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 Replies: 13 / Views: 1,435 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
HI everyone,I got this one in an uncleaned lot a while back. I feel that it turned out out OK. Although certainly not rarest or most valuable ancient, I am curious as to the exact ID. I feel like the mint mark is SMN, but I may be wrong. Also, I am unable to find a close match that has a cross in the left field by victory advancing on the reverse. Any help would be appreciated!   |
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
The only reference I've come up with so far is with the mint marks of SMAQP & SMAQS RIC IX 9b.3b and 9B.8A.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3499 Posts |
echizento- thanks for the input! Is this taking into account the cross in the reverse field? IN case I am in fact misreading the second and third letter in exe, are there any others that have the cross and begin with "S" in exe?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
There is at least one other that has the chi-rho in the left field. Nicomedia RIC IX 24a with SNMB as a mintmark. I'm still looking but wanted to let you know about this one.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
That's the only other one I can find. RIC has it listed as R3 and Helvetica's indicates the mintmark is an engraver's error.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
jwharper- thanks for the help! Honestly, Nicomedia sounds like a more likely mint since many of the other coins from this uncleaned lot were from the Balkan region. However, if SMN with the chi-rho was an error, which I presume only occurred on one die pair, that makes SMN to be less likely.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
I have no idea what Dane was meaning when she wrote that note about the minmark error. Perhaps there was something wrong with the workshop indicated, but you could email her if you are interested. Let me know and I can send you her email address. I would wager that there are plenty of these coins from Nicomedia with the chi-rho. If this were in my collection, I would attribute it with whichever seems/appears more likely until something more definitive comes along.
Note: I think the portrait looks like a Nicomedia coin.
Edited by Bing
07/03/2012 7:40 pm
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
I would be interested to hear what she has to say.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
OK. I sent an email to Dane to ask about the note. We shall see what she has to say. I suspect it is because the M and N are transposed, but I'm not sure.
Edited by Bing
07/03/2012 9:14 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
jwharper- Awesome! thanks for the help, and I would be curious to see what she says as well.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1045 Posts |
Any chance this could be Valentinian I with obverse legend DN VALENTINI-ANVS PF AVG. The portrait certainly looks like him.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
I suppose it could be Valentinian I, except that, according to Helvetica's table, the only Chi-Rho would be from Aquileia, RIC IX 9a with a mintmark of SMAQ which doesn't seem to match the OP's description. I may be missing something or Archraz may be mistaken about the mintmark, but, so far I'm leaning towards Valens Nicomedia RIC IX 24a with SNMB as a mintmark.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3499 Posts |
Biancasdad & jwharper - Thanks for the input. But I certainly am leaning more towards Valens. From what I can see with the coin in hand, the obverse legend reads "**VALEN S**AUG." (The * represent letters that are not entirely clear). So I presume that it says "VALEN SPFAUG." So I too feel that this one is of Nicomedia.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4253 Posts |
I got a reply from Dane, and it is what I suspected. The transposed M and N. Here is the email I received this morning:
Hi JW
I am currently away from home working at my old place of
work (the concert venue) for a 4-day festival (godawful
black- and death metal :-()
Anyway, the engraver's error is that he engraved the MN as NM.
SM means Sacra Moneta and N + officina letter for Nicomedia.
So the guy actually engraved Sacra Nicomedia Moneta +
officina letter in error.
Hope this explains it for you ok
All the best from a hot - but very loud - day in Switzerland
Dane
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Replies: 13 / Views: 1,435 |
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Posted 07/03/2012 6:30 pm
