Caracalla, with Septimius Severus and Julia Domna, 198-217. Aureus (Gold, 20 mm, 7.24 g, 12 h), Rome, 201. ANTONINVS PIVS AVG PON TR P IIII Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Caracalla to right.
Rev. CONCORDIAE AETERNAE Jugate busts of Septimius Severus, radiate and draped, and Julia Domna, diademed, draped and set on crescent, to right. BMC 260. Calicó 2849. Cohen 1. RIC 52 corr. (bust of Severus misdescribed as cuirassed). Very rare and with an illustrious pedigree. Minor marks and small scratches and with very light deposits
, otherwise, very fine.
Ex Spink London, 28 September 2005, 455, and from the collection of Consul Eduard Friedrich Weber (1830-1907), Hirsch XXIV, 10 May 1909, 1905 (described as 'Treffliches Exemplar u. sehr selten').
By 201, after emerging victorious from the civil wars of 193-196 and the Parthian campaigns, Septimius Severus had established himself as undisputed ruler of the Roman world. That year witnessed the striking of dynastic coins intended to broadcast the legitimacy and stability of the new Severan dynasty. On our aureus the obverse shows the laureate bust of Caracalla, heir to the throne, while the reverse presents the conjoined busts of Septimius Severus and Julia Domna. Severus wears the radiate crown of the sun, while Domna bears the crescent of the moon, an unmistakable pairing of solar and lunar symbols that proclaims cosmic harmony between emperor and empress. The legend CONCORDIAE AETERNAE ('eternal harmony') reinforces this imagery, suggesting that the union of Severus and Domna, together with their sons, guaranteed the enduring stability of the empire.
The ideal of
aeterna concordia, however, was soon belied by events. Even before Severus’ death in 211, his sons Caracalla and Geta were bitterly at odds, and shortly afterwards Caracalla had his younger brother murdered in their mother’s arms. The tragic fracture within the ruling family stood in stark contrast to the cosmic balance so elegantly proclaimed by this aureus.
This specimen once formed part of the renowned collection of Eduard Friedrich Weber (1830-1907), a Hamburg merchant, art collector, and numismatist. After early years in Valparaíso, he founded the trading house Ed. F. Weber in Hamburg, specializing in nitrate. From 1877 to 1902 he served as Consul of the Kingdom of Hawaii, remaining in office through the decisive moment of its annexation by the United States in 1898, when he worked to safeguard German commercial interests and mediate between Hawaiian and American authorities. Beyond his consular duties Weber pressed for German naval protection of trade during the Chilean nitrate wars, and at home he assembled one of Hamburg’s most distinguished private collections of paintings, antiquities, and coins, dispersed at auction after his death.
