Bare heads = best heads!

[rasiel]

An ode to minimalist design! For Roman coins the naked bust was the default in the early days of the empire. The adornments, typically spiky crowns, helmets or laurel wreaths, became increasingly common past the Julio-Claudian age. By the 2nd century the trend was fully reversed and by the 3rd bare heads were altogether a rarity. Constantius Gallus and Julian II would be (I think) the last to be featured without headgear - by then an iconographical choice laden with political significance.

Here's three from my collection. Share yours!

Rasiel

[AncientCoinnoisseur]

I don’t have any bare heads of an emperor, maybe the truly bare heads in my collection are Libertas (but she has something in her hair) or Juno Moneta, probably she is the only one that qualifies!

 

i just wanted to say that your last coin would be perfect for @TIF’s “Totally looks like”, because he reminds me of Mozart:

Edited August 3 by AncientCoinnoisseur

[shanxi]

Here are three of mine (or two, if the wig of Otho doesn't count):

 

Constantius Gallus
AE2, Constantinople
Obv: DN FL CL CONSTANTIVS NOB CAES/ Bust of Constantius Gallus, bareheaded, draped, cuirassed, right
Rev: FEL TEMP RE-PARATIO, Soldier, helmeted, draped, cuirassed, advancing left, spearing fallen horseman with right hand and wearing shield on left arm; shield on ground to right
MintMark: Γ•/-//CONSZ
AE, 4.36g, 22-23 mm
RIC 7, p.456, 107

 

Marcus Aurelius
AR Denar, Rome
Obv.: AVRELIVS CAES ANTON AVG PII F, head bare
Rev.: TR POT XIII COS II, Spes advancing left, holding flower, raising skirt
Ag, 3.32g, 16.2mm
Ref.: RIC III (A.P.) 479

 

Otho
Denarius, Rome, AD 69
Obv.: IMP M OTHO CAESAR AVG TRP, Bare head right
Rev.: SECVRITAS PR, Securitas standing left, holding wreath and sceptre
Ag, 3.28g, 19x17mm
Ref.: RIC² 8, RIC 8, Kankelfitz 3

Edited August 3 by shanxi

[GERMANICVS]

I have a few bare heads, it seems most are from the period before the dude became emperor, so maybe they did not have the right to be seen with headgear? Of course, some of them never became emperor, like Drusus or Germanicus, for example.

 

 

Edited August 3 by GERMANICVS

[expat]

Some bare heads

Geta

 

Antoninus Pius

 

 

Edited August 3 by expat

[maridvnvm]

Constantius Gallus - AE2

Obv:– DN CONSTANTIVS IVN NOB C, Bare, bust draped and cuirassed right
Rev:– FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing fallen horseman, who is bare headed, reaching backwards
Minted in Antioch (Gamma | _ // ANA), A.D. 350-355
Reference:– RIC VIII Antioch 134

[Qcumbor]

Some beautiful portraits out there. Some of mine

 

Q

[Victor_Clark]

Constantine I
A.D. 313    Half follis  18mm 1.3g
IMP CONSTANTINVS P F AVG; bare head right.
GLORIA PERPET; Two victories advancing right, both holding wreath and palm frond, standard between them
In ex. RS
RIC VII Rome 14

 

 

 

 

Constantine I
A.D. 313   Half follis  15mm 1.7g   
IMP CONSTANTINVS P F AVG; bare head right.
FVNDAT PACIS; Mars advancing right with trophy over left shoulder, dragging captive.
in ex. RT
RIC VII Rome 12; Mazzini V, pl. XX, 157 (this coin)

 

Constantine I
A.D. 313   14mm 1.1gm   quarter follis
IMP CONSTANTINVS P F AVG; bare head right.
SAPIENTIA PRINCIPIS; Altar with owl, spear across altar, shield to left and helmet to right.
in ex. RS
RIC VII Rome 16

 

 

topic on these coins--

https://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/pacis/

 

 

[DonnaML]

I was rather surprised to discover that out of all my Roman Imperial coins with bare-headed busts of emperors on the obverse (not counting Divus types), almost half were issued by Hadrian -- most of those from the Travel Series -- and the latest one I have was issued by Marcus Aurelius.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 4 by DonnaML

[happy_collector]

Coins on young Marcus Aurelius have bare-headed busts. Here are 2 in my collection.

 

[DonnaML]

I had assumed that all the Divus issues were bare-headed (at least up to the point that coins began showing deceased emperors veiled), given that after their deaths emperors were no longer "the" emperor. So I left them out from my original post. But that's not actually true, it seems: my Divus Augustus bronze is laureate, as is my Divus Vespasian denarius. So here are my three bare-headed Divus issues:

I'm still leaving out my bare-headed Octavians, and all my bare-headed Caesars!

 

Edited August 4 by DonnaML

[Victor_Clark]

 

 

Constantius II
A.D. 328- 329
Ӕ nummus 18x19mm 2.9gm
FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C; bare- headed, draped and cuirassed bust left.
PROVIDEN-TIAE CAES •; camp gate with two turrets and star between them.
in ex. SMNΔ
RIC VII Nicomedia --


Not in RIC for the bare-headed bust

[Orange Julius]

5 minutes ago, Victor_Clark said:

 

 

Constantius II
A.D. 328- 329
Ӕ nummus 18x19mm 2.9gm
FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C; bare- headed, draped and cuirassed bust left.
PROVIDEN-TIAE CAES •; camp gate with two turrets and star between them.
in ex. SMNΔ
RIC VII Nicomedia --


Not in RIC for the bare-headed bust

Although scarce, I have one of those too! The only bareheaded bust campgate.

[mc9]

here some more campgate coins with bare heads, all from Nicomedia:

Edited August 4 by mc9

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

Lucius Verus AE As

 

 

Decentius Caesar AE2

 

 

Magnentius AE1

 

 

Edited August 4 by Ancient Coin Hunter

[mc9]

Some more bare heads :

Augustus, Divus Augustus, Drusus, Germanicus, Claudius I, Marcus Aurelius and Maximus

 

 

[Edessa]

Roman Asia Minor. Ionia, Uncertain mint (Ephesus?). Claudius, AD 41-54. AR Cistophorc Tetradrachm (26mm, 10.31g, 6h). Uncertain mint in Asia, struck circa AD 41-42. Obv; TI CLAVD CAES•AVG; Bare head to left. Rev: Distyle temple inscribed ROM ET AVG, containing figure of emperor standing to left, holding spear, being crowned by female figure holding cornucopiae; COM-ASI across fields. Ref: RPC I 2221; BMCRE 228 (Ephesus); RIC I 120 (Pergamum); RSC 3. Near Very Fine. Ex Roma 99 (7 Jul 2022), Lot 714. Roma 99 Note: The obverse of this coin is die-linked to following Lot 715 which is attributed to the mint of Ephesus, made clear from the reverse legend. This link may mean that this coin too can be attributed to Ephesus, however we cannot rule out the die travelling between different mints. In this instance it would have travelled from the uncertain mint to Ephesus as the die wear on Lot 715 is a little more advanced than seen here. 

 

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

I forgot this one above - Marcus Aurelius, Drachm of Alexandria

 

 

 

Edited August 4 by Ancient Coin Hunter

[Victor_Clark]

 

 

Romulus
A.D. 309- 312
22x23mm   5.8g
DIVO ROMVLO N V BIS CONS; bare head right.
AETERNAE MEMORIAE; Eagle with wings spread on domed shrine, with no columns, doors ajar.
In ex. MOSTS
RIC VI Ostia 34
 

[Heliodromus]

3 hours ago, mc9 said:

here some more campgate coins with bare heads, all from Nicomedia:

I'm not sure what they were thinking at Nicomedia - some weirdness there at the end of the campgate series with the bust types for the caesars, not seen elsewhere! It seems that when the busts for Constantine I first transition from laureate to diademed, then from diademed head-only to diademed draped-and-cuirassed busts, Nicomedia wanted to change-up the busts for the caesars too, and did it in this odd way.

It seems first they changed to diademed busts (unlisted & unexpected) for both of the caesars Constantine II and Constantius II, then following that(?) switched to the bare headed bust for Constantius II only, which would normally be taken as sign of junior status, but a bit odd given that he had already appeared with a laureate bust!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[expat]

Marcus Aurelius