RPC IV.4, 1326

 

Image of specimen #8

 

Coin type
Volume IV.4
Number 1326
Province Egypt
Region Egypt
City Alexandria
Reign Antoninus Pius
Person (obv.) Antoninus Pius (Augustus)
Issue Year ΙƐ = 15
Dating AD 151/2
Obverse inscription ΑΝΤωΝΙΝΟϹ ϹΕΒ ΕΥϹΕΒ
Edition Ἀντωνῖνος Σεβ(αστὸς) Εὐσεβ(ής)
Translation Antoninus Augustus Pius
Obverse design laureate head of Antoninus Pius with traces of drapery, left
Reverse inscription L ΙΕ
Edition (ἔτους) ιεʹ
Translation of year 15
Reverse design Tyche of Alexandria (?) standing, facing, head, right, turreted, holding rudder and small figure of Hermes(?), wearing hem-hem crown, holding purse and caduceus
Metal debased silver
Average diameter 23 mm
Average weight 12.85 g
Axis 12
Reference D 2392, Geissen 1668
Specimens 9 (3 in the core collections)
Note A female figure, likely to be the Tyche of Alexandria, holds a rudder and a small figure on tetradrachms and AE 33 of Antoninus Pius year 15. She wears a headdress, which is probably turreted (as Dattari, cf. e.g. RPC III, https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/11917). Milne described the figure as Isis-Tyche crowned with three plumes. The attributes of the small figure are unclear. It wears a tripartite headdress, perhaps a hem-hem crown. It holds a small uncertain object, rather like a purse in one hand, and a long object (caduceus, sceptre, or club?) in the other. The purse and caduceus look quite convincing on e.g. https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/type/coin/115204: if that is what they are, they may be a reference to commerce (Vogt 1924, p. 127 identified the figure as Hermes; cf. the small figure of Hermes associated with Moneta in Marcus year 3). Milne (p. xxix) thought that the small figure was the equally uncertain statue from the top of the Pharos (McKenzie 2010, pp. 42-3). The Pharos statue is best seen on coins of Domitian, Trajan, and Hadrian. There it is not crowned and the attributes appear different so there is little to commend the identification.

Specimens of this coin type

Number Number Museum Bibliography
1 1     B: Löbb.
2 2     Cop: 502
3 3     NY: 1944.100.58854
4 4     A: D 1797A / 2800 / 12012
5 5     Boston: 1985.1199
6 6     Cologne Geissen 1668
7 7     Frankfurt Förschner 652
8 8     ✸ CNG EA 346, 11 Mar. 2015, lot 354
9 9     D 2392 = Naville Numismatics 37, 28 Jan. 2018, lot 381