Heritage World Coin Auctions
Monthly Auction 271726 25 Jun 2017
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Elagabalus (AD 218-222). AR denarius (3.40 gm). NGC Choice XF 4/5 - 4/5. Antioch, AD 218-219. ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate and draped bust of Elagabalus right / SANCTO DEI SOLI, slow quadriga right, the car, bearing conical stone of Emesa, a standing eagle emblazoned on surface, surrounded by four parasols; ELAGABAL in exergue. RIC 195. BMCRE 284. RSC 268. Rare, one of the highlights of the Balla Collection! Medium gray toning, a few small deposits, otherwise bearing a sharp portrait and an evocative, historical reverse.
"Elagabalus" is the name of the Syrian solar deity worshipped in Emesa, the city from which the female side of the Severan dynasty derived. The god was embodied in a black conical stone, probably a meteorite, kept within an elaborate temple. The emperor now commonly called Elagabalus started out life as Varius Avitus Bassianus, the grandson of Julia Maesa, sister to the Empress Julia Domna; after assuming the purple he took the name Antoninus Pius in imitation of his maternal uncle (now commonly called Caracalla). As a priest of Elagabalus, after winning the throne, he ordered the Stone of Emesa brought to Rome in a special chariot, paraded in procession with priests and acolytes the entire way from Syria. The chariot is seen on the reverse of this rare coin type from the mint of Antioch.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 1000-1300 USD
Elagabalus (AD 218-222). AR denarius (3.40 gm). NGC Choice XF 4/5 - 4/5. Antioch, AD 218-219. ANTONINVS PIVS FEL AVG, laureate and draped bust of Elagabalus right / SANCTO DEI SOLI, slow quadriga right, the car, bearing conical stone of Emesa, a standing eagle emblazoned on surface, surrounded by four parasols; ELAGABAL in exergue. RIC 195. BMCRE 284. RSC 268. Rare, one of the highlights of the Balla Collection! Medium gray toning, a few small deposits, otherwise bearing a sharp portrait and an evocative, historical reverse.
"Elagabalus" is the name of the Syrian solar deity worshipped in Emesa, the city from which the female side of the Severan dynasty derived. The god was embodied in a black conical stone, probably a meteorite, kept within an elaborate temple. The emperor now commonly called Elagabalus started out life as Varius Avitus Bassianus, the grandson of Julia Maesa, sister to the Empress Julia Domna; after assuming the purple he took the name Antoninus Pius in imitation of his maternal uncle (now commonly called Caracalla). As a priest of Elagabalus, after winning the throne, he ordered the Stone of Emesa brought to Rome in a special chariot, paraded in procession with priests and acolytes the entire way from Syria. The chariot is seen on the reverse of this rare coin type from the mint of Antioch.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 1000-1300 USD