Two Exceptional Bronzes Destined for Antioch

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 920. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $1100. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Trajan. AD 98-117. Æ As (7.81 g, 6h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 115-116. IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GERM, radiate and draped bust right / DAC PARTHICO P M TR POT XX COS VI P P, oak wreath around S • C. RIC II 647; Strack 479; BMCRE 1096; Cohen 123. EF, dark green-brown patina, earthen highlights. Bold portrait and attractive surfaces.

This unusual issue struck at the end of 115 is typically attributed to an eastern mint, usually Antioch. The issue consisted of the as and semis, both with radiate busts, and both struck on orichalcum flans. Metallurgical tests have shown that the orichalcum used is indistinguishable from the orichalcum used for Roman sestertii and dupondii and quite different from the orichalcum used for some provincial issues. This fact, along with the style of the portraiture and legend, and the die axis of 6:00 versus the normal 12:00 die axis for the Antioch mint, suggests that this issue was minted at Rome and shipped to Syria. See the two articles by Metcalf in ANSMN 20 (1975) and 22 (1977), and Carradice and Cowell's article in NC (1987).