One of 3 Known Examples

Carausius AR ‘Denarius’. Uncertain British mint, AD 286-293. IMP CARAVSIVS P F AVG, laureate and draped bust to right / CONCORDIA MTLITVM (sic), clasped hands; RSR in exergue. RIC V.2 547 var. (obv. legend); Webb 600 var. (same); RSC 31 var. (bust type); UBS 78, 1928 (same dies). 4.05g, 21mm, 6h.

Extremely Fine. Exceedingly Rare; only two other specimens known, one sold in UBS 78 (2008) and the other held in Paris, with the present example undoubtedly the finest of the three.

Found in Old St. Mellons, Wales on Thursday 13th October 2022. Submitted for consideration as Treasure and returned to the finder. PAS ID: FASAMC240C9.

When Carausius settled in Britain in 286 the Roman currency was in a degenerate state, made up almost exclusively of base-metal issues; he saw an opportunity to use the platform of coinage as a means to present himself, his regime and his new ideology for the breakaway ‘British Empire’, and gold and silver issues superior to those made by the legitimate empire were the principal manifestation of his traditional standards and virtues.

It is in the exergual mark of RSR that Carausius’ use of classical allusion as propaganda can be seen: G. de la Bédoyère, in his paper for the Numismatic Chronicle (158, 1998, 79-88), made a strong case for a Virgilian reading of the RSR mark, based on its use on a bronze medallion of Carausius (BM 1972-7-17-1) and the reverse legend employed by Carausius of EXPECTATE VENI, ‘Come, long awaited one’ (cf. RIC V.2 554-8, 439-40 and Aeneid ii, 283), which usually appears on the silver coinage. He suggests that the RSR mark is an abbreviation of “redeunt Saturnia regna” (the Saturnian kingdoms return), from Virgil’s Eclogues IV, from which the following line is “iam nova progenies caelo demittitur alto” (INPCDA, now a generation is let down from heaven above). Virgil’s Eclogues text is entirely appropriate for the image that Carausius was trying to promote of the ‘British Empire’ as a haven of traditional Roman values, and the Saturnian age was a commonly used theme of Roman literature to symbolise a lost paradise, both of which are employed here to legitimise Carausius’ rule and appeal to the Romano-British inhabitants of his new empire to support him in his desire to uphold the Roman ideal.

732.

Carausius BI Radiate. Uncertain mint (London?), AD 286-293. IMP C CARAVSIVS P F AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / PAX AVG, Pax standing facing, head to left, holding olive branch and sceptre; S-P across fields. RIC V.2 475; Webb 532. 4.02g, 25mm, 6h.

Extremely Fine; well struck, with a fine patina.

733.

Carausius BI Radiate. Uncertain mint (London?), AD 290-293. IMP C CARAVSIVS P AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / PAX AVG, Pax standing facing, head to left, holding olive branch and sceptre; S-C across fields. RIC V.2 476; Webb 529. 4.82g, 24mm, 6h.

Extremely Fine; beautifully centred, with a warm brown patina.

Purchased from Spink & Son Ltd in 2005.

Acquired from Numismatica Ars Classica AG.

300

600

One of Two Known

Aurelian AV Binio (Double Aureus). Siscia, AD 274-275. IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust to right / RESTITVTOR ORIENTIS, Sol standing to left with one hand raised and the other holding whip, chlamys over shoulder; at feet, two captives looking to left; IL in exergue. RIC -; MER-RIC 2347; C. -; BN -; MIR -; Calicó -; NAC 27, 479. 6.99g, 23mm, 12h.

Near Mint State. Extremely Rare, apparently only the second known specimen.

Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction IX, 22 March 2015, lot 805.

21,000

In 272, Aurelian turned his attention to the lost eastern provinces of the empire, the so-called Palmyrene Empire ruled by Queen Zenobia, which encompassed Syria, Palestine, Egypt and large parts of Asia Minor. Despite a pragmatic acknowledgement of Zenobia and Vabalathus at the beginning of his reign, and having granted them both the titles they craved, Aurelian’s driving ambition was to reunify and secure the sundered parts of the Roman empire.

Marching east, Asia Minor was recovered with minimal resistance. Every city but Byzantium and Tyana surrendered quickly, and having spared Tyana from sack and despoliation, supposedly because Apollonius of Tyana (a first century philosopher whom he greatly admired) appeared to him in a dream and implored him to mercy, many more cities submitted peacefully knowing that they would be treated leniently. Within six months, Aurelian stood at the gates of Palmyra. Zenobia was captured while attempting to flee, and paraded in golden chains in Aurelian’s triumph in Rome. The recovery of Egypt by the future emperor Probus and a return to Palmyra to deal with a Palmyrene rebel named Antiochus finally secured the eastern provinces. Aurelian was given the title of Restitutor Orientis (Restorer of the East) by the Senate, who would soon after confer upon him the title of Restitutor Orbis (Restorer of the World) when he brought the breakaway Gallic provinces back into the fold, thus reunifying the empire.

Ex Imagines Imperatorvm Collection

Carus AV Aureus. Siscia, AD 282-283. IMP C M AVR CARVS P F AVG, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / VICTORIAE AVGG FEL, Victory advancing to left, holding open wreath in both hands; shield on base in left field. RIC V.2 98; C. 95 var.; Vagi 2471; Calicó 4291. 5.23g, 19mm, 12h.

Fleur De Coin. Extremely Rare.

Ex Long Valley River Collection, Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XX, 30 October 2020, lot 669;

Ex Imagines Imperatorvm Collection, Aureo & Calicó S.L., Auction 241, 8 February 2012, lot 291 (hammer: EUR 38,000);

Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 24, 5 December 2002, lot 221;

Ex Classical Numismatic Group- Numismatica Ars Classica - Freeman & Sear, Triton IV, 5 December 2000, lot 673.

18,000

Frustratingly for modern scholars, almost nothing is known of the life of Marcus Aurelius Carus before his ascension to the purple in the summer/ autumn of AD 282. The only historical source which speaks of his life (and indeed reign) in any meaningful detail is the notoriously imprecise Historia Augusta, which, as is generally recognized, tends to favour scandalous hearsay over hard fact. Before being proclaimed Augustus, the Historia maintains that Carus served as a senator (Vita Cari, V.4), before being elevated to the role of Praetorian Prefect under the auspices of his predecessor, Probus. The future emperor Julian, in his catalogue of tyrants (The Caesars), declares that Carus was complicit in Probus’ death in 282, as Gibbon observes (History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. XII, p. 293); though other accounts, including that of the Historia, rebuff this claim, pointing to Carus’ swift execution of the genuine perpetrators (ibid. p. 292).

Nevertheless, one must assume that Carus was stationed in Sirmium when mutinous troops assassinated Probus there in the summer of 282, and was in the vicinity some months later, as he was compelled to command a manoeuvre against the raiding Sarmatian and Quadi forces who had become heartened by the news of Probus’ demise. Before embarking on this counter-offensive, however, Carus first elevated his two sons, Numerian and Carinus, to the rank of Caesar; undoubtedly with a Carian dynasty in mind. Carinus, the elder brother, was tasked with administering the Western Empire while Numerian joined his father on the Danube.

Together, Carus and Numerian enjoyed great success, with their army inflicting multiple and ever-more decisive defeats on the invaders. By the end of 292, an estimated 36,000 Sarmatian and Quadi tribesmen had been slaughtered (Gibbon p. 294), and all survivors had been repelled from the frontier This outstanding aureus was struck in Siscia around that time to commemorate the various victories on the Danube border. Its striking reverse displays Victory holding a wreath with a shield in the left field, traditional attributes of the goddess and reflecting the successful campaign.

Emboldened by his success on the Danube, and safe in the knowledge that his two sons might be able to establish a veritable dynasty in the event of his death, Carus and Numerian next advanced further East, where they were able to quell revolts in Thrace and Asia Minor and annex vast parts of Mesopotamia (Zonaras, XII.30). Yet more victories then followed, this time against the Sassanid army commanded by Bahram II. Eutropius relates that the army captured and sacked the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon (IX.14.1) before Carus (perhaps aged 61 at this stage) mysteriously died while still in Sassanid territory in either July or August of 293. Immediately, rumours began to circulate among his superstitious troops that his tent had been struck by a particularly violent bolt of lightning; a divine indication, according to them, that the campaign had ventured too far East.

738.

Diocletian AV Aureus. Antioch, AD 290-292. DIOCLETIANVS AVGVSTVS, laureate head to right / CONSVL IIII P P PROCOS, emperor, draped and cuirassed, standing to left, holding globe; Σ (retrograde) in right field, SMA in exergue. RIC V.2 307; C. 46; Depeyrot 7/1; Calicó 4436. 5.40g, 20mm, 5h.

Near Extremely Fine. Rare.

Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XXII, 8 October 2021, lot 858.

1,800

Diocletian AR Argenteus. Rome, AD 295-297. DIOCLETIANVS AVG, laureate head to right / VICTORIA SARMAT, four tetrarchs sacrificing over tripod before city enclosure with six turrets; pellet in doorway, B in exergue. RIC VI 37a; Pink, Silberprägung, p. 17; Jelocnik 55; Hunter -; RSC 488gc. 3.72g, 19mm, 12h.

Mint State, contact mark on rev; deep mauve cabinet tone.

Privately purchased from Numismatica Ars Classica AG.

Maximian AV Aureus. Cyzicus, AD 288-289. MAXIMIANVS AVGVSTVS, laureate head to right / COS II, emperor on horseback to right, raising right hand in salute. RIC V.2 598; C. 86; Depeyrot 8/1; Calicó 4633. 5.38g, 19mm, 12h.

Extremely Fine. Rare.

From a private European collection; Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd, Auction XXII, 7 October 2021, lot 859.

3,300

No Others Auctioned in 20+ Years

Maximian AV Aureus. Treveri, AD 293-294. MAXIMIANVS P F AVG, laureate head to right / HERCVLI DEBELLAT, Hercules standing facing, head to left, holding club in raised right arm, preparing to strike Hydra coiled around his right leg, which he grips with left hand; PT in exergue. RIC VI 9; C. -; Calicó 4658. 5.42g, 18mm, 12h.

Good Extremely Fine, minor scuff to neck restored. Extremely Rare; no other examples offered at auction in over two decades.

Ex Fritz Rudolf Künker GmbH & Co. KG, Auction 216, 8 October 2012, lot 1259 (hammer: EUR 22,000).

10,500

This coin was struck as a donative on the occasion of the first consulates of the new Caesars Constantius and Galerius; Diocletian well understood the necessity of sharing power and dividing responsibility for the empire among capable leaders who could defend it from the multitude of enemies, both internal and external, that it faced. Maximian’s Caesar, Constantius, was immediately tasked with the recovery of the lands ruled over by the rebel Carausius who had revolted in late 286 or early 287. By the end of 293 all of the usurper’s continental possessions had been captured, and Britannia was finally retaken in 296.

The reverse type of this coin may be seen as an allegorical reference to the emperors’ constant struggle against the many enemies of Rome, symbolised by the Hydra - and most especially Carausius, who had proven to be such an embarrassment for Maximian after the failed campaign of 289. The particular manner in which Hercules and the hydra are here depicted is extremely similar to the imagery found on the late 4th century BC coinage of Phaistos in Crete. It has been repeatedly suggested that those later designs of Phaistos copy a now lost masterpiece of sculpture or painting, perhaps even a statue group by the great sculptor Lysippos (see Lehmann, ‘Statues on Coins’, New York 1946; see also Lacroix, ‘Les Reproductions de Statues sur les Monnaies Grecques’, Liege 1949; see also S. Lattimore, ‘Lysippian Sculpture on Greek Coins’, California Studies in Classical Antiquity Vol. 5 1972).

One of Only 2 Auctioned in 20 Years

740. 4,500

741.

Maximian AV Aureus. Rome, AD 295. MAXIMIANVS P F AVG, laureate and cuirassed bust to right / VIRTVS AVGG, Hercules, naked but for lion skin around shoulder, standing to right attacking centaur with club, who is fleeing to right, chest and head reverted to left; PR in exergue. RIC VI -; C. -; Depeyrot 5B/8 var. (bust); Calicó 4739. 5.76g, 19mm, 12h.

Good Very Fine. Extremely Rare; not published in RIC and only one other example on CoinArchives. Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction XXII, 7 October 2021, lot 862.

Fleur De Coin

Maximian AR Argenteus. Ticinum, AD 300. MAXIMIANVS AVG, laureate head to right / XCVI T in two lines within wreath. RIC VI 20b; RSC 698. 3.39g, 19mm, 1h.

Fleur De Coin; highly lustrous metal.

Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd., Auction X, 27 September 2015, lot 864; Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Triton XVIII, 6 January 2015, lot 1236 (hammer: 1,400 USD).

Only 1 Other on CoinArchives

742. 450

Maximian AR Argenteus. Siscia, AD 300. MAXIMIANVS AVG, laureate head to right / VIRTVS

Mint State; some attractive iridescence. Extremely Rare; seemingly only one other example on CoinArchives.

From a private European collection.

Unpublished Officina

743. 300

Near Mint State; minor die breaks on neck. Very Rare; unpublished with this officina.

From a private European collection.

745.

Constantius I AR Argenteus. Serdica, AD 305-307. CONSTANTIVS AVG, laureate head to right / VIRTVS MILITVM, camp gate with three turrets, no doors; •SM•SDΔ• in exergue. RIC VI 11a; Gautier 25; RSC 304a. 3.43g, 20mm, 1h.

Fleur De Coin; wonderful iridescent tone. Very Rare; rated R4 in RIC.

Acquired from Numismatica Ars Classica AG; Privately purchased from Freeman & Sear, 2009.

Extremely Rare

746.

Constantius I AV Aureus. Ticinum, AD 305-306. CONSTANTIVS P F AVG, laureate head to right / FELICITAS AVGG NOSTR, Felicitas seated to left on throne, holding caduceus and cornucopiae; SMT in exergue. RIC VI 51a; Depeyrot 8/4; Calicó 4823. 5.02g, 21mm, 6h.

Near Mint State; a wonderful portrait, beautifully centred. Extremely Rare; Depeyrot noted only 3 examples.

From a private European collection.

Only 3 Others on CoinArchives

6,000

Galerius, as Caesar, AV Aureus. Nicomedia, AD 294. MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES, laureate head to right / IOVI CONSERVATORI, Jupiter standing facing, head to left, wearing chlamys that falls behind, holding thunderbolt and spear, SMN in exergue. RIC VI 6; C. 122; Depeyrot 2/5; Calicó -; Roma XX, 684 (same dies). 5.37g, 20mm, 6h.

Extremely Fine. Extremely Rare; only 3 other examples on CoinArchives.

From a private European collection.

4,500

747. 600

748.

Galerius, as Caesar, AR Argenteus. Thessalonica, AD 302. MAXIMIANVS NOB C, laureate head to right / VIRTVS MILITVM, camp gate with three turrets, no doors; •T•S•B• in exergue. RIC VI 16b; RSC 223d. 3.13g, 19mm, 1h.

Fleur De Coin; beautifully lustrous with attractive iridescence.

From a private European collection.

Galerius, as Caesar, AR Argenteus. Thessalonica, AD 302. MAXIMIANVS NOB C, laureate head to right / CONCORDIA MILITVM, camp gate with four turrets, doors open, star above arch; TS•Γ• in exergue. RIC VI 8; RSC 22a. 3.45g, 21mm, 6h.

Near Mint State; lustrous rev. Very Rare.

From a private European collection.

749. 600

Galerius, as Caesar, AR Argenteus. Thessalonica, AD 302. MAXIMIANVS NOB C, laureate head to right / CONCORDIA MILITVM, camp gate with four turrets, doors open, star above arch; TS•Γ• in exergue. RIC VI 8; RSC 22a. 3.45g, 21mm, 6h.

Mint State. Very Rare.

From a private European collection.

A Rare Galerius Aureus

750. 4,500

Galerius AV Aureus. Nicomedia, AD 307-308. MAXIMIANVS AVGVSTVS, laureate head to right / IOVI CONSERVATORI NK (partially ligate), Jupiter standing to left, holding thunderbolt and sceptre; SMN in exergue. RIC VI 33; Depeyrot 9/2; Calicó 4926. 5.35g, 20mm, 6h.

Good Extremely Fine. Rare.

From a private European collection.

Fleur De Coin

Maximinus II AV Aureus. Antioch, AD 311. MAXIMINVS P F AVG, laureate head to right / CONSVL P P PROCONSVL, laureate and togate emperor standing facing, head to left, holding globe and sceptre; (crescent)SMAΣ* in exergue. RIC VI 127a; C. 10;

Fleur De Coin; well-centered and in a magnificent state of preservation.

Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 106, 9 May 2018, lot 1044.

Born of Dacian peasant stock to the sister of Galerius, Maximinus rose to high distinction in the army thanks to his uncle’s influence as Caesar under Diocletian. In 305, according to Lactantius, Galerius forced Diocletian to abdicate, and through coercion and threats convinced Diocletian to fill the two vacated positions of Caesar with men compliant to his will. Thus, with the abdication of Diocletian and Maximianus, Galerius was raised to Augustus and immediately appointed his nephew Maximinus to the rank of Caesar along with an old friend, Severus. Portrayed by contemporary writers as vulgar, cruel and ignorant, Maximinus II gained eternal notoriety for his persecution of Christians in open defiance of the Edict of Toleration issued by Galerius.

In 313, having imprudently allied himself to Maxentius, the enemy of Constantine and Licinius, Maximinus found himself at war with Licinius, who marched against him and defeated him in a decisive battle at Tirizallum, despite Maximinus’ army being a veteran force that outnumbered Licinius by more than two to one. Pursued and besieged by Licinius, he poisoned himself at Tarsus in Cilicia in AD 313, eight years after being named Caesar, and five and a half after assuming the purple. His children were put to death and his wife was thrown into the Orontes at Antioch where by her orders a great number of Christian women had been drowned.