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 Replies: 14 / Views: 904 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
870 Posts |
Another upgrade arrived today. This time Arcadius. Old Arcadius:  New Arcadius  Arcadius (A.D. 383-408) AE Follis, A.D. 383-388, Constantinople, 22.5mm, 4.28g, 180°, RIC IX 83c 2 Obv: DN ARCADIVS PF AVGVSTVS. Pearl diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev: VIRTVS EXERCITI. Arcadius standing right, stepping on captive, holding labrum and globe, chi-ro in left field; CONSΓ in ex. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Impressive upgrade for sure!  |
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Bedrock of the Community
Australia
21786 Posts |
Well on the way to forming an impressive LRB collection. |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
Quote:
Obv: DN ARCADIVS PF AVGVSTVS This is the intended legend, but on the coin the legend reads AVGVSIVS (sic, with I) rather than AVGVSTVS (with T). IIRC this is a known variant and not actually all that rare for the type. Still weird, and still interesting. I have (...in Moscow, so no pics) at least two of those AVGVSIVS coins, but neither is anywhere near this good. |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
870 Posts |
Ha! I didn't even notice that and this coin was not listed with the legend on the sellers site so I attributed the legend myself and missed that!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4883 Posts |
One other detail to address - the symbol on the reverse is not a chi-rho (or Christogram) but in fact a tau-rho (Staurogram), understood to constitute a representation of Jesus on the cross rather than a symbolic abbreviation of his name. This confusion seems to be rife in the descriptions of LRB's.
Colligo ergo sum
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
Quote:
understood to constitute a representation of Jesus on the cross rather than a symbolic abbreviation of his name ...TIL. Makes sense, but I never thought of it that way. Indeed most "chi-rho" signs on LRBs are in fact staurograms, though (especially among symbols on standards) there are some sporadic cases of an actual chi-rho, and of course the big famous design-wide one is an actual chi-rho as well. As for the AVGVSIVS spelling, while this is the time period where legends start to get actively blundered, especially in eastern mints - I have an ARCADIS somewhere - AFAIK this particular spelling on this particular type is common enough (occurring on multiple dies) that there's suspected to be something real underlying it. IIRC the usual suggestion is a sound change. (I sadly don't recall offhand if it's localized to a particular officina; if it is then maybe it's the fault of a particular badly educated celator.) [EDIT: looking it up, apparently only one officina made this type for Arcadius in the first place, and the coins seem to have all had the alternate spelling. Supposedly the photo in RIC shows an example with the correct spelling, but that's the only one I could find online and it's not very clear. I wonder if in fact AVGVS IVS stands for something else and it was never supposed to be AVGVSTVS in the first place.] |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
870 Posts |
Lucky, you are indeed correct. I was in a bit of a hurry when I was writing up the attributes on this coin.
As far as the AVGVSIVS legend, it is strange indeed and I can't find any definitive answer as to whether it is a mistake or intentional. It does appear very frequently on coins of Arcadius and appears very rarely on earlier coins such as Hadrian and Augustus.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12057 Posts |
Nice upgrade. Hard to find LRB's of Arcadius, Honorius, Val III, and so on that are fully centered on relatively intact planchets. The vast majority are off-center, ragged, clipped, etc. especially for smaller issues (AE3/AE4)
Member ANA - EAC - TNA - SSDC - CCT #890 "Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." -- Louis D. Brandeis |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2099 Posts |
Another very nice upgrade. I bought myself an Arcadius at the end of the year. I don't normally go this late in LRB. I was taken by the bust type. Arcadius AE2 Obv:- D N ARCADIVS P F AVG, Pearl diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right, spear in right hand, shield on left arm, hand of God above offering diadem Rev:- GLORIA ROMANORVM (glory of the Romans), Emperor standing facing, head left, wearing diadem and military garb, vexillum in right hand, resting left hand on grounded shield at side, captive seated facing on left with hands bound behind his back and looking up at the Emperor Minted in Alexandria (T|_//ALED). 19 Jan 383 - c. 386 A.D Reference(s) - RIC XI Alexandria 16 uneven strike  Edited by maridvnvm
01/06/2024 04:39 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
870 Posts |
Mari, that is a gorgeous and very unusual bust type. Love it!
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
12057 Posts |
Reminds me of the "baby head" and "toddler head" Spanish coins of the late 19th c.
Member ANA - EAC - TNA - SSDC - CCT #890 "Most of the things worth doing in the world had been declared impossible before they were done." -- Louis D. Brandeis |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
Arcadius would probably have been between 5 and 8 years old when that coin was minted, so no wonder it comes across as a baby head...
One of the silly "post your coin" ideas I've considered was "post your coins of child rulers". IIRC there are some Theodosius II issues minted when he was about 2 years old.
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Moderator
 United States
187582 Posts |
Very nice! |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2213 Posts |
Very nice Arcadius. I wrote an article about the first Christian symbols on Roman coins. It's in a 2003 issue of The Celator magazine, which is no longer published. But the issues are available online on Vcoins, lots of great articles through the years. In my article I discuss the origins of the Chi-Rho symbol and other Christian symbols. For those who want to read it you can download at below link. I haven't read my article for years and had forgotten much of the details, quotes, references, footnotes LOL. https://social.vcoins.com/files/fil...cember-2003/Edited by livingwater
01/10/2024 11:39 am
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Replies: 14 / Views: 904 |
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Posted 01/03/2024 04:19 am
