Antoninianus - Probus Cuirassed, right, spear; ROMAE AETERNAE; Roma

Reverse

Hexastyle temple, Roma seated in centre, facing left, holding globe in right hand and sceptre in left hand; beside her, shield.
Exergue mark followed by the officina mark.

Script: Latin

Lettering: ROMAE AETERNAE

Unabridged legend: Romae Aeternae.

Translation: Everlasting Rome.

Comment

RIC 739 was minted by the first to the sixth officina of the Siscia mint. The original RIC text mentions 4 different variations/different bust types (bust types according to Pierre Bastiens grouping of bust types; see illustrated: probvs.net), and there are also two variants known:

1. Radiate, cuirassed, right, holding spear (bust F9, Alföldi - (*) (no examples published), this coin);
2. Helmeted, radiate, cuirassed, left, holding spear in right hand and shield in left hand (bust E1, Alföldi 060.011-018 (example: probuscoins #1907), Numista #293776);
3. Radiate, wearing imperial mantle, left, holding sceptre surmounted by eagle in right hand (bust H2, Alföldi 060.004-007 (example: probuscoins #1909), Numista #293777);
4. Radiate, cuirassed, left, holding spear in right hand and shield in left hand (bust F1, Alföldi 060.008-010 (example: probuscoins #2957), Numista #293095);
5. [var] Radiate, draped and cuirassed, holding spear, left (bust F5, Alföldi 060.014 (example: probuscoins #2554), not in Numista);
6. [var] Radiate, draped and cuirassed, right (bust A2, Alföldi 060.015 (example: probuscoins #3117), not in Numista).

(*) Andreas Alföldi, Vorarbeiten zu einem Corpus der in Siscia geprägten römischen Kaisermünzen. Heft V. Verzeichnis der Antoniniane des Kaisers Probus, Budapest, 1939).

According to Pink, RIC 739 - with its obverse legend nr. 3 ('IMP C M AVR PROBVS PF AVG') and mint-/exergue mark style XXIP-XXIVI - is part of the 4th emission, which was in the year 277 (Karl Pink, Der Aufbau der römischen Münzprägung in der Kaiserzeit VI/I, Wien, 1949, p. 50-51).

OCRE states mistakenly that the obverse depicts "Hexastyle temple, Roma seated in centre, facing left, holding Victory in right hand and sceptre in left hand; beside her, shield". The original RIC text states: "Roma seated l. in temple, holding globe and sceptre; besides her, shield". For Roma holding Victory, see RIC 737.

Interesting fact