Roman Coins Of The London Mint: 296-325 Ad

James - your generosity with your knowledge, time and your coins amazes me and I thank you for it, I look forward very much to receiving your Constantius pre-invasion coin. I also intend to add to these whenever the opportunity arises.

These threads have helped me a lot in tying together my other areas of interest through the reading and research thats been required. My 3rd century radiates run into the invasion coinage and they in turn bridge the gap to Constantines Sol issues. I've long been interested in the Britannic Empire and these coins were there when it was brought to an end and Allectus and Carausius disappeared. My barbarous coins span the whole period and probably even last past the Romans pulling out of the UK.

I'm also going to send you some items from my other area of collecting in return, not going to tell you what that is but hopefully you will find the items interesting when they arrive.

Well, having spent more hours searching ebay and the net for invasion coins than I care to admit and finding nothing I came across the following yesterday:



The coins in pretty poor condition, it was sold with only this reverse picture and the description 'Roman Maximian coin (235-476AD)' I was unaware Maximian lived to be 242!

The listing contained no info relating to the obverse legend so its either Maximian or Galerius, doing a bit of research I now know it can only be one of 18 London coins or 4 'Lyon' coins, 2 of which are 14b and 17b.

I know the ICs are listed for rarity as C C C S (in order) but they certainly seem good at hiding! I figure I have a 10% chance in getting lucky when it arrives. Even if I'm 'unlucky' I will still have picked up a London issue at a very reasonable price, which is nice as it will be my first but certainly not my last. I'm really starting to like these bigger coins - I only really collected Ants before now.

My (still amateur) eye makes me think that Genius is not cherubic enough for this to be an IC but I still hold out a little hope that I can post it in the Invasion thread when it arrives. I've also picked up a few London Sols recently so will post those when I get the chance. Hope your well James, Ian.

Well it arrived today and and sadly it wasn't a 14b or 17b - It is however still a very interesting coin:



The legend, etc makes it either a 6b, 17 or 42. I'm certain its not a 6b as it does not have the small head long neck common with those coins, I think its a 17 and looks very much like this one on Jamesicus website:



I have not been able to find pictures of a 42 but believe the style of these are different again. The only thing that would make me think it is perhaps not a 17 is that the cuirass seems quite detailed on mine but not on the one Jamesicus has, not sure if this is a factor to consider when thinking about 42. As is I think my coin is:

RIC Volume VI (Londinium), Group I (ii), Class II (b), No.17, 300 onward
IMP C MAXIMIANVS PF AVG - GENIO POPV-LI ROMANI
28mm, 9 Grams, Die Axis 180

Its not in great shape but is attractive enough and has a nice 'tone' on the bust, I've tried to photograph this below but not captured the 'rainbow' effect you get in hand very well.