Help Me Decide Please!

Jango

Don't know if you have this....

http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...w.google.com

If you srcoll to the bottom there is a link to a nice Map.

I like to know the whereabouts a coin comes from on the earth.

Regards

Highlight and copy what you want to quote then paste it between the code produced when you click the below button in the reply screen - its two to the right of the insert image button.

By golly I think I have it. Thanks guys

JW

The weather in South Florida today: cloudy with a light shower all afternoon, with some light winds, and a Constantine I Sol Invictus! Thanks very much bobby! Don't you worry, I think the coin looks great! Is it by any chance a London mint coin? Just wondering.

Ok I'll get right on it! It's probably going to take a while, but I'll find it!

That was pretty quick Jango! - you are absolutely correct in saying it is either 57 Arles or 33 Rome.

This is where it gets difficult, the bust styles of Arles and Rome are different, but there is not much in it. Both mints produced similar style, size and weight coins with Arles perhaps having a slight advantage size wise. To be honest this is something that people just pick-up as there are very few hard and fast rules. After seeing a number of these you just start getting gut feelings that are usually correct. Not sure how this works but I can now often tell whether or not the reverse of a Constantine coin is a Sol just by looking at the Obverse! Can be useful on ebay when often only Obverse pictures are shown

Both Arles and Rome have the same 'rounded' busts, specifically heads and chin-lines as is seen on your coin, in general the Arles coins show a more anatomically correct head, some of the Rome coins can be poor in this respect. On the Reverse Sol is often shown with a very prominent 'six pack' in Rome where as the Arles coins are a little more realistic. As you can see by looking at Sol on your coin he is quite nicely modelled (subjective but true), this is certainly indicative of an Arles coin, Rome coins can have very poor styled Sols and often the text lettering is poor.

You would think the Rome mint always had the best die cutters and made the best coins but this doesn't seem the case to me. For these coins London and Trier seem to have produced the 'nicest', largest and heaviest coins - It may be that as these areas were on the 'edge of the world' the Romans needed to reassure the natives with substantial, pleasing coins to get them to ender into trade. It could also be a deliberate attempt by these mints to minimise barbaric deceptive imitations as these areas are also where a lot of those came from.

Anyways, I digress, conclusion - Your coin is Arles RIC VII 57 - 315/316AD - 99% certain

On the helveticas table for the Sol Invictos, there are 4 RIC 57 Arles that are the same (lines 1663-1666). Is there any way to tell which one of those is my coin?

Ah I see. Oh well, at least we have the right attribution for it. Thanks Bobby.