Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXV 22-23 Sep 2022
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Trajan AR Denarius. Restoration issue. Rome, AD 112-113. MONETA, draped bust of Juno Moneta to right, wearing earring and necklace / IMP CAES TRAIAN AVG [GER DAC] P P REST CARISIVS, anvil between tongs and hammer, cap of Vulcan above; within laurel wreath. RIC II 805; BMCRE 688; Woytek 838 (same dies as illustration); Heritage 3071, lot 32090 (hammer: 9,000 USD). 3.41g, 18mm, 6h.
Good Extremely Fine; attractive old cabinet tone, light mineral adhesions. Extremely Rare restoration issue; only two other examples on CoinArchives, of which this is by a considerable margin the finest.
From the Vogelberg Collection (Switzerland), formed c. 1960-1985.
Though 'restored' coinage was nothing new to the Romans in Trajan's time - they had made their first appearance under the Flavians, and been continued under Nerva - previous restorations had confined themselves only to the bronzes of certain well-remembered emperors. Trajan's great restoration, however, consisted entirely of aurei and denarii, and went much further, by restoring Republican types, and effectively inventing wholly new ones. The occasion for this 'restitution' series issued under Trajan may have been the melting down of old coinage as mentioned in Cassius Dio (67.15), for Mattingly and Sydenham (RIC II, p. 303) proposed that "since the Romans regarded their coins with a certain amount of reverence as products of the Sacra Moneta it is not unnatural to conclude that they valued them also as historical monuments. The dominating trait in the character of Trajan was a desire to emphasise and expand the glory of Rome. It seems reasonable, therefore, to suggest that this was his motive for issuing the Restored Coins; and, by thus placing together a series of types illustrative of the development of Rome, Trajan may not ineptly be regarded as one of the first to recognize Numismatics as an aid to History."
Good Extremely Fine; attractive old cabinet tone, light mineral adhesions. Extremely Rare restoration issue; only two other examples on CoinArchives, of which this is by a considerable margin the finest.
From the Vogelberg Collection (Switzerland), formed c. 1960-1985.
Though 'restored' coinage was nothing new to the Romans in Trajan's time - they had made their first appearance under the Flavians, and been continued under Nerva - previous restorations had confined themselves only to the bronzes of certain well-remembered emperors. Trajan's great restoration, however, consisted entirely of aurei and denarii, and went much further, by restoring Republican types, and effectively inventing wholly new ones. The occasion for this 'restitution' series issued under Trajan may have been the melting down of old coinage as mentioned in Cassius Dio (67.15), for Mattingly and Sydenham (RIC II, p. 303) proposed that "since the Romans regarded their coins with a certain amount of reverence as products of the Sacra Moneta it is not unnatural to conclude that they valued them also as historical monuments. The dominating trait in the character of Trajan was a desire to emphasise and expand the glory of Rome. It seems reasonable, therefore, to suggest that this was his motive for issuing the Restored Coins; and, by thus placing together a series of types illustrative of the development of Rome, Trajan may not ineptly be regarded as one of the first to recognize Numismatics as an aid to History."