| Author |
 Replies: 21 / Views: 3,043 |
Page 2 of 2
|
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
842 Posts |
I believe that this is a coin of Constantine II. I have one just like it.  Obv: CONSTANTINVS IVN NOB C, laureate, curiassed bust right Rev: GLOR-IA EXERC-ITVS, two soldiers holding spears and shields with one standard between them. O on standard. Mintmark εSIS RIC 253 (Volume VII) Edited by ancientcoinguy
02/24/2012 09:45 am
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
3499 Posts |
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
842 Posts |
It could be. It all depends on what exactly is written on the obverse. All this one will take is the difference of one letter to throw us off the correct path. If this does not clean up any better we may not be able to definitively say what it is. The reason I thought it may be the one I posted from my collection is that the bust shares the same features in the laurel and cuirass and the reverse shares the same features in the single standard with an O and an identical mint mark. But once again, it all comes down to that pesky obverse inscription.  |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1549 Posts |
Short answer: This may be Delmatius.
While any guess can be disproven by reading a letter or two, the NOB rules out Constantine I. I believe I see an S before that which would suggest not Constantine II since he tended to have IVN in that position. If there is a V before the S, the coin seem to be Constantius II with a chance of Delmatius. This is the period of this mint when Constans used the genitive FL CONSTANTIS BEAC so the NOB rules him out even if you don't read the VS. RIC does list a NOB for Constans but only from shop delta and I don't read this as delta. Can you tell Constantius from Delmatius in this grade? I can't. Oddly, RIC indicates that Delmatius is more common than Constantius II in this issue.
For Archraz: RIC 221 has two standards but this coin only one. Seek out Siscia RIC 254 which shows Constantius using shops 2,3,4 and 5. There are many coins not yet in Wildwinds. This one will not be good enough to represent a type since it will never be certainly identified. RIC256, Delmatius, may be worth considering since it is listed for shops 2 and 5 (B,E) either of which could be what is under that mess. I think it is B which is R5 for Constantius and R1 for Delmatius.
Edited by dougsmit
02/24/2012 5:15 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
If you look closely at Helvetica's, there are only four rulers with an obverse legend that ends in NOB C which were minted at Siscia:
Constantine II (CONSTANTINVS IVN NOB C)
Constantius II (FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C)
Dalmatius (FL DELMATIVS NOB C)
Constans (FL CONSTANTIS NOB C)
If we can rely on what Archraz can see as "CHVHMOTHOSNOS?", then the only possible match would seem to be Constantine II. If you can make out the letter in front of the mintmark perhaps we can narrow it down a little more. To me it looks like a "B" and it also looks like there may be something after the SIS. According to Helvetica's it may be a star. Can you make it out in hand?
All in all, I'm not convinced the obverse legend does not begin with "FL" which then opens it up to several other posibilities.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
Quote:
Short answer: This may be Delmatius. This was my first inclination when this thread was first posted. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
ancientcoinguy, dougsmit, & jwharper- Thanks for the input! I appreciate it.
jwharper- The mm certainly is BSIS but there is something after the last S as well. However, there appears to be a scratch or die crack that runs through whatever the last symbol is. But if I had to take a wild guess, I would say that what is partially visible does not look like the top of a letter. So a star it certainly may be.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
If it is Constantine II and BSIS Star that would make it RIC VII Siscia 262 which is rated as R4. However, I still think this may be one of the other rulers such as Damatius. As an example, if it is Dalmatius with BSIS Star it would be RIC VII Siscia 266 or it could be Constants with Delta SIS Star it could be RIC VII Siscia 265. Bottom line here is it depends on the first few letters of the obverse legend. If your initial assessment is correct, then it would have to be the Constantine II above and mystery solved!
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
jwharper- I am quite certain that it is BSIS for the mint mark. Hoenstly, the more that I look at this coin (and keep in mind that it looks a lot better in hand) the more I am certain that the first few letters are totally unreadable and that there are at least 2 (if not 3) different legends overlapping. So I am sort of stuck. However, I do have a bit of a slight leaning to Dalmatius.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
I have to rely on you and the coin being in-hand. I could swear I see FL at the beginning of the obverse legend, but hey, you have the coin there. The possible RIC attributions are outlined above and without any further evidence, I think we have taken this as far as we can.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
jwharper- Thanks for all of the help. I'll try to stick to it and see if suddenly I am able to read the legend. But I'm still pretty stumped at this point.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
It doesn't really look like it to me from the picture, but since you have it in hand, does it look like the obverse can be cleaned any further?
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
ValiantKnight- I wish that I could, but I bought it from Dirty Old Coins as a cleaned coin from the Balkans. So I think that it has been already cleaned and Ren Waxed.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4778 Posts |
Ah ok. My only suggestion at this point would be to come back to it at some point in the future, give your eyes and mind a rest from it. If the first time fails to identify it, you may discover something else about the coin a second time around that will help identify it. A lot of unidentified coins I had I managed on later tries to see other things about them that helped me attribute them, a letter that looked like a D the first time around may look like an O when you go and look at it again, that kind of thing.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
ValiantKnight- good point! I'll give it a break and see if I can decipher some of the mess of overlapping text in the future. I'll let you guys know if anything is revealed down the road.
|
|
Page 2 of 2
|
Replies: 21 / Views: 3,043 |
Page 2 of 2
|
First Page
Posted 02/24/2012 3:36 pm
