E-Auction 47

Lots per page:

Closed September 6, 2023
View Print Catalog

Search results

  26. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  

    Emesa mint

    E47, Lot 114:

    The Severans. Septimius Severus. A.D. 193-211. AR denarius. 2.44 gm. 17 mm. Emesa mint. Struck A.D. 194. His laureate head right; IMP CAE L SEP SEV PERT AVG COS II / Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm; VICT AVG. RIC IV.1 424. RSC 675a. As struck; hoard cleaned; bright; some weakness and surface damage; sharp strike; exciting style reflective of campaigning on the frontier.

     

    Emesa was a caravan city in northwestern Syria, the hometown of Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus. Her family connected them to the priestly ruling caste of that city, greatly benefitting the Severan dynasty. Unlike many cities in the East, Emesa remained loyal to Severus during the destructive civil war with Pescennius Niger, who was governor of Roman Syria before being acclaimed by his soldiers as Augustus in AD 193. Severus sent his armies eastward and engaged Niger in a series of battles starting in the fall of AD 193, culminating with a decisive victory at Issus in May of AD 194. Niger was hunted down and killed. Severus and Julia Domna then undertook a triumphant tour of the eastern cities, probably arriving in Emesa in mid-194.

    During Severus’ eastern campaigns, mint strictures were loosened, allowing local moneyers, who would earlier have been considered counterfeiters, to take up the slack for the limited material coming from official mints. This coin, minted in 194 during his eastern campaigns, appears to be such an example, with its marvelously eastern portraiture and style, and clearly exemplifying the vigorous and spontaneous somewhat slipshod style strike reflective of campaigning on the frontier.

    After defeating Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus and becoming emperor, Severus — arguably the consummate soldier-emperor — adopted a military style government and paid little attention to the Senate. During his rule he fought in almost every part of the Roman Empire, from England to Syria.
    Minimum Time Remaining:
    (?)
    Lot closed.
    Estimate:
    $175
    Hammer Price:
    -
    Next Increment:
    -
    Watch this lot 
    Bid Now
    USD
  106. Winning Losing Won Lost Watching Available in aftersale  
    E47, Lot 301:

    12 COINS. THE SEVERAN DYNASTY. An interesting selection of 12 attractive denarii in high grades--Pat Zabel had a good eye for coins and picked for quality. All are fully attributed in pdf attached to listing below. Septimius Severus (1); Julia Domna (1); Caracalla (3); Plautilla (3); Geta (4).

    Septimius Severus was of Punic and Italian ancestry and born into a high ranking senatorial family. He was an extremely capable soldier and spent much of his reign campaigning in far-flung provinces of the Empire. He married the wealthy and beautiful Syrian Julia Donna who had a “royal horoscope” (i.e., she was destined to be a queen). She was known for her great intellect and influenced her husband and later her son the Emperor Caracalla in matters of state. She travelled with her husband on his frequent military campaigns and was awarded the title Mater Castrorum (“mother of the camps’) for sharing in the hardships. She attracted men of culture and learning to her brilliant Imperial court in Rome. Unfortunately she was unsuccessful in overcoming the hostility between her two sons, Caracalla and Geta.

     

    In 208 A.D. the entire family went to Britain to deal with unrest following a great invasion by barbarians of the North. Severus repaired Hadrian’s Wall and launched a campaign into Caledonia without much success. Elderly and stressed by the rigours of the campaign, he died at York in 211.

     

    His elder son Caracalla ruled with extravagance and cruelty, marked by the treacherous murder of his younger brother Geta in their mother’s arms. His one notable action was the granting to all free inhabitants of the Empire the name and privileges of Roman citizens.

     

    * The history of a family in 12 coins:

    (Pat Zabel had an interesting approach to collecting the Severans--as a family.)

    A fairly youthful Severus, and a beautiful young Julia Domna. Three portraits of Caracalla, and four of Geta, each portrayed as a boy, a youth, and a bearded man. Three different portraits of the ill-fated Plautilla, married to Caracalla at age 14, and eventually banished and put to death on his orders. All photographs and full descriptions are online.

     

    Cf. Important related Roman provincial Severan family issues (lots 69-79), particularly two related coins: Choice billon tetradrachms of Caracalla (Lot 79) and of Macrinus (Lot 80), prefect of the Praetorian Guards under Caracalla and party to his murder. (An interesting footnote into the lives of the classics: Mary Beard, a former professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge and author of many books on the era, wrote in the July 3, 2023 New Yorker, “Caracalla was knifed while relieving himself on a military campaign in the East in 217 C.E.” She also recounts how the historian Herodian describes the funeral of Septimius Severus in 211 C.E. in Rome. Though he died in York in northern England and was cremated there, his ashes were brought back to Rome for the elaborate week-long funeral featuring a waxwork of the dead emperor.) (MD).

    The Zabel Collection.
    Minimum Time Remaining:
    (?)
    Lot closed.
    Estimate:
    $600
    Hammer Price:
    $1,100
    Next Increment:
    -
    Watch this lot 
    Bid Now
    USD

 

How Bidding Works

 

Davissons Ltd uses a soft close for its auctions, which means no lot closes until everyone is done bidding. Every time a bid is placed within the final 40 seconds of a lot closing, the timer is reset to 40 seconds. This continues until no bids are placed for 40 seconds, at which point the lot closes. There will never be more than one lot closing at once, as the next lot is not allowed to begin closing until the current lot closes.

To bid: enter your maximum bid into the text box, and click submit. Only round dollar amounts are accepted. You are then required to confirm your bid. Once confirmed, all bids are final. If you have placed a bid in error you must call during office hours and speak to one of us. If you are the current high bidder then it will display “Current High Bidder: YOU” If you are not the high bidder, or if you are not logged in, then the current high bidder will be identified by their 5 digit client ID. You may find your client ID under the Account tab.

Bids are reduced automatically, so feel free to bid your maximum and it will be reduced to one increment over the current high bid. If a user places a bid that is higher than necessary to be the current high bidder on the lot, the displayed bid will reflect one advance over the next lower bid. For example, if a user "A" places a bid of $120 on a lot which opens at $100, "A" will be winning that lot at $100. If another user "B" bids $110, the winning bidder will be "A" at $120, one advance over the supporting bid of $110. If user "B" in this example instead placed a bid at $120, then user "A" will still be winning at $120 because they placed that maximum bid value first.

Increments can be viewed here. The next bid will always be on the next increment, so if a user is winning a lot at $100, or $105, or $109, the next bid will still always be $110.

Close
Connected Disconnected