Antoninianus — Probus — Providentia

Obverse: IMP C PROBVS AVG, wearing senatorial robes and holding eagle scepter

Reverse: PROVIDENT AVG, Providentia standing holding globe and scepter, Q in field, XXI below

Mass: 2.93 g

Diameter: 18 mm

This antoninianus is a striking departure from the standard cuirassed military bust so common on Probus's coinage, instead showing the emperor in senatorial dress and holding an eagle-tipped scepter, a type meant to present him as a civil, constitutional ruler in continuity with Rome's traditional magistracies rather than purely as a soldier-emperor. The reverse pairs this with Providentia, and the mintmark XXI in the exergue places this among the coinage struck using the debased "twenty parts" silver-to-bronze ratio standard of the later third century. The coin retains much of its original silvering, though it has a chip.

The antoninianus was introduced by Caracalla in 215 AD as a nominally silver coin valued at two denarii, though it never actually contained twice the silver, and by the reign of Probus (276–282 AD) it had been reduced to little more than a bronze core with a thin silver wash. Providentia, the personification of foresight and divine planning, was a frequent reverse type throughout the third century, used to reassure the public that the emperor and the gods were actively securing the empire's future during a period of chronic instability, invasion, and civil war.