Heritage World Coin Auctions
Monthly Auction 271920 26 May 2019
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Ancients
Divus Marcus Aurelius (AD 161-180). AE sestertius (30mm, 23.28 gm, 6h). NGC Choice VF 4/5 - 3/5, smoothing. Rome, after AD 180. DIVVS M AN-TONINVS PIVS, bare head of Divus Marcus Aurelius right / CONSE-CRATIO, four tiered ustrinum - the lowest most of which represents a plain podium with three festoons; the next tier forms the sepulchral chamber for the reception of the dead body in the center, flanked by two niches on each side with statues and surmounted by a cornice; the tier above has three arch-headed niches with statues and a cornice; and the upper forms a lofty plain attic with hanging drapery in front which forms a pedestal surmounted by the quadriga of the deceased, with his statue in the chariot. All the tiers diminish in width from the base upwards so as to assume a pyramidal form; S C in exergue. RIC III (Commodus) 662.
From the Morris Collection.
A fantastically detailed reverse type, which is often simply called a 'funeral pyre'. Marvin Tameanko, specialist in ancient architectural coinage, elaborates: "To cremate a body, bones and all (but not the teeth) you need lots of sustained heat. The Romans used a pyre, called a 'rogus', which was built with log cribworks, like a hollow log cabin, erected in stages, getting smaller at the top where the body was placed. The rogus was filled with straw and kindling and set alight. It acted as a chimney and funneled the heat to the top, incinerating the corpse. Herodian, the Roman historian describes the rogus in detail. After the cremation, the ashes were placed in a stone building, called an ustrinum, made to look like the wedding-cake shaped rogus or the Maussoleum of Hailcarnassus and built near the cremation site. The remains of these have been found in Rome as early as 1907."
HID02901242017
Estimate: 100-200 USD
Divus Marcus Aurelius (AD 161-180). AE sestertius (30mm, 23.28 gm, 6h). NGC Choice VF 4/5 - 3/5, smoothing. Rome, after AD 180. DIVVS M AN-TONINVS PIVS, bare head of Divus Marcus Aurelius right / CONSE-CRATIO, four tiered ustrinum - the lowest most of which represents a plain podium with three festoons; the next tier forms the sepulchral chamber for the reception of the dead body in the center, flanked by two niches on each side with statues and surmounted by a cornice; the tier above has three arch-headed niches with statues and a cornice; and the upper forms a lofty plain attic with hanging drapery in front which forms a pedestal surmounted by the quadriga of the deceased, with his statue in the chariot. All the tiers diminish in width from the base upwards so as to assume a pyramidal form; S C in exergue. RIC III (Commodus) 662.
From the Morris Collection.
A fantastically detailed reverse type, which is often simply called a 'funeral pyre'. Marvin Tameanko, specialist in ancient architectural coinage, elaborates: "To cremate a body, bones and all (but not the teeth) you need lots of sustained heat. The Romans used a pyre, called a 'rogus', which was built with log cribworks, like a hollow log cabin, erected in stages, getting smaller at the top where the body was placed. The rogus was filled with straw and kindling and set alight. It acted as a chimney and funneled the heat to the top, incinerating the corpse. Herodian, the Roman historian describes the rogus in detail. After the cremation, the ashes were placed in a stone building, called an ustrinum, made to look like the wedding-cake shaped rogus or the Maussoleum of Hailcarnassus and built near the cremation site. The remains of these have been found in Rome as early as 1907."
HID02901242017
Estimate: 100-200 USD