ANTHEMIUS: MILAN

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS


= - no variation from standard type listed above   

" - same as previous type

MD / COMOB =    MD   

                           COMOB

Spec. = number of specimens catalogued

fn - footnote in RIC


SERIES 3: cuirassed bust (KFa3)1 / PAX in wreath

Obv     Rev          Spec.            RIC              Obv                                                        Rev (PV // M |   | D / COMOB)

1          1                 2                 2884             DNANTHEMI-V-SPFAVG2                PAS

2          2                 1                 2885             DNANTHEM-IVS-PFAVG                 "

2          3                 4                 2885             "                                                              SALVBREI3 // bAS

3          3                 8                 2884             DNANTHEMI-VS-PFAVG                 "

4          3                 1                 2884             DNANTHEMI-VSPFAVG                  "

5          3                 1                 2886             DNANTHE-MIV-SPFAVG                 "


SERIES 4: cuirassed bust (KFa3) / globus cruciger

Obv     Rev          Spec.            RIC              Obv                                                        Rev (PV // MD / COMOB)

5          4                 2                 2887             "                                                              =

6          4                 1                 2888             DNANTHEMIV-S-PEAVG                 =

7          4                 3                 2890             DNANTHEMI-VSPERPETAVG         =

7          5                 1                 2890             "                                                              =

8          5                 7                 2890             DNANTHEMI-VSPERPETAVC         =

8          6                 1                 2890             "                                                              =

8          7                 1                 2890             "                                                             

8          8                 3                 2890fn          "                                                             ALVREI // MD

8          9                 1                 2892             "                                                              SALVREI // COOB

9          10               1                 2890             DNANTHEMI-VSPERPETAVG         =

10        10               1                 2891             DNANTHEMI-VSPERPETVG       =

10        11               3                 2891             "                                                              =

10        12               4                 2891             "                                                              MB4

11        12               4                 2889             DNANTHE-MIVSPFAVG                   =

10        13               3                 2893             DNANTHEMI-VSPERPETVG      

10        8                 1                 2890fn          "                                                               ALVREI / MD



SERIES 5A: draped bust (MF3) / globus cruciger

Obv     Rev          Spec.            RIC              Obv                                                        Rev (PV //  / COMOB)

12        14               1                 2894             DNANTEHEMIV-SPERPETVAVC    =

13        14               1                 2895             DNANTHE-MIVSPFAVC                   =

14        15               1                 2896             DNANTHEMI-VSPEAVG                   MD


SERIES 5B: draped bust (MF3), new engravers / globus cruciger

Obv     Rev          Spec.            RIC              Obv                                                        Rev (IP //  / COMOB)

15        16               3                 2897             DNANTHEM-IVSPEAVG                   MD

16        17               4                 2898             DNANTHE-MIVSPEAVG                   =

17        17               2                 2899             DNANTHEM-IVSPEAVG                   =

18        18               3                 2899             "                                                              =

TOTAL  69 specimens


NOTES

1  On obv. 1-6 the diadem has no jewel or trefoil.  It has no trefoil on 10 and 12.

2  Obverse die link with Rome 2804.

3  Second ‘S’ of ‘SALVS’ engraved over mistaken first stroke of ‘R’.

4  There is no evidence for this mintmark’s having been recut from an RM (see comments in DO cat. 913), but its appearance is peculiar.  The die was certainly cut by a Milan engraver.


General Introduction      Introduction       Rome       Ravenna

COMMENTARY


The minting practices at Milan in series four need some explanation.  There are clear links between obverses from 2-2 (series three) to 8-9 (series four).  The chronological order of 8-6 to 8-9 is determined by a growing and changing die flaw on the obverse at the second ‘P’ of ‘PERP’.  Rev 5 was particularly long-lived and it was during the use of this reverse that the obverse flaw first develops: it is not present on the first two specimens but is on the last four.  However, it does not exist on 8-6.  Since rev 5 links back to obv 7, the only conclusion is that both rev 5 and rev 6 were employed simultaneously with obv 8, with rev 6 being introduced at the same time as the shift from obv 7 to 8.  The obverse flaw and further die wear make it certain that rev 8 belongs at the end of obv 8’s lifetime.  Therefore there is a definite chronological progression from 2-2 to 8-9.  There is then a break, though this gap may later be filled by further specimens.


The chronological progression of obv 10 is also made certain by a growing die crack across the last three letters of ‘ANTHEMI’.  It beings between the ‘M’ and ‘I’ and then eventually extends all the way across the letters to the edge of the die.  It first appears in the sequence 10-12 and progresses steadily in length and depth (thus as a raised line on the coins themselves) to the last pair in the sequence, 10-8.  But this produces a strange paradox since rev 8 links to the end of the life of obv 8 as well as the end of the life of obv 10.  It is impossible to link the two sequences of 2-2 to 8-9 and 9-10 to 10-8 through rev 8.  The only plausible explanation is that after a lull in minting at the end of series four, new solidi were called for and instead of engraving new dies (or while waiting for new series five dies to be completed) the mint workers simply employed the most recent obv die (in spite of a large crack) and called an old reverse back into service.  Rev 8 as paired with obv 10 shows some signs of wear in the device and COMOB, but no other obvious damage, so perhaps that was why it was reused.

The other major anomaly is that obv 11 links with rev 12, yet the growing flaw in obv 10 proves that rev 12 must link into the middle of the life of obv 10, not at its end.  There are four specimens of rev 12 with obv 10 and four with obv 11.  Each shows advancing or advanced die damage at the ‘BL’ of ‘BLICAE’ in a sequence that makes it certain that both obverses were used at the same time with this single reverse die.  Obv 11 is unusual in that it foreshadows the legend change in series five (obv 13) and does not include PERPETV.  Since obv 9 links with rev 10, 9-10 therefore begin this final sequence of series four.


General Introduction      Introduction       Rome       Ravenna


CONCORDANCES


D = Georges Depeyrot, Les Monnaies d’or de Constantin II à Zenon (337-491) (Wetteren, 1996), pp. 175-6 and plate 14.

DO = Philip Grierson and Melinda Mays, Catalogue of Late Roman Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection.  From Arcadius and Honorius to the Accession of Anastasius (Washington, DC, 1992).

F = Joan M. Fagerlie, Late Roman and Byzantine Solidi Found in Sweden and Denmark (NNM 157; New York, 1967).


L = Guy Lacam, La fin de l’Empire romain et le monnayage or en Italie, 455-493, vol. I (Lucerne, 1993), pp. 475-487 (plates CXXI-CXXVI-B) and vol. 2, plates 28-9.  Note that no. 92 belongs to the mint of Rome.

UB = Oscar Ulrich-Bansa, Moneta Mediolanensis (352-498) (Venice, 1949).

V = Lucrezia Ungaro, ‘Il Ripostiglio della casa delle Vestali, Roma 1899’, Bollettino di Numismatica 4 (1985), 47-160.

1-1           L 76, V 12 = L 77

2-2           RIC 2885 plate

2-3           UB 127 = DO 906 = L 79, D 31/2, V 11

3-3           L 81, L 82, L 83, F 153,  UB 126, DO 905, RIC 2884 plate (BM)

4-3           UB 126*= DO 904 = L 78

5-3           UB 128 = DO 907 = L 80 = RIC 2886 plate

5-4           UB 124

6-4           UB 125

7-4           F 149, L 103, D 29/1

7-5           L 102

8-5           L 104, L 109, DO 910 = L 108, V 13, RIC 2890 plate (BM)

8-6           UB 121 = L 100  (Turin, not Bologne)

8-7           DO 912 = L 107

8-8           UB 123 = DO 911 = L 105, F 151, V 14

8-9           DO 909 = L 106 = RIC 2892 plate

9-10         L 101

10-10       RIC 2891 plate

10-11      

10-12       UB 121* = DO 913 = L 98, L 99

11-12       UB 124* = L 93, DO 914 = L 97, RIC 2889 plate

10-13       UB 122 = L 94 = RIC 2893 plate (BM), L 95, F 152 = L 96

10-8

12-14       UB 120 = L 84 = RIC 2894 plate

13-14       L 86 = D 30/1 = RIC 2895 plate

14-15       UB 119 = L 85

15-16       UB 117, RIC 2897 plate

16-17       F 155, L 87, DO 921 = L 91, RIC 2898 plate

17-17       UB 118, F 154 = RIC 2899 plate

18-18       DO 922 = L 88, L 89, L 90

Georges Depeyrot, Les Monnaies d’or de Constantin II à Zenon (337-491) (Wetteren, 1996), pp. 175-6 and plate 14.

29/1      Obvv. 7-10 and associated reverses (photo is 7-4)

29/2      Does not exist; probably14-15 misdescribed

29/3      11-12

29/4      5-4

29/5      Does not exist; probably 6-4 misdescribed

30/1      Does not exist; misdescribed 16-17 (yet photo is 13-14)

30/2      Does not exist; 15-16, 17-17, 18-18 misdescribed

30/3      Does not exist; 12-14 misdescribed

30/4      Does not exist; 14-15 misdescribed

31/1      1-1, 3-3, 4-3 (though the reverse is not PAX)

31/2      2-2, 2-3 (though the reverse is not PAX)

General Introduction      Introduction       Rome       Ravenna