Un moyen bronze de Marc Aurèle

Je vous présente un bronze très intéressant pour Marc Aurèle qui m'a demandé quelques heures de travail pour l'identification.


En effet, absent du Ric et du cohen (La combinaison du droit et du revers existe en sesterce, mais pour les As/dupondius il n'y a pas cette combinaison avec 1 enfant dans le bras de pietas)

Il a fallut chercher dans les notes du BMC : BMC 1858 note qui fait référence au livre de Strack sur Antonin, n° 1030. Le BMC dit "Variant of rev. Pietas holds child on left arm" et il renvoie à Strack 1030 en précisant que le type est celui du sesterce  BMC 1854.


Voici la réponse de Curtis Clay à qui j'avais montré la monnaie. 

Strack 1030, middle bronzes in Berlin,Vienna, and Vatican.

He illustrates the Berlin spec., pl. XVI. It seems to be from the same rev. die as yours, but a different obv. die with different bust type, with fold of cloak or aegis on front shoulder and behind neck.

I have a dupondius like yours in my own collection, from different dies both sides, obv. head only like yours but legend split CAE - SAR. The few specimens of this coin that I have inspected in hand were all struck in yellow metal, i.e. are dupondii not asses.

This type seems to commemorate the birth of Marcus and Faustina's second child, the naked male baby that the figure holds, while their first child, a daughter, stands at her feet. I have discovered that, contrary to the accepted reconstruction of the births and deaths of Marcus' children, both of these earliest offspring were soon to die, which probably helps explain the rarity of this type in all denominations, aurei, sestertii, and dupondii!

As/dupondius  - 9.31 g


A/ AVRELIVS CAES AR AVGPIIF
R/ TRPOT III COS II / SC / PIETAS

Curtis est vraiment fort !

Belle monnaie, belle patine.

Une patine émail qui est une pure garantie d'authenticité et d'une totale absence de retouche.
Une monnaie dans sons jus... elle est véritablement dans l'état où elle a été découverte. J'adore.

Oui on trouve de véritables arc en ciel sur certaine monnaies usées et ca les rend plus que charmante !

On the other hand the two first children must have lived for some little time after the birth of the boy, because it was also his birth (and not the birth of twin boys, as is usually assumed) that was commemorated by Antoninus Pius' TEMPORVM FELICITAS COS IIII type, busts of the boy and of his two-year-old sister atop crossed cornucopias, a type which is fairly common on sestertii, so was probably struck for at least a month or so, maybe longer.

Trouvaille interessante, merci du partage Ikos,


....et merci a Curtis de partager son érudition sans bornes