Valerian I — Antoninianus, PIETAS AVGG, Antioch

Struck at Antioch in 255–256 AD, in the middle of the joint reign of Valerian (253–260 AD) and his son Gallienus, who had been raised to Augustus beside his father in 253. The doubled G at the end of the reverse legend is the point of the issue: two Augusti, not one.

The reverse reads PIETAS AVGG, the piety of the two Augusti, and shows Valerian and Gallienus standing face to face, sacrificing at an altar between them, with a star in the centre field. The piety on offer is dynastic rather than religious — father and son at the same altar, the succession presented as an act of duty. The obverse is the sharper side here, the radiate draped bust right beneath an almost complete IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS P F AVG; on the reverse both figures and the legend read clearly, the surfaces softened by circulation. A shallow split runs into the edge of the flan above the portrait.

Attribution: RIC V Valerian 285Mint: AntiochCatalogued in the NumisLens cabinet — NL-6WRJJ-39F52

Combined shipping is available — buy more than one coin and pay a single shipping charge.Attribution is believed to be correct, but ancient coin attributions can vary and the catalogue reference may be subject to revision.