Watch List notes:

JDL Collection Part II: Roman Coins
THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

POSTUMUS, July/August(?) 259–May/June 269.

Sestertius, Cologne 261, Æ 16.29 g.
Obv. IMP C M CASS LAT POSTVMVS P F AVG His radiate,
draped and cuirassed bust right; border of dots.
Rev. VICT-ORIA AVG Victory walking left, holding wreath in right hand and palm in left; at her feet, captive seated left, hands tied behind him; border of dots.
Literature
Cohen 379
RIC V/2, 351, 169
Banti 61 (this coin)
P. Bastien, Le Monnayage de bronze de Postumus, Numismatique romaine 3, Wetteren 1967, 102
G. Elmer, "Die Münzprägung des gallischen Kaiser in Köln, Trier und Mailand", Bonner Jahrbücher 146, 1941, 253
M.-M. Bendenoun, Coins of the Ancient World, A portrait of the JDL Collection, Tradart, Genève, 2009, 86 (this coin)
Condition
An unusually attractive portrait of fine style and a lovely dark green patina gently smoothed on reverse. Weakly struck on reverse, otherwise extremely fine.

Provenance
Kölner Münzkabinett 42, Köln 1986, lot 525.
The year 260 was among the worst in Roman history. The crises that arose were so numerous and widespread that the Roman state appeared on the brink of extinction. The capture of the senior emperor Valerian I and his army in the East was disturbing enough, yet it caused a general panic that encou- raged the Sasanians and invited barbarian invasions across the
northern frontier. These terrifying incursions sparked revolts in the East under Macrinus and Quietus, in the Balkans under Inge- nuus and Regalianus, and in the West by the issuer of this coin, a gifted commander named Postumus.
Though Postumus' revolt wounded the pride of the Roman state, it perhaps did more to preserve the Roman way of life in the Western provinces than Gallienus would have been prepared to admit. At a time when the central emperor found it impossible to devote enough time or resources for the far-flung regions of Britain, Spain, Gaul and the two Germanies, a local and en- ergetic commander proved more effective in protecting Roman interests. Frankish soldiers crossed the Rhine in astonishing num- bers, devastating areas of Gaul, Lower Germany and Belgica, with some making it as far south as Spain and, eventually, Nor- th Africa. The Alamanni penetrated into Upper Germany and the Raetian limes, flooding into the Agri Decumates and Gaul, and even raiding the Swiss plateau. Even Italy was not spared: after suppressing the revolt of Ingenuus in the Balkans, Gallienus sped back to northern Italy in the summer of 260 to defeat the Alamanni at the battle of Milan.
Meanwhile, Postumus battled invaders further west on behalf of his emperor. The Historia Augusta describes him as Transrhe- nani limitis dux et Galliae praeses and Aurelius Victor reports that barbaris per Galliam praesidebat; he may have been a commander or a governor of one of the Germanies, and he
usually is thought to have been the governor of Lower Germany. In the fall of 260, Postumus appears to have defeated barba- rians who were returning home with their booty, which Postumus then distributed among his men. When the praetorian prefect Silvanus and the Caesar Saloninus demanded that the booty
be delivered to them, it caused some of the Rhine legions to de- clare Postumus their emperor. Postumus then besieged Saloninus and Silvanus in Cologne, which soon capitulated. Its leaders handed over Saloninus (who only recently had been hailed emperor) and his prefect for execution.
In this early period and, indeed, throughout his reign, Postumus found much success fighting German invaders. This bronze, which bears the image of Victory advancing over a bound German captive, celebrates Postumus' early success against the Germans, for which he had assumed the title Germanicus maximus by December of 261.