maridvnvm]

Need I say that I am green with envy! It is a great bust and even with the minor flaws is superb.
Well done.
Martin

[PeterD]

That double-strike gives Probus a strange looking nose - or should we call it a proboscis!

[virtvsprobi]

whitetd49 wrote: Never seen that obverse portrait. 

I invite you to view  http://probvs.info/probvs/busts/b-bus-bustforms.html  to see others you may have not seen.

G/<

[Commodo73]

Do you know if IIII in exergue must be considered a Lugdunum mintmark ? ?

Is a splendid coin Mauseus

[mauseus]

Hi,

On the coins of Probus IIII is exclusively Lyon (as is I, II, III) and refers to the officina or workshop. In the last issue they use A, B, C & D either as exergue marks or field marks..

Regards,

Mauseus

[maridvnvm]

One minor point of clarification would be that the officina marks A, B, C and D are ALMOST exclusively found in the left and right fields where they are sometimes also found retrograde. There is only one exception to this and that is the following, quite scarce coin:-


https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=138&pos=87

Regards,
Martin

[Commodo73]

Thank you for information !
Have a nice Christmas.

[gb29400]

Hi,

Santa called early! I ordered this coin from a major London dealer yesterday afternoon and it dropped through my letterbox this morning!

Antoninianus
IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG
Radiate, cuirassed bust right holding spear
ABVNDANTIA AVG
Abundantia standing right holding cornucopia
Lugdunum, -/-//IIII
RIC 59

Bastien's 5th issue (thanks Martin!). A rare bust type I couldn't resist it, even with the double struck obverse.

Regards,

Mauseus

The same coin... and probably the same dies.
Reverse is sure, obverse seems also coming from the same die.

Guy

[mauseus]

Hi,

I didn't expect to see a second example so soon! I agree that it does look to be from the same reverse die, the mis-strike on mine and the flan flaw on yours make it difficult to be certain about an obverse match but it is very close.

A nice find.

Regards,

Mauseus

[gb29400]

Hi Mauseus,

I bought the coin for my collection for about 5 years.

Guy

[virtvsprobi]

I should add these to my RIC 59 page for the sake of completeness!

http://probvs.info/probvs/R59/R59.html

I believe it is the same obverse die. Looking at the areas outside of double strike and flan flaw, the letter shapes and distances seem to be identical.

G/<