Same Coin Type...significant Difference In Style...

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Author	Replies: 6 / Views: 1,233
einhard Valued Member Ireland 86 Posts	Posted 09/17/2012 6:34 pm Hey all, I have my eye on a Constantius II Fel Temp Reparatio coin having purchased one recently. However, I'm slightly concerned about the difference in the portrait styles on the obverse. They vary to quite a significant degree, when I had assumed there would be some degree of uniformity of style. Below is the one I have: And this is the one I'd like to have: You can see theres quite a difference between the two in the depiction of the emperor. The second one seems much more angular, especially around the nose and chin, and the folds of the cloth around the upper chest seems different too. There are other sytlistic differences which jump out also. Is this common in this period? Or should I be concerned? Thanks. Report this Post to the Staff

Gil-galad Pillar of the Community United States 2044 Posts	Posted 09/17/2012 6:46 pm Ancient coins are different than modern coins. They were all handmade, each one from a custom made die. It's rare when you find two or more coins that looks like they could be minted from the same die. Called a die match. There are lots of mints across the Roman Empire. Each mint also had their own crew and worked with their own dies. Report this Post to the Staff
einhard Valued Member Ireland 86 Posts	Posted 09/17/2012 7:07 pm Thanks for the reply. I appreciate that there will be some dfferences across different provinces and mints, but I wa ssurprised at the degree of difference. I mean, with emperors such as Hadrian and Trajan, the portraiture is remarkably similar across the board (as far as I can see anyway). One could easily identify a Trajan just from the portrait. Yet the portraits on these coins are so different as to be liable to be identified as two different people. I suppose I wasn't expecting such disparaties, and this caused me some concern as to the gunuineness of one or the other. Report this Post to the Staff
augustus1 Pillar of the Community United States 549 Posts	Posted 09/17/2012 7:29 pm All of Trajan's imperial (not provincial) coins were minted at one mint--Rome, which explains the uniformity of style (although coins from 98 AD look much different than coins from later in his reign). In the third century mints proliferated and, if you specialize, you will eventually be able to identify the mint by its style. By the mid fourth century, there are a dozen or so mints with minor, but noticeable, differences in style. -- Warren Report this Post to the Staff
Nothus Valued Member United States 209 Posts	Posted 09/17/2012 7:29 pm That is one thing that threw me for a while when I started. I was having a lot of trouble attributing coins because none of mine looked like the ones at wildwind. The stylistic differences can be extreme, especially when you put out as many coins as Constantius did. The raw look of some of them put me off the Constantinian Era initially. Report this Post to the Staff
dougsmit Pillar of the Community United States 1549 Posts	Posted 09/17/2012 8:25 pm This coin was issued from 15 mints. Your first is Thessalonika. I am not sure but the second may be Antioch. Antioch generally has more pleasing style but it is more common so you should get one for a reasonable price for any given grade. Still there is a large difference even within mints as I tried to show recently with my post of three Alexandria coins. I'm working on a new page showing all 15 mints but for now you might enjoy the old one which shows an Antioch and a Thessalonika about 1/4 way down the page. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/do...ith/ftr.html Report this Post to the Staff
chrsmat71 Pillar of the Community United States 4973 Posts	Posted 09/17/2012 8:25 pm Quote: That is one thing that threw me for a while when I started. I was having a lot of trouble attributing coins because none of mine looked like the ones at wildwind. yes, same issue for me at first! Edited by chrsmat71 09/17/2012 8:36 pm Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 6 / Views: 1,233

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