Clodius Albinus, as Caesar, 193-195. Denarius (Silver, 19 mm, 3.11 g, 12 h), Alexandria, 194. D CLOD SEPT ALBIN CAES Bare head of Clodius Albinus to right.
Rev. [FELICI]TAS COS II Felicitas standing front, head to left, holding short caduceus in her right hand and long scepter in her left. Bickford-Smith p. 56 and pl. I, 8. BMC -, cf. 91-2 (Rome mint). Cohen 15 (but referring to Rome). RIC -, cf. 4 (Rome mint). An exceptionally well preserved piece, struck on unusually good metal. The reverse struck slightly off center
, otherwise, good extremely fine.
From the collection of Dipl.-Ing. Adrian Lang, privately acquired from H. Wickert in 2018, and from the collection of Hannelore Scheiner, Künker E-Auction 43, 7 December 2016, 315.
This remarkable piece stands out in an already unusual coin series. Firstly, Clodius Albinus is only rarely encountered on eastern coinage as he ruled in faraway Gaul and Britain, and his alliance with Septimius Severus was strained at best. In this case, the latter might have felt that excluding his Caesar from the imperial coinage was a dangerous affront, which could risk sparking another civil war. Secondly, the coin's superb state of preservation belies the carelessness with which the Alexandrian denarii were usually struck and shows the technical skill the provincial mints could achieve.
