RPC II, 715

 

Image of specimen #6

 

Coin type
Volume II
Number 715
Province Bithynia-Pontus
Region Paphlagonia
City Sinope
Reign Vespasian
Person (obv.) Domitian (Caesar)
Issue Year 118 = AD 72/3
Dating AD 72/3
Obverse inscription DOMITIANVS CAESAR AVG F COS ITER
Edition Domitianus Caesar Aug(usti) f(ilius) Co(n)s(ul) iter(um)
Translation Domitian Caesar, son of Augustus, consul for the second time
Obverse design laureate head of Domitian, right
Reverse inscription C I F AN CXIIX
Edition c(olonia) I(ulia) F(elix) an(no) CXIIX
Translation the Julian colony of Felix (Sinope), in year 118
Reverse design female figure (Pax?) standing, right, leaning on column and holding cornucopia
Metal copper-based alloy
Average diameter 21 mm
Average weight 4.90 g
Axis 6
Reference Rec 102
Specimens 8 (2 in the core collections)
Note Rec adds Prowe. Domitian's second consulate wasin 73. The figure was identified as Abundantia by Rec; the female figure ofAgrippina on coins of Caligula (BMCRE 36) is shown holding a cornucopiaand leaning on a column and is conventionally identified with Securitas. Theidentification is, however, by no means certain and indeed on 715/1 the figurelooks male. A column is not a normal adjunct of Abundantia, and is notattested for Securitas before the reign of Antoninus Pius (BMCRE 1311). Pax issometimes shown leaning on a column (BMCRE Titus 151), though withcaduceus and branch, not a cornucopia; a cornucopia is otherwise often heldby Pax. As the combination of column and cornucopia is not attested for Pax,however, an identification as Pax should remain tentative.

Specimens of this coin type

Number Number Museum Bibliography
1 1     NY: 1944.100.41875
2 2     B: Löbb.
3 3     Amsterdam: GR-05042
4 4     Milan Rec pl. XXVII.14
5 5     Sinop: 3-2-82 J. Casey, Sinope. A Catalogue of Greek, Roman and Byzantine Coins in Sinop Museum (Turkey) and Related Historical and Numismatic Studies (London, 2010), p. 30 no. 329
6 6     ✸ CNG MBS 78, Wagner collection, 14 May 2008, lot 1265
7 7     Naumann 98, 3 Jan. 2021, lot 505 (ex Lydia 3, 2020, lot 121)
8 8     Leu WA 19, 26 Feb. 2022, lot 2079