Let's See Some Antoninianii...

I know that I have been hopping around a bit and missing out several emperors at a go but I am just going with it as it comes at the moment.

The coinage of Probus was huge. The production was huge as was the number of varieties. If one were to try and collect all the variations (legend, bust, reverse, mint, officina etc. then one would have to chase after over 30,000 coins and that number is increasing all the time with new varieties turning up all the time.

Perhaps one reason for this was that the armies were large and spread across the whole empire and the times were relatively peaceful. This meant that the troops didn't have the booty and plunder that they were used to from battle. They still had to be paid but they were becoming restless. In the end they became unruly and killed Probus after Carus had declared himself emperor and the troops that Probus sent to suppress this uprising joined Carus. All this happened around September A.D. 282.

This led to Carus becoming emperor and setting his two sons as Caesars. Carus gave control of the western parts of the empire to Carinus who was promoted to join Augustus (Spring A.D. 282) by his father while he took Numerian to take charge of affairs in the east.

Carus is said to have died in his tent in camp, having been struck by lightening in July or August A.D. 283 and Numerian was declared Augustus.

Carus
Obv:- IMP C M AVR CARVS AVG, Radiate, helmeted, cuirassed bust right
Rev:- VICTORIA AVGG, Victory, standing left on globe, holding wreath, two captives beneath
Minted in Lugdunum (A in left field) Emission 4 Officina 1. 1st quarter A.D. 283
Reference:- Cohen 100. Bastien 474 (11 examples cited), RIC 24 var (Not listed with this bust type in RIC)



Magnia Urbica (wife of Carus, mother of Carinus and Numerian)

Obv:- MAGNIA VRBICA AVG, Draped bust right on crescent, hair brushed in straight lines, plait carried up the back to top of head and running under stephane
Rev:- VENVS GENETRIX, Venus standing facing, head left, apple upward in right hand, vertical scepter in left
Minted in Lugdunum (A in left field).
RIC V pt. 2, 337 var (not listed from this officina). Bastien -, Bastien Supplement -, Bastien Supplement II 613alpha; (2 examples cited)



Numerian as Caesar

Obv:- M AVR NVMERIANVS NOB C, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:- MARS VICTOR, Mars walking right holding trophy and spear
Minted in Lugdunum (C in right field) Emission 4 Officina 3. 1st Quarter A.D. 283
References:- Cohen 18. RIC V part 2 353 Bust Type C. Bastien 519 (28 examples)



Numerian as Augustus

Obv:- IMP C NVMERIANVS AVG, Radiate, cuirassed bust right, holding sceptre over left shoulder
Rev:- FELICITAS AVGG, Felicitas standing left, holding caduceus, leaning on column
Minted in Lugdunum (B | _) Emission 8 Officina 2. 1st quarter A.D. 284
Ref:- Cohen -. Bastien 588 (3 examples cited). RIC 384 var (Not listed with this bust type in RIC)



Carinus as Caesar

Obv:- CARINVS NOBIL CAES, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:- PRINCIPI IVVENTVT, Prince standing left holding globe and inverted spear
Minted in Lugdunum (Retrograde C in left field). Emission 4, Officina 3. 1st Quarter A.D. 283
Reference:- Cohen 92. Bastien 516 (9 examples cited). RIC 150 Bust type C



Carinus as Augustus

Obv:- IMP C M AVR CARINVS AVG, Radiate, bust right in imperial mantle
Rev:- SALVS AVGG, Salus standing right, feeding snake
Minted in Lugdunum (_|D / LVG), Emission 7, Officina 4. early A.D. 284
Reference:- RIC 216 var (not listed with this bust type in RIC). Cohen -. Bastien 574 (1 example cited)

This extremely rare coin would appear to be only the second example if this bust type for Carinus known to exist.

VCoins has many on there at the moment. It very much depends on the mint, reverse type and quality you are after. There are some helmeted Probus coins graded at about EF from the Rome mint in the $40 - $70 range. If you wanted Lugdunum as in my example below then such an example could cost you hundreds of dollars as they are much scarcer from Lugdunum than they are from Rome. Is there anything in particular you are looking for?

www.vcoins.com is a combined virtual coin store with many worldwide dealers ranging from large to small. It has a search facility across all the stores and if you enter "Probus helmet" with "All keywords" ticked then you should be presented with about 60 or so coins matching these criteria.
Regards,
Martin

After the short lived dynasty of Carus and his family came the Diocletian who quickly formed the first Tetrarchy.

The Antoninianus is still the main currency and remains the silvered bronze coin identified by the radiate crown.

The range of busts used at this time is not as great as it was during the reign of Probus though there is still quite a decent variety.

Heading this Tetrarchy as Augusti are Diocletian and Maximianus Herculius.





With Galerius and Constantius Chlorus as their appointed Caesars.





In A.D. 294 Diocletian undertook a major reform of the coinage and with this we see the last use of the Antoninianus.

The following coin is from the last issue of these coins produced in Lugdunum during A.D. 294.



The coinage reform introduced the Follis and the radiate crown continues in limited used on what we know as a radiate fraction and occasionally on some later coins from the dynasty of Constantine.

I have skipped over many reigns during this brief history of the Antoninianus and I am sure that there and many examples that could be posted to fill in some of these gaps. I know that I could fill in many of them.

Regards,
Martin

Love your Probvs Martin the full silvered Antoninanus's look great and are hard to find in that condition so good on ya mate also I was going to show mine but these put mine to shame regards Harry

I missed out so many emperors on my run through the life of the Antoninianus. I thought it might be worth going back through some of the ones I missed out...

Ants of Gordian III abound and they are very affordable and provide a great starting point to Roman coin collecting.

There is production from Roma and Antioch. Gordian also produced the last of the denarii.

There is a huge variety of reverse types and can provide sufficient collecting interest to keep a collector going for quite a while.

Obv:- IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:- VIRTVTI AVGVSTI, Hercules standing front, head right, holding club on rock and lion skin
Minted in Rome
Reference:- RIC 95, RSC 404
Weight 4.37 gms. Dimensions 21.77mm



Obv:- IMP GORDIANVS PIVS FEL AVG, Radiate, cuirassed bust right seen from the rear
Rev:- FORTVNA REDVX, Fortuna seated left holding rudder and cornucopiae
Minted in Antioch. A.D. 242 - 244
Reference:- RIC 210, RSC 98a
Weight 3.88 gms. Dimensions 21.51mm

With the distinctive style being a great differentiator between the output of the two mints.



Regards,
Martin

You didn't have to be Emperor or Empress either. The coins were also minted in the names of their heirs.

Phillip II Antoninianus
Obv:- M IVL PHILIPPVS CAES, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:- PRINCIPI IVVENT, Philip II standing left, holding globe and inverted spear
Minted in Rome.
Reference:- RIC 218d. RSC 88



We can also see when the Caesar became Augustus and this helps us with the chronology of the coins.

Phillip II Antoninianus
Obv:- IMP M IVL PHILIPPVS AVG, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:- AETERNIT IMPER, Sol advancing left, raising right hand and holding whip
Minted in Rome.
Reference:- RIC 226. RSC 6.



Regards,
Martin