Classical Numismatic
Group, Inc.
1619. MAXIMINUS 1.235-238 AD. JE Sestertius (21.35 gm). Struck circa 236-238 AD. MAXIMINVS PIVS AVG GERM, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / SALVS AVGVSTI, S C in exergue, Salus seated right feeding out of patera serpent rising from altar. RIC IV 85; BMCRE 99; Cohen 92. EF, dark brown patina. ($1000) The James Fox Collection; ex Superior Galleries (12-14 December 1987), lot 1201.
1616. JULIA MAMAEA, mother of Severus Alexander. JE Sestertius (18.% gm). IVLIA MAMA-EA AVGVSTA, diademed and draped bust nght / IVNO AVGVSTAE, S C in exergue, Juno seated left on throne, holding flower and infant in swaddling clothes. RIC IV 683 (Severus Alexander); BMCRE 759; Cohen 33. EF. ($750) The James Fox Collection.
1620. DIVA PAULINA, wife of Maximinus I. AR Denarius (3.00 gm). DIVA PAVLINA, veiled and draped bust right / CONSECRATIO, Paulina, holding sceptre and raising hand, seated left on peacock, flying right, to heaven. RIC IV 2 (Maximinus); BMCRE 127; RSC 2. Toned, near EF. ($1000) 1617. MAXIMINUS 1.235-238 AD. AR Denarius (3.66 gm). Struck 236-238 AD. MAXIMINVS PIVS AVG GERM, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / FIDES MI-UTVM, Fides standing facing head left, holding a military standard in either hand. RIC IV18A; BMCRE 137; RSC 9. Superb EF. ($200) Ex CNA V (9 December 1988), lot 439.
1618. MAXIMINUS 1.235-238 AD. JE Sestertius (18.33 gm). Struck 236-238 AD. MAXIMINVS PIVS AVG GERM, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right / PAX AVGVSTI, S-C across field, Pax standing left, holding olivebranch and transverse sceptre. RIC IV 81; BMCRE 148; Cohen 38. Good VF, brown patina ($500)
The James Fox Collection. Although her name is not mentioned by any of the ancient historians, a dated prcrvincial bronze coin from Anazarbus identifies Paulina as the wife of Maximinus I. She evidently died very soon after her husband's accession in March of235 AD.
1621. MAXI MUS, as Caesar 236-238 AD. AR Denarius (3.26 gm). MAXIMVS CAES GERM, bare-headed and draped bust right / PRINC IWENTVTIS, Maximus standing left, holding baton and transverse spear with point downwards; two standards behind to right. RIC IV 3; BMCRE 211; RSC 10. Toned EF. ($750)
A number of articles in various medical and numismatic journals have discussed Maximinus' acromegalic conditions (see most recently George M. Burden, M.D., "Roman emperor ruled by his strength, size," The Celator, vol. 9, no. 7, July 1995, pg. The James Fox Collection. 14), his huge size and "lan tern jaw" suggestive of the possibility that Maximinus sufferedfrom excessive human growth hormone. His biographer in the Historia Augusta claimed that he was 8ft. 6 in. tall, so strong that he could wrestle and defeat sixteen of the strongest legionaries and pull a laden cart unaided, and that his thumb was of such thickness that he could wear his wife's bracelet on it like a ring.