Watch List notes:

THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Postumus, 260 -269

Aureus, Lugdunum 263, AV 5.40 g. POSTVMVS – PIVS AVG Laureate head r. Rev. PROVIDENTIA AVG Providentia standing l., leaning against column, holding cornucopiae and pointing wand to globe at her feet. C 300. RIC 32. Calicó 3770. Schulte 59a (this coin). Biaggi 1527 (this coin).
Very rare. A very elegant portrait struck on a broad flan. Extremely fine


Ex Ponton d'Amécourt, Rollin & Feuardent 1887, 542. Ex Bourgey 18-19 November 1957, 358; NAC 21, 2001, 535; NAC 41, 2007, 133, and NAC 62, 2011, 2073. From the Biaggi collection.

Marcus Cassius Latinius Postumus, usurper of imperial power in the third century and one of the group known as the "thirty tyrants", is portrayed in a favourable light by Trebellius Pollio in the Historia Augusta, where the historian even attempts to free him of all responsibility for the death of Augustus Saloninus. This is how Pollio recounts the story: "He was valiant in war, fair in times of peace and serious in all situations in life. Thus, when Gallienus sent his son Saloninus to Gallia, believing in these qualities, he entrusted him to Postumus in the belief that the latter would guard his life and watch over his every action and behaviour. According to the majority, he did not keep his word and subsequently had Saloninus killed in order to seize power for himself." However, this behaviour is not in keeping with Postumus' character and as such, the following version of events is more likely: The Gauls, who hated Gallienus and could not bear to be ruled by a child, had Saloninus killed by soldiers so that they could declare the emperor regent to be a fully-fledged emperor. What is known, however, is that whilst Gallienus spent his time in taverns and engaged in revelry, aged beyond his years through his love for a barbarian woman, Postumus, when he had been elected by the troops and citizens, spent seven years dedicating himself to improving conditions in Gallia. Postumus actually governed Gallia for ten years, not seven, as the coins which were issued at the time testify and as Eutropius (IX 10) also confirms. Once he had become emperor (sometime between 258 and 260), Postumus successfully defended the empire's eastern borders. His victory over Laelianus' rebels at Magotiacum proved fatal for him, and Postumus was assassinated by his own soldiers 'due to his excessive strictness' (also confirmed by Pollio), in that he refused to allow them to sack the city.