Alexander Severus, As, 222-231, Rome, Very rare, Bronze, TTB, RIC556b

  

Bust of Severus Alexander, laureate and draped over the left shoulder; on the right, Jupiter, standing facing left, holding a thunderbolt in his right hand and a scepter in his left; opposite him, Severus Alexander, crowned by Virtus, holding the scepter and sacrificing at a tripod; at the base, a shield. RIC IV Severus Alexander 556b variant (without S - C).

Very likely extremely rare, since it does not bear the “S - C” mark normally found on all bronze coinage. A similar example was offered at a Heritage Auctions sale (06/01/2019), NYINC Signature Sale 3071, lot 32188, and our example is apparently the second known specimen of this variety, for a type of as that is already very rare, since none is known in public collections.

Some consider these issues to be “medals” (Heritage Auctions describes it as a “Medallic As”), but the term is probably misleading. This as can without doubt be considered part of a special issue or perhaps a die-engraving error? Because of the absence of the “Senatus Consulto” mark, but no historical evidence allows us to go beyond this hypothesis.

IMP SEV ALEXANDER AVG, FIDES MILITVM.