Showcase Auction 61373 5 May 2024
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Showcase Auction 61373 5 May 2024
Showcase Auction 61373 5 May 2024
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Vespasian (AD 69-79). AE dupondius (27mm, 11.92 gm, 6h). NGC VF 4/5 - 2/5. Rome mint for Syria, ca. AD 74. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head of Vespasian right / PON•MAX•TR•POT•P•P•COS V•CENS•, winged caduceus between crossed cornucopiae. RIC II.1, 758. Leather and chestnut toning with bursts of champagne.
From the James Lomiento, Jr. Collection; Ex Classical Numismatic Group E-Sale, Auction 386 (9 November 2016), lot 533; Ex the estate of Thomas Bentley Cederlind.
Vespasian's bronze coinage of 74 AD are considered unusually unique issues. They contain metal content consistent with the mint in Rome. Nearly all examples, including mules with regular Rome-mint issues, have been found in the Western European provinces rather than in the east. However there are noteworthy similarities with low denominations that had previously only been used in the eastern provinces, specifically Syria. A comprehensive overview of these coins can be found in T.V. Buttrey's introduction to RIC II.I, pages 27-28 & 47-48. For a further detailed study, see Buttrey's essay "Vespasian's Roman Orichalcum: An Unrecognized Celebratory Coinage" in Judaea and Rome in Coins 65 CBE - 135 CE (2012). Buttrey argues that the coins invoke Vespasian's eastern victories. Alternative theories have been that these were simply issued at Antioch or in Commagene after its takeover as a Roman province in that same year.
"There is nothing like this series in the whole of Roman imperial coinage. It is a deliberate act of Orientalism, imposing the flavour of the East on a Western coinage", writes Buttrey in his exploration of RIC 756-767 from his essay: "[This irregular dupondius] replicates the type of an obscure issue of the Galilean city of Sepphoris, an issue which had been, astonishingly, signed by Vespasian himself (ΕΠΙ ΟΥΕCΠΑCΙΑΝΟΥ, "on the authority of...") when on duty there in the last days of Nero. The dupondius-sized bronze was accompanied by a half-unit with the type of a large, central S C – again signed by Vespasian, and now imitated on the As of the orichalcum series with the wreath of the As of Antioch (RPC I 4849-50). The whole of this series memorializes not Vespasian the conquering general (IVDAEA CAPTA, VICTORIA AVGVSTI), but the man. His re-use of earlier coin types is well-known; here he re-uses his own, harking back to his career just prior to his final success in seizing the empire. And the series was struck in 74 A.D., co-terminus with the celebration of Vespasian's first quinquennium."
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/roman-imperial/ancients-vespasian-ad-69-79-ae-dupondius-27mm-1192-gm-6h-ngc-vf-4-5-2-5/a/61373-22127.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-61373-05052024
HID02906262019
© 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Vespasian (AD 69-79). AE dupondius (27mm, 11.92 gm, 6h). NGC VF 4/5 - 2/5. Rome mint for Syria, ca. AD 74. IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG, laureate head of Vespasian right / PON•MAX•TR•POT•P•P•COS V•CENS•, winged caduceus between crossed cornucopiae. RIC II.1, 758. Leather and chestnut toning with bursts of champagne.
From the James Lomiento, Jr. Collection; Ex Classical Numismatic Group E-Sale, Auction 386 (9 November 2016), lot 533; Ex the estate of Thomas Bentley Cederlind.
Vespasian's bronze coinage of 74 AD are considered unusually unique issues. They contain metal content consistent with the mint in Rome. Nearly all examples, including mules with regular Rome-mint issues, have been found in the Western European provinces rather than in the east. However there are noteworthy similarities with low denominations that had previously only been used in the eastern provinces, specifically Syria. A comprehensive overview of these coins can be found in T.V. Buttrey's introduction to RIC II.I, pages 27-28 & 47-48. For a further detailed study, see Buttrey's essay "Vespasian's Roman Orichalcum: An Unrecognized Celebratory Coinage" in Judaea and Rome in Coins 65 CBE - 135 CE (2012). Buttrey argues that the coins invoke Vespasian's eastern victories. Alternative theories have been that these were simply issued at Antioch or in Commagene after its takeover as a Roman province in that same year.
"There is nothing like this series in the whole of Roman imperial coinage. It is a deliberate act of Orientalism, imposing the flavour of the East on a Western coinage", writes Buttrey in his exploration of RIC 756-767 from his essay: "[This irregular dupondius] replicates the type of an obscure issue of the Galilean city of Sepphoris, an issue which had been, astonishingly, signed by Vespasian himself (ΕΠΙ ΟΥΕCΠΑCΙΑΝΟΥ, "on the authority of...") when on duty there in the last days of Nero. The dupondius-sized bronze was accompanied by a half-unit with the type of a large, central S C – again signed by Vespasian, and now imitated on the As of the orichalcum series with the wreath of the As of Antioch (RPC I 4849-50). The whole of this series memorializes not Vespasian the conquering general (IVDAEA CAPTA, VICTORIA AVGVSTI), but the man. His re-use of earlier coin types is well-known; here he re-uses his own, harking back to his career just prior to his final success in seizing the empire. And the series was struck in 74 A.D., co-terminus with the celebration of Vespasian's first quinquennium."
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/roman-imperial/ancients-vespasian-ad-69-79-ae-dupondius-27mm-1192-gm-6h-ngc-vf-4-5-2-5/a/61373-22127.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-61373-05052024
HID02906262019
© 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved