Victory Over the Carpi

CNG 91, Lot: 946. Estimate $300. Sold for $625. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Philip I. AD 244-249. AR Antoninianus (22mm, 3.51 g, 12h). Commemorating victory over the Carpi. Rome mint. Special emission, AD 247. Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / VICTORIA CARPICA, Victory advancing right, holding wreath and palm frond. RIC IV 66; RSC 238. EF, traces of deposits. Rare.

This coin was struck to celebrate Philip’s victory in AD 247 over the Carpi, a Dacian tribe for whom the Carpathian Mountains were likely named. The Carpi and the Goths formed an alliance and repeatedly attacked Roman provinces from the north. Philip I and his armies so utterly destroyed the Carpi that by the 5th century there is no longer any historical mention of them.