Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXV 22-23 Sep 2022
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Probus AV Aureus. Siscia, AD 277-278. IMP C PROBVS PIVS F AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / VICTORIA AVG, Victory standing to right on globe between two captives, holding wreath and palm. RIC V.2 599 var. (bust type); Calicó 4214 var. (bust type). 6.30g, 21mm, 12h.
Good Extremely Fine; a wonderful portrait. Seemingly unique and unpublished with this bust type.
From a private European collection.
The iconography of this seemingly unique aureus is thoroughly in-keeping with the general theme of Probus' coinage: the emphatically triumphant and militaristic imagery is ubiquitous on the coins struck in his name. While it is not surprising that any emperor should choose to promote ideals of strength and control, Probus' coinage does so to such an extent that it betrays the frightening reality of the socio-economic instability and grave military peril of the empire at the time along with the precariousness of this accomplished general-emperor's own hold on power.
Despite the calamitous state of the Empire when Probus ascended the throne, he proved himself to be an efficient and productive emperor, defeating numerous foreign enemies and improving some parts of the areas devastated by war through engaging the army during peacetime in building projects such as growing vines in Gaul, Pannonia and Moesia. Though his rule is covered to an extent by ancient historiographers, the stories often do not match up and the picture we receive of Probus' rule is somewhat broad and lacking in detail. However, what the sources agree on are the great military achievements of this emperor and the respect he earned both from the conquered and his own people.
Unfortunately for numismatists, Probus' coinage is more focused on emphasising the emperor's 'virtus' than recording specific achievements, thus making it difficult to establish a chronology or associate types with particular events. This coin, for example, celebrates the emperor's victory over enemies unspecified; it presents the emperor in a highly stylised and orthodox manner, dispensing with the rounded and more individualistic features of some his early portraits and instead showing a lean, straight-nosed soldier-emperor in military attire.
Though this portrait is not so militarised as certain types struck under Probus, which often portray him fully armoured and helmeted, carrying spear and shield at the ready, the origin of this emperor and the nature of his reign is still very much explicit in the combination of a familiar Victory reverse type with the laureate and simply cuirassed bust suggestive of a battle-tested commander.
Good Extremely Fine; a wonderful portrait. Seemingly unique and unpublished with this bust type.
From a private European collection.
The iconography of this seemingly unique aureus is thoroughly in-keeping with the general theme of Probus' coinage: the emphatically triumphant and militaristic imagery is ubiquitous on the coins struck in his name. While it is not surprising that any emperor should choose to promote ideals of strength and control, Probus' coinage does so to such an extent that it betrays the frightening reality of the socio-economic instability and grave military peril of the empire at the time along with the precariousness of this accomplished general-emperor's own hold on power.
Despite the calamitous state of the Empire when Probus ascended the throne, he proved himself to be an efficient and productive emperor, defeating numerous foreign enemies and improving some parts of the areas devastated by war through engaging the army during peacetime in building projects such as growing vines in Gaul, Pannonia and Moesia. Though his rule is covered to an extent by ancient historiographers, the stories often do not match up and the picture we receive of Probus' rule is somewhat broad and lacking in detail. However, what the sources agree on are the great military achievements of this emperor and the respect he earned both from the conquered and his own people.
Unfortunately for numismatists, Probus' coinage is more focused on emphasising the emperor's 'virtus' than recording specific achievements, thus making it difficult to establish a chronology or associate types with particular events. This coin, for example, celebrates the emperor's victory over enemies unspecified; it presents the emperor in a highly stylised and orthodox manner, dispensing with the rounded and more individualistic features of some his early portraits and instead showing a lean, straight-nosed soldier-emperor in military attire.
Though this portrait is not so militarised as certain types struck under Probus, which often portray him fully armoured and helmeted, carrying spear and shield at the ready, the origin of this emperor and the nature of his reign is still very much explicit in the combination of a familiar Victory reverse type with the laureate and simply cuirassed bust suggestive of a battle-tested commander.