Ancient British, Greek, Roman and Byzantine Coins and Artefacts

Roman Imperial Coinage, Proculus (Usurper c. 280-281), billon Radiate, uncertain Gallic mint, IMP C PROCVLVS AVG, radiate and cuirassed bust right, rev. VICTORIA AVG, female figure standing left, holding wreath and sceptre, 2.97g/12h (Vagi, Coinage and History of the Roman Empire, 2470). Very fine, dark tone, edge a little ragged; only the second known coin of this usurper, extremely rare and the only example available to commerce £50,000-70,000

Provenance: Found near Stamford Bridge, N. Yorkshire, November 2012 (UKDFD 39525).

This coin is only the second recorded radiate of the usurper Proculus, the first having been sold by auction in 1991 for DM 92,000 (Bankhaus Aufhäuser Auction 8, 9-10 October 1991, lot 640, now in the Staatlichen Münzsammlung, Munich). The present coin is from the same pair of dies as the Munich specimen but with the reverse better centred, the entire legend on the flan and, from what may be discerned in the exergue, the possible traces of the Trier mint-signature. The crude portrait style, fabric and idiosyncratic epigraphy so closely resembles the three known radiate issues of Bonosus (RIC p.592, pl. 20, 1-3), that they seem to be the product of the same mint, with the die axis at 12h, typical for an official mint of the time.
 
According to the Historia Augusta, taking as its source a lost history by Trebellius Pollio which covered the exploits of 30 pretenders from the time of Valerian to Gallienus, Proculus was one of the short-lived usurpers that sprung up under the rule of the emperor Probus. This ambitious tribune was in command of more than one legion and was invited in 280 to help the citizens of Lugdunum (Lyon) in their revolt against Probus. Proculus accepted and proclaimed himself emperor at the same time as another tribune stationed on the Rhine, Bonosus, who had lost his fleet to the Germans in 281 and fearing retribution from Rome, proclaimed himself emperor at Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (Cologne). On his return from Syria Probus immediately marched north and after a protracted struggle, managed to defeat both usurpers