LEG X GEM

442, Lot: 400. Estimate $150. Sold for $360. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Gallienus. AD 253-268. Antoninianus (21mm, 3.29 g, 7h). Mediolanum (Milan) mint. Issue 2(2), AD 260-1. GALLIENVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust left, viewed from front, holding spear, pointing downwards, and shield on left shoulder; shield decorated with image of horseman to right, spearing fallen enemy / LEG X GEM VI P VI F, bull walking right. MIR 36, 1011q; RIC V (joint reign) 357; Cunetio –. VF, nice silver content, some weakness of strike.

Bought from Baldwin's, 1994.

Legio X Gemina originated as Julius Caesar’s famous Tenth Legion, serving him throughout his career of conquest. It remained so loyal to Caesar’s lieutenant,Mark Antony, that the victor of Actium, Octavian, felt it necessary to disband it and re-form a “twin” Legio X. Hence the cognomen “Gemina,” which it retained into the Fifth Century AD. After taking part in the Spanish campaigns of Augustus, it was transferred first to Carnuntum in Pannonia circa AD 62, then to Noviomagus (modern Nijmegan in the Netherlands), and finally to Vindobona (modern Vienna, Austria). It remained loyal to Gallienus during the chaotic mid-third century AD, and was honored for loyalty (VI P VI F) on his legionary coins. Its symbol was Caesar’s natal sign of Taurus, the bull.