Exceptional Probus and Sol Aureus

Triton XVII, Lot: 781. Estimate $75000. Sold for $190000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Probus. AD 276-282. AV Aureus (21mm, 6.48 g, 6h). Siscia mint. Struck AD 277. IMP PROBVS INV AVG, conjoined busts of Probus and Sol left; Probus is laureate and cuirassed with a winged gorgoneion on his breastplate; Sol is radiate and draped / SECVRI TAS SAECVLI, Securitas seated left, holding scepter in right hand, resting her left hand on her head; SIS. RIC V 596 corr. (C in legend, SIS mintmark omitted); Pink VI/1, p. 49; Calicó 4198 (same dies as illustration); Biaggi 1622 (same dies); Cohen 632 corr. (Securitas standing); Jameson 297 (same dies); Mazzini 632 (same dies); Museum of History, Veliko Turnovo, Bulletin XI (1996), p. 207, 2 and pl. 14, 2 (same obv. die); S 11920 (same obv. die as illustration). Superb EF, underlying luster. Extremely rare, only the ninth known example.

Probus was one of the greatest of the late third century "soldier emperors." His campaigns against the usurpers Proculus, Bonosus, and Saturninus left him the unchallenged ruler of Rome, and his defeat of the Germanic forces at the borders of Gaul and Illyria restored areas long lost to the Empire. Ironically, Probus would be murdered at Sirmium, not far from Siscia, by soldiers enraged at being put to work on a road building project, and resenting his boastful comment that armies would soon be superfluous in a pacified Empire.

Obverses depicting jugate busts are exceptional on the coinage of Imperial Rome. This particular coin depicts the jugate busts of Probus and Sol (Invictus). It was 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. As a military emperor who was a close associate of Aurelian, it was natural for Probus to continue promoting the new cult, and associating himself with the deity. The depiction of Sol and the emperor on the obverse here clearly shows that by the time of Probus, the cult of this deity had grown immensely, and that the position of the emperor was not subordinate to Sol, but equal in status.

There are nine known examples, including the present specimen, struck from one obverse and two reverse dies:

Dies A/a

(1) Nelson Bunker Hunt Collection (Part I, Sotheby’s, 19 June 1990), lot 149 = Leu 13 (29 April 1975), lot 486 (ill. Kent & Hirmer 548 and S 11920).
(2) Veliko Turnovo, Museum of History (ill. Bulletin XI [1996], pl. 14, 2).
(3) Freeman & Sear FPL 10 (Spring 2005), no. 122; Leu 87 (6 May 2003), lot 89; Hess-Leu 36 (17 April 1968), lot 532.

Dies A/b

(1) Jameson 297 = Montagu (Rollin & Feuardent, 20 April 1896), lot 700 = De Quelen (Rollin & Feuardent, 14 May 1888), lot 1845.
(2) Biaggi 1622 (ill. Calico 4198).
(3) Mazzini 632.
(4) J. Schulman 256 (28 May 1973), lot 1686.
(5) Boston, Musem of Fine Arts, acc. no. 67.626 (ill. http://educators.mfa.org/ancient/aureus-busts-probus-and-sol-106378).
(6) The current specimen.