Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XX 29-30 Oct 2020
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Commodus AV Aureus. Rome, AD 185. M•COMM•ANT•P• FEL•AVG BRIT, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / P M TR P XI•IMP VII COS V•P•P, Victory seated left, holding patera and palm branch. RIC 123; C. 496; Calicó 2301. 7.22g, 20mm, 6h.
Near Mint State. Very Rare; only two other examples on CoinArchives.
From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XV, 5 April 2018, lot 575;
Ex property of B.R.S., United Kingdom.
Militarily, Commodus' reign was mostly an uneventful one. Apart from some wars with the barbarians beyond Dacia, the greatest contest Roman armies faced was in Britannia, when in c. AD 181 the northern tribes breached Hadrian's Wall and, according to Cassius Dio "proceeded to do much mischief and cut down a general together with his troops" (LXII.8). The identity of this individual is uncertain, but it may well have been the provincial governor Caerellius Priscus, indicating a serious state of affairs indeed. Alarmed, Commodus dispatched a previous governor, Ulpius Marcellus to counter the invasion. Marcellus prosecuted the campaign with punitive raids north of the border, possibly even as far as the southern highlands, before ultimately withdrawing back to Hadrian's Wall. By 184 the situation in Britannia was stabilised and victory was declared. Commodus took the name Britannicus, and over the course of 184/5, coins such as the present example were struck in commemoration of this victory.
Near Mint State. Very Rare; only two other examples on CoinArchives.
From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XV, 5 April 2018, lot 575;
Ex property of B.R.S., United Kingdom.
Militarily, Commodus' reign was mostly an uneventful one. Apart from some wars with the barbarians beyond Dacia, the greatest contest Roman armies faced was in Britannia, when in c. AD 181 the northern tribes breached Hadrian's Wall and, according to Cassius Dio "proceeded to do much mischief and cut down a general together with his troops" (LXII.8). The identity of this individual is uncertain, but it may well have been the provincial governor Caerellius Priscus, indicating a serious state of affairs indeed. Alarmed, Commodus dispatched a previous governor, Ulpius Marcellus to counter the invasion. Marcellus prosecuted the campaign with punitive raids north of the border, possibly even as far as the southern highlands, before ultimately withdrawing back to Hadrian's Wall. By 184 the situation in Britannia was stabilised and victory was declared. Commodus took the name Britannicus, and over the course of 184/5, coins such as the present example were struck in commemoration of this victory.