Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 1582. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $4000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

PROBUS. 276-282 AD. Antoninianus (4.74 g, 11h). Siscia mint. 2nd(?) emission, 277 AD. IMP PROBVS P F AVG, radiate bust left, wearing consular robes, holding eagle-tipped sceptre in right hand / CALLIOPE AVG, Calliope standing right, playing lyre set on her left knee, left foot propped on rock(?). RIC V -; Alföldi, Siscia V, pl. VI, 14-1 (p. 65 - citing two pieces in the F. Gnecchi and G. Weifert collections); Pink VI/1, -; Hunter -; Cohen 83 var. (bust type). EF, dark brown surfaces. Extremely rare, one of four known. ($1500)

The other three examples are in the Museo Nazionale in Rome (from the F. Gnecchi collection), University of Belgrade (from the W. Weifert collection), and a private collection (ex Berk BBS 91, 25 June 1996, lot 478 = L. Benz Collection [Lanz 100, 20 November 2000], lot 419). Cohen cited and example noted by H. Tanini in his 1791 supplement to the A. Banduri collection. This last piece, described as having an obverse type of radiate and cuirassed bust right, has not been verified in modern times. It is not inconceivable that the Banduri coin is of the same obverse type as the others, and may even be one of them.

Apart from an appearance in the series of the Roman Republican moneyer Q. Pomponius Musa, this is the only other occasion when Calliope, the Muse of Epic poetry, appeared as a Roman reverse type. Eckhel, believing the type to be unsuitable as a specific reference for this military emperor, instead posited it was a Leitmotiv of Probus' praiseworthy virtue. Others have tenuously suggested that Calliope refers to either the emperor's own (and unsubtantiated) literary proclivities or the work of an as yet unknown author of the time. A third possibility presents itself based on the obverse bust type and the attribution to Siscia. While the emperor's consular regalia suggests this issue was struck in connection with his assumption to that office, the presence of the aquila and the radiate crown (now replacing that of the more traditional wreath) may indicate a connected triumph (cf. RSC 78 [Augustus]). The coin's attribution to Siscia along the northern frontier is also important. Upon his proclamation as emperor by his troops following the murder of Aurelian, Probus advanced toward Rome. While making his way there, he and his forces defeated the Goths and Germans, and refortified the empire's northern boundaries. During these early days, Siscia would have offered a strong central base from which such operations could occur, and from here the start of a new imperial court could begin. With Probus' assumption to the consulship bolstered by these early successes, it is quite likely that the ceremonies surrounding this event included an epic panegyric (over which the Muse Calliope would have presided), and the distribution of special coins to those in attendance, thus accounting for this issue's extreme rarity and lack of mintmark.