Rare Common Coins Of Constans

Can a coin be rare and common at the same time? With ancients, that is a very common situation. My newly arrived coin makes that point. Among the most common of all Roman coins is the 'Falling Horseman' showing a Roman soldier killing a barbarian horseman who is shown in various stages of falling from his horse. My new coin is a Falling Horseman so it must be common - right? Not so fast. Falling horseman coins were issued over a period of years from about 247 to 261 AD. Most are small flan coins referred to as AE3 but the earliest ones are larger AE2. This is the less common AE2 size at 23mm diameter. Still, there are many thousands of large size falling horseman so the coin is still common (just not AS common as the little ones). The majority of falling horseman coins bear the image of Constantius II but a few of the earliest ones showed his brother Constans whose coins of the period tended to use his favored type honoring his boat trip to Britain. I'll ask how many of you that have falling horseman coins have one of Constans? Compared to Constantius II, they are rare.

Constans TSA*


However, Thessalonica mint issued one huge issue of falling horsemen in the name of both brothers. Since the mint was located in Constans' dominions, his coins are a bit more common that those of Constantius. RIC rates the Constans coins of this issue as common and those of Constantius II as scarce. Both are harder to find than those ratings would indicate. This particular issue was unusual in that the portraits usually showed the emperor holding a globe in his hand with a somewhat strange arm depicted at the bottom of the obverse. There were portraits facing left showing the globe used by several mints on the next smaller denomination (usually with the captive and hut reverse) but these coins show the ruler to the right making them rare if you are trying to fill a set of portrait styles of the period.

Constans TSB* (my new one)


My new coin has the mintmark TSB* and is my third coin of the series. According to RIC, they exist for Constans for all five workshops but I do not have one from delta or epsilon. My photo group below shows a TSE* for Constantius II which, according to RIC is the scarce one of the bunch but I don't believe it. They are all rare.

Finally is the matter of the pose of the horseman. RIC describes this issue as what collectors call FH1 showing the horseman off the horse and falling forward on hands and knees. This is the most rare of the poses available making up perhaps 1% of all FH coins you will see. My TSA* coin may be a legitimate FH1 with rider on the ground but some of the others look a bit more like FH4 where the rider is still on the horse but clutches his arms around the horse's neck. I am less than convinced that the cutter of the die thought the horseman was off the horse as it was seen by the editors of RIC. The distinctions between the four FH versions is very much a matter of a convention for collectors. The cutters of these dies did not know they would be expected to conform to RIC descriptions.

Constans TSgamma*


The few that read this far will be those who might possibly accept my belief that not all of these 'same type' coins are actually the same. Many beginners will not even care to own one coin of the falling horseman type since they will be collecting a series of emperors and any reverse will do equally well. Others will want a representative of this type but any ruler, any mint, any date would do. A few who collect ancient coins for many years will seek out areas to specialize in. I have collected for nearly half a century and have several specialities. This is one of them. There are well over 2000 variations of falling horseman coins. I am not trying to get them all ---- really, I'm not!

Constantius II TSE*