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 Replies: 10 / Views: 359 |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1563 Posts |
Late Roman Coin from this mornings purchase of coins. Got them all identified apart from this little one, any help much appreciated, thank you. Measures approximately 9mm and weighs in at 0.7 grams. I know it's a little battered but it's nice to get an id all the same. Kev.  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
900 Posts |
It's an unofficial issue; which is why it is so small and has crude style and the obverse legend has three O's. The reverse is a victory. As far as the official type it is copying, it is hard to say, as there are several small 4-5th century coins with victories. I have quite a few of these small unofficial coins. Below is one that is copying a CONSTANTINOPOLIS victory on a prow at 9mm 0.5g  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United Kingdom
1563 Posts |
That's excellent info as always, thank you Victor.
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Moderator
United States
187446 Posts |
Well done!  |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
Quote:
and the obverse legend has three O's I would read ODO for Theodosius. Those 5th century Victories can get impressively crude (especially if it's a Theodosius II!) and I'm not very confident it's actually unofficial. [EDIT: ...but there doesn't seem to be any official issue of either Theodosius with Victory facing right, or indeed any 5th century type with Victory walking right at all that I can find except an incredibly scarce type attributed to Bonifatius that I wasn't able to find any pictures for. Interesting coin!] Unfortunately the reverse image is too blurry for me to read the mintmark (or any of the legend). |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
900 Posts |
Quote:
and I'm not very confident it's actually unofficial I am quite confident it is unofficial. These unofficial coins are very common. It actually makes no sense to claim this might be official but then admit that you can't find similar official issues. remember Occam's Razor - all things being equal, the simplest explanation is probably right. |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5172 Posts |
Quote:
These unofficial coins are very common. It actually makes no sense to claim this might be official but then admit that you can't find similar official issues. Thus the edit... I originally assumed it was likely to be official, because it looked about typically (non-)crude for 5th century, but then I was unable to find any official type it matched. Plausibly my idea of what official 5th century LRBs look like had been based on previous experience that included some unofficial issues I didn't recognize as such... [EDIT: it might also have been skewed by coins of Valentinian III, which are of course too late for this context.] I'll definitely try to look out for Victories walking right next time I manage to dig into a LRB bargain bin! Not that I expect to find any, and not that I expect to find any such bins anytime soon, either... |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
900 Posts |
Collecting unofficial issues is one of my side interests and I have several unofficial victory types. as they are fairly common. The coin below is very nicely engraved, as good as official coinage at the time; but is obviously unofficial due to the legend entirely composed of IIII's.  11x12mm 1.2g You frequently see coins like this for sale described as Vandals coinage; but this is wrong. At best, this can be described as a pseudo-Imperial issued circa A.D. 450. Pseudo-Imperial is just a fancy term for unofficial. For unofficial coinage, it also doesn't matter which way anything is facing (left or right) as these unofficial engravers sometimes forgot they were engraving a mirror image and got things backwards. There was not a lot of quality control. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1563 Posts |
Is this small one also an unofficial issue? The Unofficial coins peaked my interest so I have sorted out some of the tiny coins I have for a second look at. 10mm and 1.1grams Thank you.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
900 Posts |
no, it is an official issue
Valentinian II
A.D. 384- 388
D N VALENTINIANVS P F AVG; pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right.
GLORIA REIPVBLICE; campgate with two turrets gamma in left.
In ex. TES
RIC IX Thessalonica 62a
Edited by Victor
03/14/2026 12:40 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
1563 Posts |
Wow, that's impressive Victor, thank you very much.
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Replies: 10 / Views: 359 |
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Posted 02/24/2026 09:59 am
