Numismatica Ars Classica
Auction 138 18-19 May 2023
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Maximian Herculius first reign, 286 – 305.
Medallion 297-298, Æ 26.02 g. VIRTVS MAXIMIANI AVG Laureate half bust of Maximianus l., wearing cuirass with aegis on breastplate and holding with his r. hand the reins of the forepart of a horse and with a shield ornamented with the Roman Wolf and Twins motif over his l. shoulder. Rev. The three Monetae standing facing, heads l., each holding scales and cornucopiae; at their feet, heaps of coins. C 405. BMC Medallions 4. Gnecchi 18 and pl. 127, 6 (these dies).
Extremely rare. An impressive medallion with a very interesting portrait. Almost
intact gilding, a hairline flan crack, otherwise very fine
Ex NAC sale 100, 2017, 618.
The dramatic military portrait of Maximianus on this stunning bronze medallion has been connected by Bastien to victories personally won by the tetrarchic emperor in Mauritania and to his triumphal celebration at Carthage (A.D. 297). It may have been struck as largesse for the army at the time of the triumph in order to guarantee its loyalty for the conclusion of the Mauritanian campaign. The depiction of Maximianus armoured with the aegis and carrying shield and spear belongs to a long Roman tradition of representing the conquering emperor as a latter-day Alexander the Great. This tradition may perhaps be underlined by the added depiction of Maximianus' horse here - a new Bucephalas? On the other hand, the horse could also allude to Carthage, a city that had used the head of a horse as its badge since at least the first century B.C. While depictions of the singular Dea Moneta, the personification of money and the Roman mint, are not uncommon on Roman Imperial coins of the third and early fourth centuries AD, the representation of three Monetae is somewhat less common. The original numismatic model for this triple depiction seems to have been sestertii struck by Commodus (RIC 500), but Maximianus' gold medallion - and related coinages of Diocletian and Maximianus - most probably take their iconographic cue from the more recent use of the type on coins of Probus, Claudius II Gothicus, and Carinus. Probus struck a silver medallion with a similar military obverse bust (Bastien, Buste, pl. 119, 2). The three Monetae visually represent the traditional monetary system, which consisted of coins struck in the three primary metals: gold, silver, and aes. The latter included issues struck in bronze and brass alloys. They also allude to the old triple organisation of the Roman mint under the Republic and still even in the early Augustan Age, when the job of coining for the state was allotted to three junior magistrates known officially as the tresviri aere argento auro flando feriundo ("three men for striking and casting, bronze, silver, and gold [coins]") or simply as the tresviri monetales ("three money men"). These allusions to old-time Roman minting practices were particularly opportune for Maximianus when this medallion was struck because, only a few years before, in AD 294, his senior imperial colleague, Diocletian, had reformed the coinage. Over the course of the third century, Roman coinage had become increasingly debased to the point that true silver coinage had all but disappeared from circulation, replaced by billon radiates - essentially bronze coins with increasingly minimal silver content. The reformed coinage system involved full weight gold aurei, new silver argentei (equivalent to denarii under Nero), and billon folles. Thanks to Diocletian and Maximianus it could be claimed that the old happy days of coinage in three metals was back. Unfortunately, it was not destined to remain. Continued inflation in the fourth and fifth centuries again largely destroyed silver as part of the regular Roman coinage. By the dawn of the Byzantine period coinage was virtually bimetallic in nature, involving gold and bronze.
Medallion 297-298, Æ 26.02 g. VIRTVS MAXIMIANI AVG Laureate half bust of Maximianus l., wearing cuirass with aegis on breastplate and holding with his r. hand the reins of the forepart of a horse and with a shield ornamented with the Roman Wolf and Twins motif over his l. shoulder. Rev. The three Monetae standing facing, heads l., each holding scales and cornucopiae; at their feet, heaps of coins. C 405. BMC Medallions 4. Gnecchi 18 and pl. 127, 6 (these dies).
Extremely rare. An impressive medallion with a very interesting portrait. Almost
intact gilding, a hairline flan crack, otherwise very fine
Ex NAC sale 100, 2017, 618.
The dramatic military portrait of Maximianus on this stunning bronze medallion has been connected by Bastien to victories personally won by the tetrarchic emperor in Mauritania and to his triumphal celebration at Carthage (A.D. 297). It may have been struck as largesse for the army at the time of the triumph in order to guarantee its loyalty for the conclusion of the Mauritanian campaign. The depiction of Maximianus armoured with the aegis and carrying shield and spear belongs to a long Roman tradition of representing the conquering emperor as a latter-day Alexander the Great. This tradition may perhaps be underlined by the added depiction of Maximianus' horse here - a new Bucephalas? On the other hand, the horse could also allude to Carthage, a city that had used the head of a horse as its badge since at least the first century B.C. While depictions of the singular Dea Moneta, the personification of money and the Roman mint, are not uncommon on Roman Imperial coins of the third and early fourth centuries AD, the representation of three Monetae is somewhat less common. The original numismatic model for this triple depiction seems to have been sestertii struck by Commodus (RIC 500), but Maximianus' gold medallion - and related coinages of Diocletian and Maximianus - most probably take their iconographic cue from the more recent use of the type on coins of Probus, Claudius II Gothicus, and Carinus. Probus struck a silver medallion with a similar military obverse bust (Bastien, Buste, pl. 119, 2). The three Monetae visually represent the traditional monetary system, which consisted of coins struck in the three primary metals: gold, silver, and aes. The latter included issues struck in bronze and brass alloys. They also allude to the old triple organisation of the Roman mint under the Republic and still even in the early Augustan Age, when the job of coining for the state was allotted to three junior magistrates known officially as the tresviri aere argento auro flando feriundo ("three men for striking and casting, bronze, silver, and gold [coins]") or simply as the tresviri monetales ("three money men"). These allusions to old-time Roman minting practices were particularly opportune for Maximianus when this medallion was struck because, only a few years before, in AD 294, his senior imperial colleague, Diocletian, had reformed the coinage. Over the course of the third century, Roman coinage had become increasingly debased to the point that true silver coinage had all but disappeared from circulation, replaced by billon radiates - essentially bronze coins with increasingly minimal silver content. The reformed coinage system involved full weight gold aurei, new silver argentei (equivalent to denarii under Nero), and billon folles. Thanks to Diocletian and Maximianus it could be claimed that the old happy days of coinage in three metals was back. Unfortunately, it was not destined to remain. Continued inflation in the fourth and fifth centuries again largely destroyed silver as part of the regular Roman coinage. By the dawn of the Byzantine period coinage was virtually bimetallic in nature, involving gold and bronze.