|
Sale 72
|
|
press UP arrow key to increase the zoom ratio.
press DOWN arrow key to decrease the zoom ratio.
press RIGHT arrow key to increase the zoom window size.
press LEFT arrow key to decrease the zoom window size.
|
|
Lot 4230
Maximus, AD 409-411. Silver Siliqua (1.1g). Minted at Barcino (Barcelona), AD 410-411. Usurper in Spain. D N MAXIM-VS P F AVG. Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust of Maximus, right. Reverse: [VICTOR]AA [sic] AVGGG. Roma seated left on cuirass, holding Victoria (Victory) on globe in right hand and reversed spear in left; [S]MBA in exergue. RIC X 1601; RSC 1b; Cohen 1. Exceptionally detailed portrait for this normally crude issue including a clear obverse legend. Dark "hoard patina" intact. Exceedingly rare. Probably the finest known specimen. Extremely Fine.
The brief usurpation of "Maximus of Barcelona," as he came to be known, occurred during the virtual disintegration of the West Roman Empire during the reign of Honorius, AD 393-423. The massive barbarian invasion of AD 406 virtually cut Italy off from Gaul, Spain and Britain, resulting in the local Roman garrisons proclaiming their own commanders as emperor. First of these usurpers was Constantine III in Britain, who crossed into Gaul in AD 407 and sent his son Constans II and the half-German general Gerontius into Spain to secure control of the province for his rebel regime in AD 408. Their success was short-lived, however, as invasions by the Vandals and other Germans in AD 409 threw the region into chaos. Constans II fled back to join his father in Gaul; Gerontius, however, remained in Spain and decided to appoint his own puppet emperor. His choice settled on a certain Maximus, who may have been his son, nephew or some other relation, or perhaps merely a senior household officer in his employ. In any case, Maximus duly donned the purple in Barcino (Barcelona), which became his capital, and received the support of several barbarian chieftains. He thus became one of five men claiming the title Emperor of the West in AD 410: Honorius (the only "legitimate" ruler), Priscus Attalus, Constantine III, Constans II, and Maximus. The situation was unstable in the extreme and became more so in AD 411, when Honorius sent the general Constantius into Gaul and Spain with a powerful army to put down the various insurrections. Defeated and cornered, Gerontius committed suicide, depriving Maximus of his principal backer. Rather than fall on his sword, Maximus fled to his barbarian allies, who seem to have protected him for a number of years. In AD 420, he apparently attempted a return to power in Spain, but was soon captured, taken to Ravenna, and executed by Honorius in AD 422.
The coinage of Maximus is confined to reduced silver siliquae struck at a newly created mint in Barcelona, identified with the mintmark SMB. Rather unusually for this period, he is shown with a close-cropped beard, which had in the past hinted at pagan sympathies, but in this case probably only indicated pretensions to scholarship. Philip Grierson knew of only 20 genuine specimens in the early 1990s; a few more seem to have been discovered since then. Fewer than 30 coins of Maximus are known to have survived, of which this example is probably the finest to exist.
Estimated Value $10,000 - 12,500.
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica 62, lot 2120; Classical Numismatic Group 75, May 23, 2007, lot 1152.
|
| |
| Realized $12,650 |
|
