Two Rare Fourth Century Roman Bronzes In One Uncleaned Lot

I purchased this group of thirty uncleaned Roman bronze coins from an ebay seller in Austria. I bought them because I thought I saw two rare fourth century AD bronzes among the coins.

Here is the auction photo. The rare ones are the coin on the far right on the top row and the second coin from the left in the second row.




The coins arrived today and I was pleased to see I was right about them.

The coin from the far right of the top row is a Valentinian I FELICITAS ROMANORVM AE-3 from the Aguileia mint. When RIC, Vol. IX was published, this type for Valentinian I was considered unique and listed as "Rarity 5". It is attributed as RIC, Vol. IX, #16 ("a" or "b"). Other examples have since appeared, but it is still quite rare. In my nearly twenty years of collecting ancient coins this is the third one I have seen and I do have one example in my collection.

However, I have not seen one with a branch in the left reverse field. The branch in the field with mint mark SMAQP is a known mint mark for Valentinian I (viii a).

These coins, all rare, were first known for Gratian and thought to mark a visit by him to northern Italy "to consolidate his position as regent for his young half-brother Valentinian II" (RIC, Vol. IX, p. 86). Examples exist for Valens as well.

Here is the coin as I received it, in uncleaned condition. There is an unfortunate mark on the emperor's cheek. The mint mark is SMAQP (18 mm. & 2.12 grams).





The second coin is an AE-3 of Constantius II with reverse of Victory walking left, holding a wreath and legend of VICTORIA AVGVSTI. It is from the Sirmium mint. While examples of this coin, with the reverse legend VICTORIA CAESARIS, from the Siscia mint were known when RIC, Vol IX was published (RIC, Vol. VIII, #315 of Siscia), this type is unlisted in RIC for Sirmium.

In recent years a number of examples have come to light from the Sirmium mint (I have a VICTORIA CAESARIS in my pesonal collection) and Victor Failmezger has a photo of a VICTORIA CAESARIS from Sirmium illustrated in his book, "Roman Bronze Coins: From Paganism to Christianity 294-364 AD), it still appears to be quite rare.

I could not find any online references to the VICTORIA AVGVSTI reverse type.

Here is the coin in uncleaned condition (19 mm. & 2.07 grams):

OB: Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust, right - D N CONSTANTIVS P F AVG

REV: Victory walking left, holding wreath - VICTORIA AVGVSTI

Mint mark is SIRM





There are still some neat and rare coins lurking out there on ebay.

Thanks for giving me a forum where I can share these coins.

I'll post other photos when I have them cleaned.