★ A new reverse type for Julia Domna ★

Julia Domna, Augusta, 193-217. Denarius (Silver, 19 mm, 3.51 g, 12 h), Rome, 206-207. IVLIA AVGVSTA Draped bust of Julia Domna to right. Rev. VENVS VICTRIX Diademed and draped bust of Venus to right. BMC -. Cohen -. RIC -. Unpublished and unique, a new reverse type for Julia Domna and hence of the greatest interest. Nicely toned and set in an original gold mount with loop attached. Very fine.

The emergence of a completely new reverse type for Julia Domna in the year 2018 is as surprising as it is remarkable. Venus had always been a close companion of the Roman imperial domus - especially of empresses - and an extensive coinage related to her was struck for Julia Domna. This piece, however, reveals a hitherto unknown type in that it shows the victorious Venus in the form of a bust rather than a full-body figure. C. Clay has suggested, in correspondence with this cataloguer, that the coin should be dated to 206-207, a conjecture he made based on the similarity of the type to an issue of Geta with the head of Minerva on the reverse, which is derived from Geta's standing Minerva type of 206-207. This observation is confirmed by an obverse die match of our coin to a denarius sold in CNG MBS 63 (2003), 1426 with a standing Venus Victrix, dated by Clay to 206-208 based on the portrait and coiffure, which clearly links the issues of Julia Domna and Geta. It is worth noting that the Roman mint, in the years 206-208, also struck coins showing the heads of gods on the reverse for Septimius Severus and Caracalla (in their case of Roma, Jupiter, Sol, Melkart and Medusa). Our piece thus fills an important gap in the series, as it is the first recorded coin of Julia Domna from what we may call the Severan 'bust-of-gods-issue' of those years.