Coin Information: Tantalus S/N 30834
Image Rights: All Rights Reserved
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| Coin type: | Roman Provincial |
| Entered by: | scottatlaw |
| Added on: | Apr 21, 2008 |
| Ruler: | Trajan Decius (AUGUSTUS) |
| Region, City: | Moesia Superior, Viminacium |
| Coin: | VG AE Sestertius IMPCMQTRAIANVSDECIVSAVG - Laurelate, cuirassed bust right (viewed from rear). PMS-C-OLVIM - Moesia standing (holding branch aloft to the left and cradling a cornicopia topped with a figure of victory bearing a crown) between advancing bull & lion. |
| Exergue: | ANXII |
| Mint: | (Year 12) |
| Wt./Size/Axis: | 14.48g / 27.5mm / - |
| Rarity: | R.8+ |
| References: |
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| Acquisition/Sale: | benzgemz aka Ben Brauchler www.ebay.com 4-13-2008 |
| Notes: | Apr 21, 08 - Unlisted by Pick, Moushmov, and Varbanov. A note about the citation in Boric-Brescovic. The attribution listed in the catalog for #1210 is incorrect, however, the coin pictured for #1210 is of the exact same type as this coin.
I know this coin is rough, but please rest assured that my attribution is correct even though the scans might not reveal all the detail that I've listed. This middle of the road looking coin is another one of those unlisted coins that I've found for the uncharted mines of House Decius' coinage. As I've said before, year 11 and 12 coins are filled to the brim with unlisted variants, most of which concern legend breaks and die pairings. This unlisted coin is from the later category, sort of. Boric-Brescovic does have an image of this very coin but misattributed the coin by being unable to discern the figure of Victory atop the cornicopia (thanks to the damaged coin she had to work with). This error was passed on to Jekov and Martin who both failed to correct this attribution error. Martin's thorough survey of these coins lists both the exact obverse and reverse types found on this coin, but nowhere does he pair them together. This coin falls into the lovely series of reverse types that were issued during Decius' reign to justify and celebrate both his reign and the importance of the local legions. What sets this coin apart is the icon of the cornicopia surmounted by Victory. This image is meant to be symbolic of both abundance/prosperity AND Victory all at the same time. The overall message of the reverse image is that the legions (and Decius) have already and will continue to bring peace, prosperity, and Victory (over barbarians AND the domestic enemies of the empire ala Pacatian and the like). At first blush it would seem that this is alot to jam into a reverse image, but realy, the message would have seemed pretty cohesive to contemporary Romans. All three (Peace, Prosperity, Victory) went hand in hand at this point in history. Civil war and barbarian raids were devistating daily life and the economy of the balkans. The key to Decius' reign was supposed to be his ability to end both the civil wars AND the barbarian raids. The message is pretty simple realy. WE won the peace, and have restored prosperity. History of course had a different story to tell though and within a year both Decius and his son Etruscus were dead at the hands of "barbarians" (and some suspect also as a result of a betrayal of his trusted General, Trebonius Gallus, pretty much making the coin's promise 0-3). There realy isn't much more to say about this reverse type that I don't mention on the other major House Decius propoganda coins (see below links). For more information and examples of House Decius' reverse type propoganda see the following coins: http://www.tantaluscoins.com/coins/30684.php http://www.tantaluscoins.com/coins/28093.php http://www.tantaluscoins.com/coins/29066.php http://www.tantaluscoins.com/coins/27990.php http://www.tantaluscoins.com/coins/27214.php http://www.tantaluscoins.com/coins/24238.php |
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