.. Valens with Victory reverse
Posted 03/16/2019 8:17 pm
The obverse has the legend in full - it can be tricky to read them starting out, but it doesn't take long to get the hang of it, especially once you learn to recognise the titles and know which emperors fit the time period. This one reads 'DN VALEN-S PF AVG' (Dominus noster Valens Pius Felix Augustus - Our Happy and Pius Lord & Augustus Valens). Tesorillo is a good site for identifying reverses and we can look at their page for Valens http://www.tesorillo.com/aes/_rev/valens_i.htm) to see if any look like this as there is not much to go on from the reverse legend. Looking at Tesorillo, we can see that this reverse deign is paired with 5 different reverse legends, so we need to use the letters that are left to narrow down the choice. I can see 'PVB' and 'ICA' on one side, which implies [REI]PVB[L]ICA[E], which leaves us only with SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE. On earlier coinage, this would mean 'Carefree republic' and we would see a relaxed figure, but in the late empire SECVRITAS moves to mean what it does today - security. This security is achieved by military means and this coin implies that the republic is safe due to a victory of the army.
The mintmark is off of the flan, but it might be possible to assign this to a city based only on what is in the fields. You'll need it in hand to decide though, as the letter isn't very clear in the picture and the dot(?) could well prove to be a star.
The mintmark is off of the flan, but it might be possible to assign this to a city based only on what is in the fields. You'll need it in hand to decide though, as the letter isn't very clear in the picture and the dot(?) could well prove to be a star.
