Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 131 30 May 2022
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Postumus, 260 – 269
Aureus, Lugdunum Winter 263-264, AV 5.87 g. POSTVMVS – PIVS AVG Laureate head r. Rev. QVINQVENNALES POSTVMI AVG Victory standing r., l. foot on cuirass, writing on shield set on her knee, X. C 308. Schulte 82a (this obverse die). RIC 34. Calicó 3773.
Extremely rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. A portrait of enchanting
beauty, the work of a very talented master engraver, struck in high relief.
Virtually as struck and almost Fdc
Ex Elsen sale 122, 2014, 178.
In the chaos that enveloped the West during the mid- and later 3rd Century, resourceful generals were valued for their ability to spare their fellow Romans the horror of invasion, and were feared for their ability to inspire their legions – purposely or inadvertently – to rebellion. Such was the case in Germany and Gaul in the fall of 260, when a commander named Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus assumed the purple some months after news was received of the capture of Valerian I by the Sasanians. The position held by Postumus is not clear. He may have been a commander or a governor of one of the Germanies. The Historia Augusta describes him as "Transrhenani limitis dux et Galliae praeses and Aurelius Victor as barbaris per Galliam praesidebat." The claim in the Historia Augusta that he came to power with the assistance of his eponymous father is considered by most to be an invention typical of that source. This aureus seems to have been struck in the first quarter of 262, by which time Postumus had been in power for well more than a year. The reverse records that he was celebrating the third renewal of his tribunician power and had entered his third consulship, presumably awarded on January 1, 262. Schulte's die study of Gallo-Roman gold reveals a complex and well-conceived series of issues under Postumus, spanning from the start of his revolt to at least early 269. Within nine of the 12 issues identified by Schulte there is significant die-linking, which may suggest each was produced in comparatively narrow time frames. The largest emissions seem to have occurred from the fall of 263 through the start of 264, and in the beginning of 268.
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Aureus, Lugdunum Winter 263-264, AV 5.87 g. POSTVMVS – PIVS AVG Laureate head r. Rev. QVINQVENNALES POSTVMI AVG Victory standing r., l. foot on cuirass, writing on shield set on her knee, X. C 308. Schulte 82a (this obverse die). RIC 34. Calicó 3773.
Extremely rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. A portrait of enchanting
beauty, the work of a very talented master engraver, struck in high relief.
Virtually as struck and almost Fdc
Ex Elsen sale 122, 2014, 178.
In the chaos that enveloped the West during the mid- and later 3rd Century, resourceful generals were valued for their ability to spare their fellow Romans the horror of invasion, and were feared for their ability to inspire their legions – purposely or inadvertently – to rebellion. Such was the case in Germany and Gaul in the fall of 260, when a commander named Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus assumed the purple some months after news was received of the capture of Valerian I by the Sasanians. The position held by Postumus is not clear. He may have been a commander or a governor of one of the Germanies. The Historia Augusta describes him as "Transrhenani limitis dux et Galliae praeses and Aurelius Victor as barbaris per Galliam praesidebat." The claim in the Historia Augusta that he came to power with the assistance of his eponymous father is considered by most to be an invention typical of that source. This aureus seems to have been struck in the first quarter of 262, by which time Postumus had been in power for well more than a year. The reverse records that he was celebrating the third renewal of his tribunician power and had entered his third consulship, presumably awarded on January 1, 262. Schulte's die study of Gallo-Roman gold reveals a complex and well-conceived series of issues under Postumus, spanning from the start of his revolt to at least early 269. Within nine of the 12 issues identified by Schulte there is significant die-linking, which may suggest each was produced in comparatively narrow time frames. The largest emissions seem to have occurred from the fall of 263 through the start of 264, and in the beginning of 268.
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