Thanks
Curtis for all this information. I'll provide the existence of a 2nd ex (Vierordt sale) to Mr
Amandry.
One question raised by this ex and the other
Dupondius you mention with a
radiate crown, is, why a 3 years old die from
Galba was reused for several months under
Vespasian? Was it that the message "
Security of the
Roman People" under
Galba was a pertinent message at the beginning of the reign of
Vespasian, and it was cost-effective to reuse the die?
This anyway shows the continuity in the
Rome mint under the Civil War events!
Actually the discussion about the
Dupondius features at
Nero,
Galba,
Vitellius and
Vespasian is extremely interesting (I'm mainly a collector of mid-bronzes). The strike of mid-bronzes of that period are a little clearer to me now. There are also other periods showing sometimes a lack of the
radiate crown for emperors:
Hadrian, Antonine, or the use of
radiate crown for mid-bronzes struck for use in the East (the so-called "
Antioch mint" for
Trajan, SC within crown).
Your information about the
Claudius is also very precious, as I thought such a
style could only have been issued at the
Rome mint. Indeed the seller told me that it has been found in
Spain. Knowing the local issued from
Gaul or
Britain, I could never have imagined this would have been a
provincial issue.
This leads to another question, where I can make a link with my remark above about Antoch
mint for
Trajan: knowing that the
provincial issues (outside Lyon-Lugdunum) are almost systematically of a cruder
style, see:
-
Claudius like this one (excellent
style),
-
Tarraco for
Vitellius (crude
style) vs
Rome mint (excellent
style),
- usual
Antioch mint bronzes (crude
style) vs Trajan/SC with crown or
Hadrian MB or "
Semis" with
Lyra or
Antioch Tychè for Antioch/Syria (excellent
style)
- Mines quadrantes for
Trajan,
Hadrian, Antonine (
DARDANICI, METAL
VLPIANI, etc ...), excellent
style-
BRITANNIA reverses for Antonine, (
good style but bad strikes and flans)
couldn't we say that some issues struck to circulate in some dedicated
part of the empire were actually struck in the
Rome mint, to be shipped to the concerned
area? They bear an unimitable
Rome mint-style; I'm convinced of this for the Trajan/Hadrian Eastern bronzes and the Mines quadrantes at least.
Rupert, I've never come across such an Antonine like this; I like the representation with a Pharos (it's most probably not the one of
Alexandria, but a generic one, as many ancient lighthouses were built similarly, as a 3-levels building; the remains of a small one with more than 1 level
still exists in Eastern Europe, along the adriatic sea, can't remember exactly where). If I come across it in a
gVF condition, I'll keep it
Jérôme