Subject: Re: [Moneta-L] Valerian Clasped hands ant.
Date: Sat, 01 Apr 2000 21:58:03 -0600
From: Stephen Coulter <probus10@earthlink.net>
To: Moneta-L@onelist.com

Treverus Coins wrote:

> We had fun with my last question, here is another mystery!
>
> VALERIAN I
> AR Antoninianus  253-260  A.D.
> O:  Radiant, draped bust right.  IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS AVG.
> R:  CONCORDIA AVGG, Clasped hands.  This was to show joint rule with
> Gallienus his son.
>
> This isn't listed in any of the following RIC, Hunter, Cunetio, Gallway,
> Sear, VanM, or Vagi!!
>
> Has anyone ever seen this before??
>
> I have seen the coin for Gallienus before.
>
> Any help would greatly appreciated.
>
> Mitch
>

I have not seen this coin before; it would appear to be a hybrid with a
reverse of
Gallienus. There are a number of these known from the sole reign (sole reign
obverse/joint reign reverse); however, since this obverse legend and reverse
date from the very
beginning of the reign, that would not seem to be a feasible explanation.
Some hints as to the origin of this coin may be found in the essay "Mints in
the Third Century", by R.A.G.
Carson, found in "Scripta Nummaria Romana". While the analysis in this essay
deals mostly with the coinage of Gallus and Volusian, it does tend to show
that, where there were two
emperors, the Rome mint tended to strike series with the same obverse legend
(varying only the name), combined with a series of reverses unique to each
emperor. The officinae seem
to have been divided in the ratio of 2:1 in favor of the senior emperor,
that is, if a six officina organization, the four for Valerian and two for
Gallienus; if twelve, then double
each of those numbers. A look at RIC V tends to confirm that trend, with the
obverse legend IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS (or GALLIENVS) AVG paired with twelve
AVGG reverses, roughly eight
for
Valerian and four for Gallienus, not counting minor variants in spelling,
etc., attributed
to ad253. The relevance of the Carson article is that he shows, while the
emperor/reverse combination holds for the vast majority of the coins, there
are a few examples of most of
the types where a reverse was paired with the wrong emperor. At an admitedly
wild guess, your coin, coming immediately after the reign of Gallus and
Volusian, continued that same
pattern. One always hesitates to say that something is unpublished,
but.......
Steve Coulter

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