Honorius. AD 393-423. Æ (21.5mm, 6.68 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck for circulation in Spain, circa AD 417. Near VF.

Triton XXVIII – Session 6
Lot: 6185.

Roman Imperial, Bronze

Estimate: $ 300

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Honorius. AD 393-423. Æ (21.5mm, 6.68 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck for circulation in Spain, circa AD 417. Pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Honorius standing left, wearing military attire, holding Victory on globe right and labarum; SMR. RIC X 1354; LRBC –; cf. J.P.C. Kent, “The Fifth Century Bronze Coinage of Honorius in Italy and Gaul” in RIN XC (1988), pp. 285-6, 3 (for discussion); BM 1987,0314.1. Dark green and brown surfaces, extensively smoothed. Near VF. Extremely rare. Only this coin in CoinArchives. Two known in public collections. This example superior to the BM specimen and the Copenhagen example (pierced).

From the Bernard Victory Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 43 (24 September 1997), lot 2617.

Without inspecting the Copenhagen example, which reportedly has the SMRT mint mark, it is difficult to make a determination regarding the officinae, or lack thereof, for this extremely rare series. However, it is this cataloger’s opinion that the cited BM coin does not read SMRP for 1st officina, but that what is read as a ‘P’ is simply some roughness in relief. Thus, the mint mark on this coin and the BM specimen should be read simply as SMR without an officina.
These fascinating coins appear to have been struck by Honorius for circulation in Spain to “[pay] the remnants of his Spanish army” as per an official (but regrettably undated) document concerning dispatching the patrician Sabininaus to “[combat] the ‘barbarian infestation’” there (Kent, 285).

Closing Date and Time: 23 January 2025 at 11:01:20 ET.



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