Second-To-Last Purchase Of 2014

... and the last to arrive.

As far as late Roman coinage goes, I'm more partial to the coins of the western half of the empire so I especially try to pick up western issues of Honorius and later. Recently I acquired the more common Valentinian III and Honorius Victory advancing reverses from Rome mint, but this one I can't help but like a little more. This is an AE4 of Honorius with the scarce emperor holding two captives reverse, legend is GLORIA ROMANORVM. As usual with many scarce/rare bronzes of this time period, these don't come up often and when they do they are usually in pretty bad shape. This one is better than the few of this type I've seen offered. One of the highlights of my particular example is definitely the bust. Its not 1st century lifelike but the style is of better quality than your average AE4 and is preserved well (aside from most of his hair).

Honorius ruled from 393 to 423 AD.

Honorius, Western Roman Empire
AE nummus
Obv: D N HONORIVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped, bust right
Rev: GLORIA ROMANORVM, emperor standing right with head left, right hand on head of a kneeling captive, left hand over a kneeling suppliant
Mint: Rome (struck 409-410 AD), Mintmark: SMRP or SMRQ
Ref: RIC X 1355



A marble bust of Honorius:



Honorius on a diptych:



Map of the Western empire, along with the Eastern empire: