A ROMAN GOLD COIN PENDANT

CIRCA EARLY 3RD CENTURY A.D.

Details

A ROMAN GOLD COIN PENDANT
Circa Early 3rd Century A.D.
The coin a gold aureus minted in 202 A.D., the obverse bearing a portrait bust of Septimius Severus, emperor from 193-211, shown with a wreath of laurel in his wavy hair, wearing a mantle over a cuirass, inscribed SEVER P AVG P M TR P X COS III, the reverse with a facing draped portrait bust of his wife Julia Domna, framed by inward turned draped busts of their sons Caracalla, a laurel wreath in his hair, and Geta, inscribed FELICITAS SAECVLI; mounted in antiquity as a pendant in a plain gold bezel, the obverse with an openwork rosette frame, a ribbed suspension loop above
1¼ in. (3.2 cm) long

Lot Essay

The mounting of coins as jewelry became increasingly common in the 3rd century A.D. For a necklace in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, with seven coin pendants in similar mounts see no. 328 in Garside, ed., Jewelry, Ancient to Modern. For the aureus compare an example in Munich, no. 389 in Kent, Roman Coins.

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