162
3177
Pescennius Niger. Silver Denarius (3.23 g), AD 193-194.
Antioch. IMP
CAES C PESCEN NIGER IVST AVG, laureate head of Pescennius Ni-
ger right.
Reverse:
BONA-E SPEI, Spes advancing left, holding flower
and raising hem of skirt. Cf. RIC 3c (obv. legend ends AV); cf. BMC 298
(same); cf. RSC 8 (same). Boldly struck with an incredible portrait of Pes-
cennius, all with lovely old cabinet toning.
Very rare and a candidate for
finest known!
Superb Extremely Fine.
From the scarcity of it today it would seem that Pescennius Niger’s
coinage was originally very limited. However, the enormous number
of minor varieties - such as the remarkably well struck example of-
fered here - shows that this is in fact not the case, and that output
must have been monumental. No catalogue of his coinage is with-
out numerous lacunae. The mints involved were, of course, in the East,
Niger’s primary imperial mint based at Antioch where he held court,
and probably a subsidiary mint based at Caesarea in Cappado-
cia. After three successive defeats at the hands of his rival, Septimius
Severus, Niger was finally captured and executed along with his en-
tire family in AD 194. It appears that Severus then ordered the recall
of Niger’s coinage, and his instructions were meticulously followed.
Estimated Value ................................................................ $10,000 - 12,000
Ex Imagines Imperatorvm Sale (Aureo & Calicó, 8 February 2012), 138.
