Help And Tips For Ancient Coin Collecting

Your coin appears to be a Constantius II or maybe Constantius Gallus, for the Fallen Horseman series. This series first appeared in 348 AD and was issued under several rulers. These are the most common ancient Roman that can be found. They were struck in the millions. If you are interested in learning more about ancient coins, check out the sticky section here on Books, Downloads, and websites.

I can make out -"TIVSNOBC" which would make it Constantius Gallus, Heraclea mint.

Ref:
http://www.tesorillo.com/aes/024/024i.htm

Constantius Gallus was a nephew of Constantine the Great (son of one of Constantine's half brothers from his father's second marriage). Gallus and Julian were the only two direct descendents of Constantius Chlorus who werr spared after Constantine's three sons systematically executed anyone who had a legitimate claim to the throne. Gallus eventually came of age, and was named caesar, or heir apparent under the now middle aged Constantius II. He was a tyrant, and got himself beheaded for trying to act like the emperor before his time had come. Julian was then named caesar and eventually emperor for a short while.

Gallus' coins are common, but less so than the others from this time. It's a good find from the junk box, but I agree that verdigris needs some TLC before this one can go into storage.

Also, as for collecting ancients, there is no "right" way. The Constantine and Valentinian/Theodosian dynasties constitute a narrow enough spread that one could collect *most* of the emperor/reverse combinations, or all the mint marks for a particular reverse. The website I gave is a good beginner's tool or quick reference guide to get a feel for what is out there. Keep in mind that Tesorillo does list extremely rare or even unique coins alongside common ones.

Verdigris is not bronze disease and should not be given the same treatment. Verdigris is an acetate and is stable. Bronze disease is a chloride and is corrosive. You might want to search those terms on the web.

There are many approaches and many budgets when it comes to ancients. I took a different view to many in that I haven't bought much off ebay and I have largely avoided too many Roman coins (these are good budget coins but I made a small and fairly expensive collection instead focusing mainly on Greek silver) I found that using Vcoins I could find nice condition coins and be sure that what I was buying was genuine, which is important if you are spending reasonable money. Also I didn't focus on building sets but instead collecting different types, which means heaps of variety.