Mint of Samosata

442, Lot: 516. Estimate $1000. Sold for $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Gallienus. AD 253-268. AV Binio (24mm, 5.34 g, 5h). Samosata mint. Issue 1, AD 255-256. IMP C P LIC GALLIENVS AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / AETERNITAS AVGG, Sol or emperor, radiate, walking right, right hand raised, left holding globe. MIR 36, 1675h; RIC V (joint reign) 69 var. (bust type; Rome); Calicó 3467 var. (same). Good VF, underlying luster. Numerous peck, surface and edge marks.

Ex Spink 132 (25 May 1999), lot 318.

RIC describes the figure on the reverse as the emperor, whereas MIR names him as Sol, but with ‘K[aiser] ?' in brackets afterwards (Tabelle 50). It is impossible to be certain whether it is the god himself or Gallienus in the guise of Sol, but the former seems more likely, As suggested in the introductory chapter on The cult of Sol, many Romans would have regarded it as unacceptable for an emperor to portray himself as a god during his lifetime.

The city of Samosata stood on the west bank of the River Euphrates, in the south-east of Turkey, close to the modern town of Samsat. The mint which was placed there by Göbl in MIR is that which was described simply as ‘Second Eastern Mint’ in publications such as the Cunetio hoard report. Coin production there seems to have commenced around the beginning of AD 255 (MIR p. 134), and to have continued for the various members of the imperial family until fairly late in AD 260, after which coins were struck there for the usurpers Macrianus II and Quietus (see below).