Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XX 29-30 Oct 2020
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Gallienus AV Aureus. Siscia, AD 262-268. GALLIENVS AVG, laureate head right / MARTI PROPVGNATORI, Mars advancing right wearing crested helmet, cuirass, pteruges and high caligae with ties. RIC -; Calicó -; Göbl -; MIR -: unpublished in the standard references. 3.37g, 17mm, 6h.
Minor marks, otherwise Good Extremely Fine. Apparently unique and unpublished, save for its previous auction appearance.
From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction VIII, 28 September 2014, lot 1074 (sold for £30,000);
Ex James Howard (1937-2009) Collection.
For reverse legend and type cf. Göbl MIR 36, 1439h i and ff (radiate bust left) and 1439h and1440h (head left, wearing crown of reeds). For an in depth discussion on the mint of Siscia under Gallienus cf. R. Göbl. MIR 36, pp. 118-122; R.A.G Carson, Coins of the Roman Empire, p. 103 and Besly-Bland, The Cunetio Treasure, p. 38.
There is no doubt that the mint at Siscia was first opened by Gallienus in AD 262 with personnel transferred from the mint of Rome. However, the issues of the two mints may generally be distinguished by their different reverse types and the distinctive extended laurel ties of Siscia. Gallienus encouraged a new style of sculpture in Rome, which harked back to the classicism of the 1st century, so that the early expressive bust styles of Siscia are very similar to those at Rome (cf. MIR 36, Rome series 9, pls. 54 and 55) with a forceful expression, aquiline nose and pronounced furrow in the upper lip. This portraiture is clearly intended to present him as an authoritarian and resolute leader capable of restoring order and prosperity in a time of imminent threat to the empire from all around, both barbaric and in the form of pretenders including Ingenuus, Regalianus, Macrianus, Quietus, Aemilianus, Aureolus and Postumus.
Gallienus saw himself during his sole rule as a soldier and poet, who was personally steeped in Greek culture, a philhellenist, like Hadrian, interested in the neo-Platonist philosophy of Plotinus, the last great pagan philosopher.
Minor marks, otherwise Good Extremely Fine. Apparently unique and unpublished, save for its previous auction appearance.
From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction VIII, 28 September 2014, lot 1074 (sold for £30,000);
Ex James Howard (1937-2009) Collection.
For reverse legend and type cf. Göbl MIR 36, 1439h i and ff (radiate bust left) and 1439h and1440h (head left, wearing crown of reeds). For an in depth discussion on the mint of Siscia under Gallienus cf. R. Göbl. MIR 36, pp. 118-122; R.A.G Carson, Coins of the Roman Empire, p. 103 and Besly-Bland, The Cunetio Treasure, p. 38.
There is no doubt that the mint at Siscia was first opened by Gallienus in AD 262 with personnel transferred from the mint of Rome. However, the issues of the two mints may generally be distinguished by their different reverse types and the distinctive extended laurel ties of Siscia. Gallienus encouraged a new style of sculpture in Rome, which harked back to the classicism of the 1st century, so that the early expressive bust styles of Siscia are very similar to those at Rome (cf. MIR 36, Rome series 9, pls. 54 and 55) with a forceful expression, aquiline nose and pronounced furrow in the upper lip. This portraiture is clearly intended to present him as an authoritarian and resolute leader capable of restoring order and prosperity in a time of imminent threat to the empire from all around, both barbaric and in the form of pretenders including Ingenuus, Regalianus, Macrianus, Quietus, Aemilianus, Aureolus and Postumus.
Gallienus saw himself during his sole rule as a soldier and poet, who was personally steeped in Greek culture, a philhellenist, like Hadrian, interested in the neo-Platonist philosophy of Plotinus, the last great pagan philosopher.