Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 355. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $2800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Carus. AD 282-283. Double Antoninianus (5.36 g, 6h). Siscia mint. 1st emission, November AD 282. DEO ET DOMINO CARO AVG, radiate and draped bust of Sol right and radiate and cuirassed bust of Carus left, vis-à-vis / FELICITA S REIPVBLICAE, Felicitas standing facing, head left, leaning left elbow upon column to right, holding caduceus in right hand and transverse scepter in left; X·I. RIC V 99; Pink VI/2 p. 42. Good VF, some minor underlying silver. Very rare.

From the White Mountain Collection.

The extraordinary title Deo et Domino ("to the lord and god") first appeared on coinage during Aurelian's reign. The fact that Aurelian was looked at in a divine light during his lifetime was wholly acceptable to the general Roman populace given the apparent "superhuman" feats he was accomplishing in revitalizing and recovering the empire after nearly forty years of constant turmoil. It was also Aurelian who established the worship of Sol Invictus at Rome, not to supplant the other gods, but as a new cult added to the many already existing. Aurelian promoted Sol as the patron god of the military as well as his own patron, and the two were closely associated on the coinage. After Aurelian's death, the cult continued to flourish, with the result that Sol supplanted Jupiter as the typical god associated with the person of the emperor. This particular coin, with its early appearance in the issues of Carus, obviously announced his personal association with Sol as his patron and parallel among the gods. The propaganda value lies in its reassurance to the public that Carus was going to be successful, like Aurelian, with Sol's divine help. It is also a dual-portrait type that is an obvious reflection of the dynastic issues of the Severans, with Sol in the senior position of Septimius and Carus in the junior position of Severus' sons (or wife).

Equally interestingly, there has been an ongoing discussion about the meaning of the mintmark on many of these coins, such as XII, XI, and KA (the Greek version of XI). As XXI is the standard form and believed to relate to the denomination, it is believed that these other marks also relate to the denomination, as all the coins bearing these enigmatic marks are heavier in weight than the typical antoninianus. Although their weights are not double that of antoniniani, an issue with a double radiate crown (under Carus; in the BM, see PCR 1037) led to the early conclusion that a double value was to be observed in the marketplace. Although this theory is not accepted by all numismatists, the nomenclature of "double antoninianus" is still used for these coins today.