Caran Dynasty · Collector's Guide
Collecting the Coins of Nigrinian
AD 284–285 · Son of Carinus · Deified Prince of the Crisis of the Third Century
Roman Empire
284–285 AD
Kinzer Coins
Nigrinian is one of the most obscure figures in all of Roman numismatics — and his coins are among the most historically fascinating consecration issues of the late Roman world.
The son of Emperor Carinus and grandson of Carus, Nigrinian died young and is barely attested in the historical record. Almost everything known about him comes from his coins. Struck circa AD 284–285 during the turbulent final phase of the Crisis of the Third Century, his memorial antoniniani were issued immediately before Diocletian's rise ended the Caran dynasty and transformed the Roman world. These are scarce coins in all metals — preserved survivors from one of Rome's most dramatic transitional moments, commemorating a prince history nearly forgot entirely.
The Prince History Nearly Forgot
Nigrinian died before establishing any meaningful historical footprint. His father Carinus ruled as co-emperor alongside his brother Numerian after the death of their father Carus in AD 283, and it was during this brief and unstable period that memorial coinage was issued for the young prince. The Caran dynasty was already faltering: Numerian was found dead in a sealed carriage during the withdrawal from Persia, Diocletian emerged from the eastern army to claim the throne, and Carinus was killed in battle shortly after. Nigrinian's coins belong to this compressed window of dynastic collapse — struck in the name of a deified child by an imperial family that would itself be gone within months.
Almost everything known about Nigrinian comes from his coins. He is history preserved in bronze — a prince whose existence would be nearly invisible without the antoniniani struck in his memory.
The Coinage of Nigrinian
Nigrinian's coins are consecration issues — memorial coinage struck to proclaim the young prince's deification and admission among the gods after his death. The type follows the established Roman tradition of apotheosis coinage, using imagery deeply rooted in imperial funerary symbolism.
Obverse
Legend: DIVO NIGRINIANO — "To the Divine Nigrinian"
Type: Radiate, draped bust right. The radiate crown both marks the antoninianus denomination and reinforces the celestial consecration of the portrait — the deified prince presented in divine light.
Reverse
Legend: CONSECRATIO — "Consecration" or "Deification"
Type: Eagle standing, head turned. The eagle is Rome's classic emblem of apotheosis — the bird of Jupiter carrying the soul of the deified emperor or prince heavenward. Mintmark XXI below, standard for antoniniani of the period.
The CONSECRATIO eagle reverse is one of the most charged symbols in Roman numismatics. Used across the imperial period for consecration issues — from Faustina to Divus Augustus — it publicly proclaimed that the empire's gods had received the deceased into their company. On a Nigrinian coin, struck for a child prince barely known to history, it carries particular weight: the full machinery of Roman state religion deployed in memory of someone who left almost no other trace. The XXI mintmark below confirms the coin's place within the standardized late Crisis-era antoninianus series. Scarce in all metals and conditions, Nigrinian CONSECRATIO issues are genuinely difficult to locate in any grade.
Why Collect Nigrinian
The Specialist Argument
Nigrinian is essential for any serious Caran dynasty set — completing the family alongside Carus, Carinus, and Numerian. His coinage represents the final chapter of the Crisis of the Third Century before Diocletian's reforms changed everything. Few coins in this price range offer greater rarity or historical specificity.
The Broader Collector
Memorial and consecration issues have enduring appeal across collecting categories — combining Roman funerary symbolism, dynastic history, and genuine scarcity in a single coin. Nigrinian belongs alongside Helena, Delmatius, and other commemorative issues as evidence that Rome remembered even those it barely knew.
Nigrinian coinage rewards both the specialist in the Crisis era and the broader collector assembling a representative cabinet of Roman imperial portraiture. Memorial issues of short-lived or scarcely documented imperial family members have enduring appeal precisely because they combine historical mystery with unmistakable Roman state symbolism — the eagle, the radiate crown, the CONSECRATIO legend, all deployed for a prince history nearly lost entirely. A Nigrinian antoninianus is one of the more genuinely rare late Roman bronzes that remains attainable for a serious collector. It is a coin that makes people stop and ask questions — and that is exactly what the best pieces in any collection do.
Hold what the greats held.
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Browse Coins of Nigrinian at Kinzer Coins
Authentic late Roman consecration bronzes from the deified son of Carinus — among the rarest and most historically charged issues of the Crisis of the Third Century.
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