Index

A very special coded coin

 

Introduction

In this column I will take a closer look at the coin in figure 3: a very special ‘coded antoninianus’, from the Siscia mint, dated 290 AD. Before it becomes clear what is so special about this coin, it will be necessary to explain something about the phenomenon of ‘coded coins’.

 

In 290, during the reign of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, something peculiar happened in the Siscia mint: a word appeared in the exergues of several emissions of antoniniani. The word was ‘cut’ into three pieces, and for each of the three officinae of the Siscia mint a part of the word appeared on the reverse. On antoniniani bearing the portrait of Diocletian the word IOBI appeared, while Maximian’s pieces have the word HPKOYΛI:

 

 

Officina          Reverse Dio                          Exergue Dio              Reverse Max                        Exergue Max

First (A)           Emperor and Jupiter                I                                  Emperor and Hercules             HP

Second (B)      Emperor and Jupiter                O                                Emperor and Hercules             KOY

Third (Γ)          Emperor and Jupiter                BI                                Emperor and Hercules             ΛI

 

 

Figure 1 shows a complete series of three coded coins for Maximian, with the three parts of the codeword HPKOYΛI circled in red. Figure 2 shows the third coded antoninianus of Diocletian with the last part of the codeword IOBI.

 

Figure 1: Three consecutive ‘coded antoniniani’ of Maximian from Siscia, reverse ‘emperor and Hercules’

 

Figure 2: Third ‘coded antoninianus’ of Diocletianus, reverse ‘emperor and Jupiter’

 

The codewords probably are the ‘nicknames’ of the two emperors, Jovius and Herculius, in Greek spelling (for further information on these interesting coins, see the links below). Jupiter and Hercules were the patrons gods of the two emperors and they believed to be earthly manifestations of these divinities.

 

A very special coded coin

I will now turn to the coin I wanted to discuss (see figure 3). When I examined the coin for proper identification, I soon found out something was wrong about it. The letters in the exergue clearly read ‘XXI Γ BI’, so I thought the coin to be the third coded coin of Diocletian (with the letters BI in the exergue, see figure 2). But then I read the name MAXIMIANVS on the obverse, and it became clear that this coin was not meant to exist: all coded coins for Maximian from Siscia’s third officina have the letters ΛI, from the codeword HPKOYΛI, in the exergue (compare the coin on the right in figure 1).

 

Figure 3: A very special coded coin of Maximianus

 

The first thought that came to my mind at this point was: ‘this must be a hybrid’. A hybrid, or a ‘mule’, is the result of a slip-up during the striking of a coin. By mistake, an obverse die of one emperor is paired with a reverse die of another. However, this cannot be the case here. If this coin was a mule, the reverse type would be ‘Emperor and Jupiter’ (see table and figure 2: Jupiter is the nude figure on the right, carrying a scepter). The figure on the coin I am discussing here is clearly Hercules, leaning on his famous club. So the reverse type is unmistakenly one of Maximian, also called Herculius.

 

Not being a mule, what can be the cause of the coming into being of this antoninianus? This cannot be said with certainty of course, but it is fun to try and come up with a little speculation on the matter. The first possibility is a simple engraving error: the engraver working in officina three of the Siscian mint maybe worked over hours and being tired, accidentally engraved the letters BI in stead of ΛI in the exergue of his die. During striking, his error was overlooked, and here we have the result.

 

There is another possibility. There is a theory that sometimes several engravers were concerned with one die. One person engraved the type, while another was responsible for the legends and the exergue. Specialization in the ancient mints (see figuur 4).

 

Figuur 4: Specialization in the ancient mints?

 

The faulty reverse die of the coin in figure 3 could be the result of a mistake by the second engraver, responsible for the lettering. He could have engraved the legend and exergue for Diocletian (figure 4 right) on a ‘prefabricated’ reverse die with a scene of Maximian and Hercules (figure 4 left). Maybe he thought that the figure of Maximian, holding a long scepter, represented Jupiter. But whatever might be the reason, this coin will remain a rare variant of a coded antoninianus from the Siscia mint.

 

Further reading

Chip Scoppa’s article on coded coins of Diocletian and Maximian, including a ‘mule’:

http://forumancientcoins.com/Articles/east_meets_west.htm

Doug Smith’s page on this subject:

http://dougsmith.ancients.info/code.html 

My article on the translation of the codewords:

The translation of the codewords EQVITI, IOBI and HPKOYΛI