Friday, January 05, 2007
Æ26, Dacia, Valerian, Varbanov (2005) 88
IMP P LIC VALERIANO AVG, Laureate draped bust right | PROVIN_C[IA DACIA], Dacia standing left, holding scepter right and raising hand left, with eagle holding wreath at her feet left and lion at her feet right. AN VIII in exergue.
Coins from the province of Dacia mark this as a latin-speaking area used as a home for many retired legionaries. By housing them on the borders, they were kept away from political activity near Rome itself and might serve as emergency troops or training cadre during invasions or border incursions.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Silvered Æ antoninianus, Gallienus, Siscia, Göbl 1461b
GALLIENVS AVG, Radiate head right | PROVI AVG, Providentia standing left, holding overflowing cornucopia right and pointing down at globe with baton left.
Portraits from Siscia during the sole reign of Gallienus are disyinctive with their sharp-featured faces and short blog-posts.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
AR denarius, Faustina I, Rome, RIC 339a
FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, Draped bust right, hair coiled on head. | IVNONI REGINAE, Throne draped with a sceptre resting against it, and a small figure of a peacock under the throne.
Annia Galeria Faustina was the wife of Antoninus Pius and notable for busying herself in charity for orphans, about the only charity that Romans practiced in the non-Christian era.
Faustina is noted for her ornate hair-do, asymmetry visible when a left-facing bust is compared the more common right-facing.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Æ21, Parium in Mysia, Salonina, Lindgren & Kovacs 283
[CVRNE S]ALONINA [AVG], Diademed draped bust right | [C] G I H P, Capricorn right, orb between front legs, cornucopia above.
This reverse is seen on of a coin of her husband and, I think, similar coins dating back a few emperors, the capricorn was a suitable symbol for this city and an abbreviated form of the city's name: Colonia Gemella Julia Hadriana Parium.
Monday, January 01, 2007
Billon antonianus, Valerian, Viminacium, Göbl 802d
IMP VALERIANVS P AVG, Radiate draped cuirassed bust right | CONCORDIA EXERCITI, Concordia standing left, with right hand, sacrificing from patera over lit altar, holding cornucopia with left hand.
An uninspiring coin, with discolored surfaces, but a characteristic example of the 'pursuing one of everything' type of collecting. This coin of Viminacium, minted early in the reign of Valerian, has a portrait that resembles those of his predecessors, common in issues from this mint.
