Lot 4201
Uranius Antoninus, AD 253-254. Gold Aureus (5.8g) minted at Emesa. L IVL AVR SVLP VRA ANTONINVS. Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right of bearded Uranius Antoninus. Reverse: FE - CVND - ITAS AVG. Fecunditas (Fertility-Fortune) standing left, resting right hand on rudder, holding cornucopiae in left. Sear 9883; Calicó 3385; RIC 3. Some flatness of strike on the right side legend, not effecting the portrait.
One of the great rarities in Roman Coinage. Lustrous. Extremely Fine.
One of several misfortunes that befell the Empire during the two-year reign of Trebonianus Gallus was an invasion of Syria by the Sasanid ruler Shapur I. The invaders even besieged and captured the capital city of Antioch. Emesa was also attacked, but the Persians were repulsed under the leadership of Sampsigeramus, high priest of the sun god Elah-Gabal. No coins are known in the name of Sampsigeramus, but there is an interesting series of gold aurei, billon tetradrachms and bronzes with the name of a certain Uranius Antoninus, otherwise unknown to history. These are clearly of Syrian fabric, and it seems reasonable to surmise that Sampsigeramus and Uranius Antoninus are the same individual. The identification is further strengthened by the copying of some of the aureus reverses from Severan prototypes, since Emesa was the home of Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus. A provincial bronze even names the mint as Emesa and gives its precise date as AS 565 = AD 253/4. Curiously, the usual imperial titles of Imperator and Augustus are omitted on the gold while they appear as usual on the provincial billon and bronze.
Estimated Value $30,000 - 40,000.
The Hunter Collection.
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| Realized $86,250 |
