Roman Or Greek Or Other

Sorry, Scoutjim, it's not Augustus, but it is a famous emperor. If you look at the obverse (with hthe portrait), the legend (starting from lower left, behind the guy's neck) reads IMPCONSTA NTINVSAVG. Now, Roman die-cutters were a little lazy with indicating word breaks; the legend actually reads IMP CONSTANTINVS AVG, or Emperor Constantine. There were a few Constantines, but this one is Constantine I (the Great).

The Reverse has two Victories (they look like angels) holding a shield between them inscribed VOT P R. The legend reads VICTORIAE LAETAE PRINC PERP. At the bottom below the line (in the space caled the exergue) is the mintmark. I can't make out the mintmark letters from the scan, but it's probably somewhere in the Western half of the Empire; this type is listed in my 3rd edition Sear catalogue (#3783) with the PLN (London) mintmark.

In my 3rd edition Sear (1981) it catalogues at £18 for one in "average condition". You'll have to wait until the next volume of the Millennium Edition comes out for a more precise value than that. It seems to be one of the less common Constantine bronzes (others go for £4 to £10).

That book (Sear 3rd or 4th ed.) is a good one for beginners to get into the series. Has just about everything you're likely to find, it's fairly cheap second-hand, and it's all in one volume.

From the time of Diocletian (around 300 AD), Roman coins had simple, two-to-four-letter mintmarks, located at the base of the reverse, below the "exergue line". On your coin, that would be the ground line the "angels" are standing on. I can see two letters, but I can't make them out. Might be AQ or MR?

on these coins do you read it backwards or something because from right to left it looks like m ?. and in your opionions the cleaning of ancients different than modren coins I keep reading that it is accepted and almost expected when it comes to ancients I keep hearing distilled water will help with out harming it a light brushing any thoughts

thank you Sap and Bonedigger