★ Only the 3rd example in market since 2000s ★

Valerian I, 253-260. Aureus (Gold, 20 mm, 3.01 g, 6 h), Samosata, 255-256. IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS AVG Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Valerian to right. Rev. ROMAE AETERNAE Roma seated to left on throne with back, holding Victory in her extended right hand and spear in her left; at her side, shield. Calicó 3442 ( same obverse die, but as minted in Rome ). Cohen 191. MIR 1678c. RIC 51 ( but as minted in Rome ). Extremely rare. Sharply struck from fresh dies. Slightly doubled obverse, otherwise, virtually as struck.

Although previously believed to have been struck in Rome, based on its style, this extremely rare aureus is now thought to have been produced at a mint established at Samosata. The Romans opened a branch mint, staffed by workers from Rome, in order to support Valerian’s attempts to restore Armenia and Syria to the Roman Empire, after they had been first detached by the usurper Uranius Antoninus and then, 254, by the expanding Sasanian Persians under Shapur I. While Valerian enjoyed some initial success in crushing Antoninus and reclaiming Antioch, the extended war against Shapur I went badly and the emperor was himself taken captive at the Battle of Edessa in 260. As he first emperor to ever be taken alive in battle by a foreign enemy, his capture sent a terrible chill down the spine of the Roman Empire. Even more chilling was his ultimate fate at the hands of the triumphant Shapur I. The Sasanian shah reportedly kept the hapless Valerian alive to serve as a human stool for mounting his horse and after he died ordered the body of the emperor to be stuffed so he could continue to serve this purpose. While Rome might have been eternal, as proclaimed by the reverse of this coin, her emperors certainly were not.