The Usurper Jotapian

CNG 93, Lot: 1223. Estimate $15000. Sold for $13000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Jotapian. Usurper, circa AD 248-249. AR Antoninianus (20mm, 4.21 g, 6h). Nicopolis in Seleucia mint. IM C M F R IOTAPIANVS AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / [VICT]OR I A AV G, Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm frond. RIC IV 2b var. (obv. legend); Bland 8a (same rev. die); RSC 1b var. (obv. legend); B. Feirstein Collection (Part II, NAC 42), lot 161 (same obv. die); Gemini VIII, lot 408 (same dies). VF, darkly toned, usual porosity. Extremely rare.

Jotapian led a short-lived revolt in Syria in the autumn of AD 249 while Philip I was still emperor. Little is known of Jotapian’s background. It was said that he boasted of a relationship to Severus Alexander, and his unusual name, although otherwise unknown for a man, is attested in its feminine form "Jotape" in the royal houses of Commagene and Emesa. The extreme rarity of his coins indicates that the revolt was brief, and the crude style proves that the revolt was geographically confined, for Jotapian plainly did not control a major Roman mint. His head was brought to Rome and shown to Trajan Decius "as was customary, although Decius had not asked for it" (Aur. Vict., Caes. 29.4). In his corpus of Jotapian's coins, Bland cites 18 antoniniani in total. On this example, one can clearly the last letter in the obverse legend, the G of AVG. No dies are recorded by Bland that end with G, only A and AV. This coin, the Feirstein coin, CNG 84, lot 1302, and Gemini VIII, lot 408, from the same obverse die, are the only known examples with this legend variety.