VRBS ROMA


Reference : AYC #5 c var, RIC 203
Weight: 4.77 grs
Metal: Bronze
Diameter: ?
Scarcity: Very rare
Type:

Obverse

Reverse

FL NEP CONST - ANTINVS AVG

Laureate with rosette-diadem, draped and cuirassed bust of Nepotian to the right.

VRBS – ROMA

Roma seated left on a throne with a shield below. Holding victory with the right hand and an inverted spear with the left hand. Victory crowning her and being placed on a globe. The throne is decorated with a lion's head

Marks

RQ
Numéro : 1

One coin sold the 13/10/2004 by Gorny & Mosch Giessener Münzhandlung, Auction 224, lot 701, link to the sale: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2157291.

I classify this coin as a variant because the throne is decorated with a lion's head.

I worked on a classification of crowns. I noticed variations that were not listed in any work to my knowledge. Only the RIC had constituted a small incomplete classification. It is difficult to distinguish the small elements which are often worn and poorly represented. The bust: laureate with pearl-diadem is quite problematic: we see small dots in the middle of the laurels, berries? I don't think so, they never seem to have been portrayed. The presence of the jewel at the top of the forehead is for me proof that the diadem is there. Even if a coin shows no dot in the middle of the laurels: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=2836176, i see no evidence of the representation of berries. We can also think that the rather oval “laurels” that we see for example with the diadem of rosettes, could be stones. The problem is in the quality of representation. However, it seems more logical to think of laurels. This ''Laureate with Rosette diadem'' bust is already listed and I don't think there is any point in questioning it. However, the idea of pearls is not totally ruled out. Here are the busts that I have listed for the whole coinage:

 

  • Bare head, draped and cuirassed.
  • Laureate with pearl-diadem, draped and cuirassed.
  • Laureate with rosette-diadem, draped and cuirassed.
  • Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed.