PREVIEW: ANCIENT COINS & ANTIQUITIES 18 JULY

Troubled by barbarian invasions towards the middle and end of the 3rd Century AD, the northern part of the Roman Empire became unsettled and subject to the ambitions of military leaders.

More than one rose up and declared themselves emperor of the region, starting with the commander Postumus in 260, who ruled the Gallic Empire until 269.

 

Another was Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius, the commander of the Britannic Fleet, who in 286 rebelled after being condemned to death by the Emperor Maximian for colluding with pirates.

Having declared himself emperor in Britain and Northern Gaul, Carausius rebuffed attempts by Rome to unseat him in 288, before bidding to consolidate his position as official with an impressive new coinage.

Issuing coins from mints in London and Rouen (and possibly Colchester), Carausius ensured that they were of fine quality, including the first proper issue of silver coins for decades or longer – a move thought to have been inspired by his desire to promote his supremacy over the emperor in Rome.

Among the hoard of more than 52,500 Roman coins unearthed near Frome in Somerset in April 2010 were 766 of these coins, including five silver denarii.

Carausius’s success was relatively short-lived. In 293 Constantinus I, who ruled as the commander of the western empire, reclaimed Gaul, isolating Britain. Even without invading across the Channel, it was enough to bring about a fatal blow to the Emperor of the North as Carausius had styled himself. It is perhaps an irony that a man who had taken such care over the creation of his own coinage should be betrayed by his treasurer Allectus, who killed him before taking his place, only to suffer defeat and death at the hands of the Roman army three years later.

While Carausius himself might have ultimately failed in retaining his grip on power, his coinage remains his defining legacy.

Noonans will offer an example of a denarius of Carausius in this sale. Depicting him on the obverse in laurels with the surrounding inscription imp caravsivs p f avg, the reverse is inscribed virtvs avg and depicts a lion advancing with a thunderbolt in its jaws. The estimate is £5,000-7,000.