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Septimius Severus. AD 193-211. AR Denarius (19.5mm, 3.27 g, 1h). Rome mint. Struck AD 210. Laureate head right / Victory, holding wreath and palm frond, driving galloping quadriga right. Cf. RIC IV 300 (Aureus); RSC 713a corr. (quadriga not biga) = 713b; Seaby Coin & Medal Bulletin 548 (January 1964), no. B41 (mislabeled in pl. 3 as B44). Toned. VF. Extremely rare. One of only three known and one of only two in private hands.
From the Weise Collection. Ex Helios 2 (25 November 2008), lot 328.
This extremely rare issues has suffered from some misattribution in the references which could use some clarification. Firstly, the type in only listed as an aureus in RIC IV 300. RIC IV was first published in 1936, before the first specimen of this coin appeared, so this is not unexpected nor problematic. However, RSC later attempted to catalog the coin, but ended up citing the same coin twice in two separate entries. RSC 713a is incorrectly given as a biga and cites Seaby. RSC 713b is correctly cataloged but also happens to cite the same coin as in 713a but from later in its pedigree history. The Seaby and Arnold coin are one in the same.
With that clarification, this issue is also extremely rare with only three examples known. The first known example appeared first in the January 1964 Seaby Coin & Medal Bulletin, secondly in a Glendining sale from the Arnold Collection, and now rests in the British Museum. The second example was sold by Classical Numismatic Group in 2003. Finally, this example was first sold in Helios 2 in 2008. The small corpus of this issue is as follows:
1. British Museum 1992,0509.64 = G. R. Arnold Collection (Glendining, 21 November 1984), lot 42 = Seaby Coin & Medal Bulletin 548 (January 1964), no. B41 (mislabeled in pl. 3 as B44).
2. Marc Melcher Collection (Triton VI, 13 January 2003), lot 949.
3. Weise Collection. Ex Helios 2 (25 November 2008), lot 328
Closing Date and Time: 5 June 2024 at 15:01:20 ET.
All winning bids are subject to a 20% buyer’s fee.
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