|
Sale 80
June Pre Long Beach Sale
| Denarii Collection - Roman Empire cont'd |
| |
| |
| Lot |
Photo |
Description |
Realized |
Lot 3225 |
 |
Balbinus. Silver Denarius (3.2 g), AD 238. Rome. IMP C D CAEL BALBINVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Balbinus right. Reverse : PROVIDENTIA DEORVM, Providentia standing facing, head left, hold wand over globe at feet to left and cornucopiae. RIC 7; BMC 3; RSC 23. Rare. Boldly struck on both sides on a wide flan. A splendid example of this rare issue and nicely toned. Superb Extremely Fine.
After the death of the Gordiani, the Senate nominated two of their own, Balbinus and Pupienus, as joint emperors to oppose Maximinus I who was then quickly marching towards Italy at the head of his legions from the Balkans. Pupienus had risen through the ranks of the military before becoming a senator and was thus the natural choice to lead the defense in northern Italy, while Balbinus stayed behind in Rome to shore up support there. When Maximinus' troops arrived before Aquileia, lack of provisions caused them to mutiny. They murdered the emperor and his son and paraded their disembodied heads on lances which they carried to Rome.
Although Maximinus was now out of the way, the city of Rome remained in a state of turmoil. The joint emperors, being wealthy patricians, were not well liked by the inhabitants who forced the Senate to nominate as Caesar the grandson and nephew of the Gordiani, Gordian III. Despite this attempt at appeasement, however, the people were in open revolt. Fire had been set to the city, causing much devastation and making many homeless. To make matters worse, the co-emperors were mutually suspicious of one another. In the ensuing disorder, the Praetorian Guard broke into the palace and murdered both emperors, elevating the young Gordian III as the new emperor.
Estimated Value $2,000 - 2,500.
Ex Steinberg, NAC 1973 Sale, lot 320.
View details and enlarged photos
| Realized
$2,174 |
Lot 3226 |
 |
Balbinus. Silver Denarius (2.9 g), AD 238. Rome. IMP C D CAEL BALBINVS AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Balbinus right. Reverse : VICT-ORIA AVGG, Victory standing facing, head left, holding wreath and palm. RIC 8; BMC 37-8; RSC 27. Rare. Virtually as struck with a nice bold obverse, reverse from a slightly worn die and all well centered. Lustrous. Nearly Mint State. Rare.
Estimated Value $2,000 - 2,500.
Ex Goldberg 74 (4 June 2013), 3636.
View details and enlarged photos
| Realized
$7,344 |
Lot 3227 |
 |
Gordian III. Silver Denarius (2.94 g), as Caesar, AD 238. Rome, under Balbinus and Pupienus, AD 238. M ANT GORDIANVS CAES, bare-headed and draped bust of Gordian III right. Reverse : PIETAS A-VGG, priestly emblems: lituus, knife, jug, simpulum and sprinkler. RIC 1; BMC 62-3; RSC 182. Rare. Virtually as struck on a huge flan with intricate detail on both sides. Lustrous and lightly toned. Nearly Mint State.
Gordian III was the grandson and nephew of the respective emperors Gordian I and Gordian II. After their deaths, the Roman Senate elevated the elderly senators Balbinus and Pupienus as co-rulers, but their rule was not popular. To appease the discontent caused by this senatorial appointment, the Senate raised the young Gordian to the rank of Caesar and had coins with his likeness struck. A short time later the co-emperors Balbinus and Pupienus were murdered by the Praetorian Guard, and Gordian became sole rule. Because of his tender age, management of the affairs of state were left in the hands of Rome's aristocratic families.
Estimated Value $2,500 - 3,000.
Private purchase from Ed Waddell.
View details and enlarged photos
| Realized
$6,463 |
Lot 3228 |
 |
Gordian III. Silver Denarius (3.40 g), AD 238-244. Rome, AD 240. IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian III right. Reverse : DIANA LV-CI-FERA, Diana standing facing, head right, holding torch in both hands. RIC 127; RSC 69. Perfectly centered and lustrous. Superb Extremely Fine.
Estimated Value $200 - 250.
Ex Goldberg 72 (5 February 2013), 4549.
View details and enlarged photos
| Realized
$447 |
Lot 3229 |
 |
Gordian III. Silver Denarius (3.1 g), AD 238-244. Rome, AD 241-243. IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Gordian III right. Reverse : P M TR P III COS II P P, Apollo seated left, holding branch and resting elbow on lyre. RIC 114; RSC 238. Struck on a huge flan and lightly toned. Extremely Fine.
Estimated Value $150 - 200.
Ex Goldberg 69 (29 May 2012), 3604.
View details and enlarged photos
| Realized
$100 |
Lot 3230 |
 |
Tranquillina. Silver Denarius (3.0 g), Augusta, AD 241-244. Rome, under Gordian III. SABINIA TRANQVILLINA AVG, diademed and draped bust right. Reverse : CONCORDIA AVGG, Concordia seated left, holding patera and double cornucopiae. RIC 252; RSC 1a. Virtually as struck, nicely toned. Extremely rare and probably the finest of very few specimens known. Nearly Mint State.
Tranquillina, the daughter of the Praetorian Prefect Timesitheus, married Gordian III in AD 241. The couple had no children, and while it is assumed that she survived her husband, her fate after his death is not known. All of Tranquillina's imperial coinage is, inexplicably, extremely rare.
Estimated Value $15,000 - 18,000.
Ex The Barry Feirstein Collection (NAC, 16 May, 2007), 153; earlier privately purchased from Harlan J. Berk.
View details and enlarged photos
| Realized
$14,100 |
Lot 3231 |
 |
Aurelian. "Silver" Denarius (2.4 g), AD 270-275. Rome, AD 275. IMP AVRELI-ANVS AVG, laureate and cuirassed bust of Aurelian right. Reverse : VICT-O-RI-A AVG, Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm; A. RIC 73; BN 243. Virtually as struck with silver wash still present. Nearly Mint State. Very scarce.
Estimated Value $400 - 500.
Ex New York Sale XX (7-8 January 2009), 445.
View details and enlarged photos
| Realized
$734 |
Lot 3232 |
 |
Carausius. Silver Denarius (3.98 g), Romano-British Emperor, AD 287-293. London, ca. AD 287. IMP I CARAVSIVS P F AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Carausius right. Reverse : RENOVAT ROMANO, she-wolf standing right, suckling the twins Romulus and Remus; RSR (Rs retrograde). Cf. RIC 571; cf. Shiel 68; cf. RSC 82. Very Rare. Toned. Extremely Fine.
Carausius was the commander of the Roman fleet stationed in the English Channel who usurped power, gaining control over Britain and of part of Gaul. While the vast majority of his coin types were debased antoniniani as circulated in the official Empire, he also struck aurei and silver denarii of very high purity, the likes of which had not been seen for many years. The legends and types of his denarii, as is the case with the the coin offered here showing the she-wolf and twins motif combined with the legend RENOVAT ROMANO, evoked traditional Roman virtues. This of course is highly interesting coming from a province at the edge of the Roman world, but it clearly espouses Carausius' ideology that he was in fact restoring Rome and not simply another military opportunist as had beset the Roman Empire for the past half century.
Of more novel interest is the abbreviation RSR in the exergue. This had always been assumed to be a mintmark, the precise meaning never satisfactorily resolved. However, it turns out that it is not actually a mintmark at all! Guy de la Bédoyère, "Carausius, RSR and I.N.P.C.D.A," NC 1998, pp. 79-88, shows a Virgilian connection, the RSR being an abbreviation for Redeunt Saturnia regna, and INPCDA found on other Carausian coins the abbreviation for Iam nova progenies, cælo Demittitur alto. These phrases come from the sixth and seventh lines of Virgil's Fourth Eclogue on the Golden Age, and translate "now Virgin Justice returns, and Saturn's reign: now a new race descends from the heavens above." Any educated person in the Roman world would have recognized the abbreviation; thus it played perfectly into Carausius's clearly-defined ideology of restoring the virtues of Rome.
Estimated Value $4,000 - 5,000.
Ex Helios 4 (14 October 2009), 694; A. Lynn Collection; CNG 54 (14 June 2000), 1792.
View details and enlarged photos
| Realized
$9,694 |
|
|
