IX Auction From the collection of a true connoisseur of Probus’ coinage part IV

The Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus ruled for only 6 years (years 276-282 AD), but he left behind an exceptionally rich and interesting coinage, unique in the whole Roman empire. There are about a dozen thousand types (including numerous variants) of Probus coins!

Probus coins were struck by as many as 10 mints: Lugdunum (today's Lyon in France), Rome, Ticinum (today's Pavia in Italy), Siscja (today's Sisak in Croatia), Serdyka (today's Sofia in Bulgaria), Kyzikos (northern Turkey) Antioch (southern Turkey), Tripolis (today's northern Lebanon), a fourth eastern mint of as yet undetermined location and Alexandria (Egypt).

Each mint had its own unique style and consisted of a number of workshops minting particular types of coins (e.g. the mint in Lugdunum had 4 workshops, the mint in Rome had 7 workshops, the mint in Ticinum had 6 workshops etc.; however in particular years some workshops were closed, others were opened).

The coinage of Probus captivates with an incredible wealth of types of reverses (over 100), many of which have several or even more than a dozen of different iconographic variants, a wealth of variants of imperial titulature (about 100), as well as a wealth of types of imperial bust (several dozen).

In addition, some bust types have many distinctly different variants (e.g. on an "ordinary" radiate bust of Probus to the right one can sometimes see additionally a fold of drapery or an aegis or a medallion with a Gorgon), not counting rare and sought-after decorations of the shield or cuirass in the form of, e.g. a Gorgon, an emperor on horseback, Sol's head, Sol in a quadriga, a laurel wreath, a floret, rows of soldiers with shields and many, many others.

Some Probus reverses are unique in the entire Roman coinage - e.g. ORIGINI AVG - see lot 2093, CONSERVAT AVG with Sol in the temple - see lot 2085, or SISCIA PROBI AVG (offered in our auctions VI and VII).

Similarly, some rare and sought-after Probus titulatures do not have their equivalents among coins of other emperors (e.g. titulatures BONO ("bono" = good) or PERPETVO ("perpetuo" = eternal,

unceasing) - see lots no. 2210 and 2219 are extremely rare and desired, e.g. the famous titulature DEO ET DOMINO.

Coinage is a very important source of knowledge about the reign of Probus, considering that - apart from a small number of papyri and inscriptions - no written (literary) sources contemporary to Probus have survived: in particular Scriptores historiae Augustae; De vita Caesarum; and the New History of Zosimos were written respectively more than 100 and 200 years after Probus' death.

A reliable, updated catalog (corpus) of Probus' entire coinage is unfortunately lacking so far. Volume V.2 of the Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC) by Percy Webb on Probus, among others, was published in 1933 and is completely outdated. It fails to record many hundreds, if not thousands, of currently known Probus coin types, assigns many coins to the wrong mints, and sometimes records types that do not actually exist. Therefore, attribution in the RIC for Probus coins must be approached with great caution.

The primary catalogs of the Probus mint - in addition to RIC V.2 - are:

Bastien (Pierre) for Lugdunum coins (Le monnayage de l'atelier de Lyon : de la réouverture de l'atelier par Aurélien à la mort de Carin (fin 274-mi 285), Wetteren, Éd. Numismatique romaine, 1976, 287 p., LXIII pl);

Alfoldi (Andreas) for Siscia coins (Siscia. Vorarbeiten zu einem Corpus der in Siscia geprägten römischen Kaisermünzen. Heft V. Verzeichnis der Antoniniane des Kaisers Probus, Budapest, 1939, 88 p. (extrait de Numizmatikai Közlöny, t. XXXVI-XXXVII, 1937-1938);

Guillemain (Jean) for Rome coins (La monetazione di Probo a Roma (276-282 d.C.), Rome, Quasar, 2009, 286 p., 20 pl. (« Ripostiglio della Venèra, Nuovo catalogo illustrato », III, 1).

Estiot (Sylviane) for coins from the 4th eastern mint ("L’Empereur et l’usurpateur: un 4e atelier oriental sous Probus"; Studies in ancient coinage in honor of Anndrew Burnett, Spink, London, 2015).

Also of great importance is the work of Karl Pink (Numismatische Zeitschrift, Der Aufbau der Romischen Munzpragung in der Kaiserzeit, VI/1 Probus, Wien, 1949), which to this day is the primary source when it comes to the description and chronology of individual issues (emmissions) within the mints of Ticinum, Siscia, Serdica, Kyzikos, Antioch and Tripolis. However, this work, too, is in need of revision and some divisions and classifications of issues are no longer tenable today.

Lack of up-to-date, reliable catalogs concerning the whole Probus coinage makes it significantly easier for collectors to search for previously unpublished coin types, thanks to which they significantly contribute to the development of knowledge about the Probus coinage, including the preparation of modern catalogs. For many years, collectors have been actively collaborating, e.g. on the revision of RIC volume V.2 under the guidance of Prof. Sylviane Estiot (the invaluable contribution of the late Philippe Gysen is worth mentioning here).

Collectors are also the authors of sensational websites about Probus coinage:

Probvs.net

Probuscoins.fr

Finally, it was the collector Alexander Missong who first discovered and published the puzzling coded Eqviti series in his article 'Gleichartig systemisirte Münzreihen unter Kaiser Probus', Numismatische Zeitschrift (1873). For more information on the fascinating (A)EQVITI series, see Gert Boersema's article: http://www.oudgeld.com/webbib/translation_codewords.htm 

In our present auction IX we offer two coins from the coded EQVITI series with rare and sought-after titles VIRTVS PROBI INVICTI AVG, celebrating the bravery of the invincible Augustus Probus - see lots no. 2083 and 2084

The 4th part of the Aurelian and Probus coins from the world-class collection of a true connoisseur of these coins, offered in our auction IX, has been carefully selected both in terms of condition and overall presentation, as well as rarity.

Most of the pieces offered in our auction are in mint or near-mint condition, with full or nearly full original silvering and superbly struck details. These are often some of the best or even the best known specimens of particular types - cf. especially lots no. (...).

We are proud to present many true rarities known from only a few pieces, and even a number of published or unpublished unique specimens (to the best of our knowledge on the date of publication of this catalog) - see lots no. 2052, 2075 and 2086

Our intention was to show the wealth and diversity of the Probus coinage. That is why we offer coins from all 10 mints, from various workshops and issues, with various reverses, types of busts and titulatures.

We wish everyone good luck in bidding on the beautiful and rare pieces from this excellent collection!