Lot 371: Valerian II. Caesar, A.D. 253-255. Æ as. Rome, A.D. 254/5. Rare Valerian II Bronze.

Valerian II. Caesar, A.D. 253-255. Æ as (23 mm, 7.98 g, 6 h). Rome, A.D. 254/5. [P] C L VALERIANVS NOB CAES, bare-headed and draped bust of Valerian II right / PIETAS AVGG, sacrificial implements: lituus, knife, patera, ewer, simpulum, and aspergillum. RIC 36; Göbl 248v (same rev. die). Very rare. Light roughness in spots. Green patina. Good fine. 

Imperial bronzes of Valerian II are all quite scarce if not very rare. RIC records three obverse legend varieties for this particular denomination with this reverse, ending NOB CAES, NOB C, and N C. We were unable to find any examples of the latter two legend varieties.

No examples of this coin are found on either coinarchives.com or acsearch.com, thus it appears that one has not sold in any of the major auctions for the past dozen or more years. We looked for other specimens, and while our search was not comprehensive by any means, we did find - as expected - that the coin is lacking from most of the more important collections of Roman coins such as Trau, Mazzini, Münzhandlung Basel I and III, etc. We did, however, locate three additional specimens: Reichmann 1922, 1144 (= Göbl 248v); Hamburger 1925, 1491 (from the same dies as our coin); and Cayón, Compendio 32 (from the same rev. die). A concerted search would certainly turn up a handful more specimens, but there is no doubt that this is a very rare coin indeed.

• Offered By: Barry P. Murphy
• Lot #: 371
• Listing #: 231298
• Closed: Tuesday, December 15, 2015 6:03:20 PM CT
• Estimate: $1,000