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Nigrinian Ant

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lawrence c:
Thought I might share a Nigrinian ant that I just added to my gallery. It's not exactly primo, but the obverse is not too shabby.

Description: Divus Nigrinian. Died ca. A.D. 284. AE antoninianus (21 mm, 3.05 g, 6 h). Rome mint, 1st officina. 5th emission of Carinus, November A.D. 284. DIVO NIGRINIANO, radiate head right / CONSECRATIO, eagle standing facing, head left, with spread wings; KAA in exergue. RIC 472; Cohen 2; SRCV 12411. Ex Münzen und Medaillen GmbH 46 (15 February 2018), lot 1067; Ex Dr. K. Bech Collection (Peus 413, 29 October 2014), lot 534. Agora Auction 102, Lot 187.

Joe Sermarini:
Nice portrait.

SEstiot:
Lawrence,

If your Divo Nigriniano/Eagle coin //KAA is not in an impressive state of conservation, it is nevertheless an interesting and rare coin.

Here are the numbers from the huge north-Italian La Venèra hoard (D. Gricourt, Ripostiglio della Venèra. Nuovo Catalogo Illustrato, vol. IV : Caro-Diocleziano, Verona, 2000) :
- 2 ex. (catal. 3403-3404), same obverse die
- 7 ex. (catal. 3774-3780)
So a total of 9 coins (same description as yours).

For the general amount of the Divo Nigriniano coins in the La Venèra hoard :

- reverse Eagle //KAA always: 3 ex. showing the impressive very high nude bust, seen from front (catal. 3405-3407), same obverse die
- reverse Altar //KAA: 1 ex. (catal. 3408)
Total for the //KAA series: 13 ex.

- Then, for the following series,  signed //KA :crescent:A or //KA :crescentdot:A
* reverse Eagle : catal. 3972-3979  (8 ex.), some obverse dies shared with the //KAA series
* reverse Altar : catal. 3984-3988 (5 ex.), 4 ex. from the same pair of dies; obverse dies shared with the reverse Eagle.
 Total for the ////KA :crescent:A or //KA :crescentdot:A series: 13 ex.

General total for the Divo Nigriniano types in Rome : 13+13= 26 ex. (but lesser amount of dies...)

Total amount of coins from the Rome mint for Carus and family : 2584 coins in the La Venèra hoard. Percentage of the coins showing the same description as yours : 0,3%

Another question about Nigrinianus, and a fascinating one, is to know if he was a son of Carinus and Magnia Urbica (as numismatists think - recently, from Pink's studies 1961 -, but prosopographs are more careful), as the only stone inscription mentioning Nigrinianus (CIL VI, 31380), from Rome, strangely enough, does not mention his direct filiation, but quotes his grand-father Carus (Divo Nigriniano nepoti Cari) - Carus being still alive when Nigrinianus dies (the inscription does not say Divo Nigriniano nepoti Divi Cari). As the marriage of Carinus and Magnia Urbica antedates only for a few months the death of Carus, Nigrinian cannot be their son. There are other possibilities: Nigrinian is Carinus' son, but from a preceding marriage, the death of this presumed future heir being the reason for Carinus' new union with Magnia Urbica ; Nigrinianus is Numerianus' son, Numerianus married the daughter of L. Flavius Aper, probably before the accession of Carus' family to power and before Aper became Carus' praefectus praetorio (as this Aper's daughter remained for us anonymous, and not known as an Augusta) ; last solution, Nigrinianus could be the son of a sister of Carinus and Numerianus, a certain Paulina, whose existence is attested by an inscription from Egypt (AE 1975, 858), signalling her as Carus' daughter and "sister of the Caesar Carinus"...
I wrote some reflexions on this "Mais qui est Nigrinien ?" in an article in 2017, p. 101-103 (sorry, in French) : S. Estiot, L'atelier de Ticinum sous le règne de Carus et de ses fils, Revue Numismatique 2017, p. 75-118. Here is the link to the PDF text : https://www.academia.edu/63636371/L_Atelier_de_Ticinum_sous_le_r%C3%A8gne_de_Carus_et_de_ses_fils

So, again and for several reasons, if your Nigrinianus is not a beautiful coin, it is an interesting one...
S. Estiot

AMICTUS:
Consecratio, damnatio memoriae, venia et consolatio  might also explain the strange CIL VI, 31380.

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