LEG I MIN

442, Lot: 350. Estimate $75. Sold for $240. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Gallienus. AD 253-268. Antoninianus (21mm, 3.23 g, 6h). Mediolanum (Milan) mint. Issue 2(2), AD 260-1. GALLIENVS AVG, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust left, viewed from rear, holding spear, pointing upwards, and shield on left shoulder / LEG I MIN VI P VI F, Minerva standing left, holding Victory, spear, and shield. MIR 36, 988i; RIC V (joint reign) 322; Cunetio –. VF, porous, green deposits, flan crack.

Bought from Manton Associates, 1992.

Legio I Minervia was raised by Domitian, probably about AD 83, and was named for his patron goddess, Minerva. Its first battle was the suppression of the rebel governor of Upper Germany, Lucius Antonius Saturninus, in AD 89. After this successful outcome, I Minervia was based at Bonna (modern Bonn) in western Germany. It served under Trajan in the Dacian Wars, where it was commanded by the future Emperor Hadrian. In the third century AD, I Minervia fought with distinction in the German expedition of Maximinus I Thrax. When the rebel governor Postumus took control of Gaul and Germany in AD 259, I Minervia seems to have backed him; however, at least one detachment remained loyal to Gallienus, as is indicated by this coin. Legio I Minervia disappears from history after the destruction of Bonna in 353 by the Franks. Its symbols were the goddess Minerva and a ram.