Antoninus Pius Sestertius - Jupiter Standing RIC 962 - Very Rare or am I missing something?

[Marsyas Mike]

Recently a cruddy sestertius of Antoninus Pius showed up on eBay that was a bit too cruddy even for my low standards.  But I do love the AEs from his reign and the reverse seemed slightly different than the usual types commonly found.  Is that an eagle standing at the foot of Jupiter?  After ferocious bidding I got it for $20.50 on a $20.00 opening bid.  

Jupiter is not a common type for AP in the sestertius denomination - OCRE brings up six types, but with only 4 examples between them.  Four of the five are IOVI STATORI, one is a seated type, and then there's mine, RIC 962, which has TR POT XX reverse:  http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.3.ant.962  (OCRE describes Jupiter as "naked" but he is wearing a bath towel (not the official Roman name for it 😀)

When I started looking for other example of the sestertius in all the usual places, I found none in the British Museum, none in Wildwinds or FORVM and only one in acsearch - which was the only one I found.  It was incorrectly listed with the numbers transposed as RIC 692 (which is an As, Ceres standing).  This a reverse die-match, possibly an obverse die-match to mine (both are in such poor condition they were hard for me to interpret).  London Ancient Coins:  https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1838210

There is also an as and dupondius with the same reverse - for some reason these are more common:  http://numismatics.org/ocre/results?q=deity_facet%3A"Jupiter"+AND+(denomination_facet%3A"As"+OR+denomination_facet%3A"Dupondius"+OR+denomination_facet%3A"Sestertius")+AND+portrait_facet%3A"Antoninus+Pius"+AND+fulltext%3AXX

I did find a dupondius auction with helpful issue information (CGB.fr):

"CGB.fr MONNAIES 31; Lot 272; 21.06.2007 "This...was struck at  the time of the emperor's vicennalia...for the 20th tribunitian power.  For this type (Jupiter standing with lightning bolt and long scepter) we have...the denarius, sestertius, dupondius and as. Only the aureus is missing from the series, struck only in 156-157." (Google translate from the French, with some tweaking)  https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=385040

Here's mine (the white spots all over it may be BD; I've been soaking it - sometimes this white stuff seems more like the remnants of a bad wax-job, but I'm not sure - you get what you pay for!):  

Antoninus Pius      Æ Sestertius (156-157 A.D.) Rome Mint [ANTONINVS] AVG PIVS P P I[MP II], laureate head right / [T]R POT XX CO[S II]I[I], S-C, Jupiter standing front, head left, holding sceptre and thunderbolt, eagle standing on ground left RIC III 962. (22.00 grams / 30 x 28 mm) eBay May 2024  $20.50

Note: OCRE and British Museum have no examples; I could find only one sold at auction:

Die-Match Obv. (?) & Rev.: London Ancient Coins Auction I; Lot 156; 31.01.2014 RIC III 692. (sic for RIC 962?) Antoninus Pius struck a Jupiter type with IOVI STATORI reverse, which is more common. The TR POT XX types seem to be scarce.  

Here's mine with the only other example I could find, London Ancient Coins - pretty confident about the reverse die-match, not so sure about the obverse: 

 

If anybody has seen another one of these, please let me know.  And feel free to share your unexpected rarities, etc. 

P.S.  Another recent pick-up is this Antoninus Pius sestertius showing Mars advancing with trophy and spear - this one surprised me because AP was such a peaceful guy - this Mars type is more commonly encountered on the later Aurelius, Commodus, Septimius Severus, etc.  It is RIC 778, I think (I'm still working it up).  Though worn, it is one of the best portraits in my collection - I love the expressive eye and the green patina: 

This one is fairly common; I'd like to see others if you have one.

 

[Roman Collector]

RIC 962 IS rare. Strack recorded only a single specimen among the 30 European museum collections he inventoried, the specimen in Paris (Cohen 1000). This is the Paris specimen. I did an online search for other specimens and came up empty.

There's no eagle at Jupiter's feet here. There is one that has an eagle, but it's unlisted in the major references: Hunterian Museum (GLAHM 26839) = Hunter 333.

Edited June 1 by Roman Collector

[Marsyas Mike]

12 minutes ago, Roman Collector said:

RIC 962 IS rare. Strack recorded only a single specimen among the 30 European museum collections he inventoried, the specimen in Paris (Cohen 1000). This is the Paris specimen. I did an online search for other specimens and came up empty.

There's no eagle at Jupiter's feet here. There is one that has an eagle, but it's unlisted in the major references: Hunterian Museum (GLAHM 26839) = Hunter 333.

You're the best, RC.  Thank you - I never have much luck finding coins in the Paris collection(s?) unless OCRE links one.  

[Roman Collector]

This is the Hunterian museum specimen, illustrated in Paul Dinsdale's catalog in progress. The image is from the Hunter catalog and of poor quality. I think this is it:

Edited June 1 by Roman Collector

[Marsyas Mike]

6 minutes ago, Roman Collector said:

This is the Hunterian museum specimen, illustrated in Paul Dinsdale's catalog in progress. The image is from the Hunter catalog and of poor quality. I think this is it:

Thanks again - I'm not seeing the two you posted as die-matches to mine or the London Ancient Coins (and the Paris one lacking an eagle).  Which leads me to believe there are others out there.  Again, thanks for the numismatic digging.  

[Alegandron]

WOW @Marsyas Mike! Great find! Big congrats.

LOL, did you mortgage your home for that $20.50 bid???

 

 

[Marsyas Mike]

2 hours ago, Alegandron said:

WOW @Marsyas Mike! Great find! Big congrats.

LOL, did you mortgage your home for that $20.50 bid???

 

 

The way I collect, I'll wind up mortgaging my home because I spend $20.00 10,000 times, over and over.  Why buy one really nice coin when you can buy 50 cruddy ones?  Not a strategy I'd recommend...😥

[Alegandron]

8 minutes ago, Marsyas Mike said:

The way I collect, I'll wind up mortgaging my home because I spend $20.00 10,000 times, over and over.  Why buy one really nice coin when you can buy 50 cruddy ones?  Not a strategy I'd recommend...😥

I always cringe when people say that is a “lucky find”. Rather, I see the results of a lot of diligence, tenacity, and great work turning up rarities and super coins like yours! Awesome job finding it!

That makes collecting fun for all of us.

[Roman Collector]

2 hours ago, Alegandron said:

I see the results of a lot of diligence, tenacity, and great work turning up rarities and super coins like yours!