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Help Me Decide Please!

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VisigothKing's Avatar
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4778 Posts
 Posted 10/17/2011  3:11 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add VisigothKing to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
The weather in South Florida today: cloudy with a light shower all afternoon, with some light winds, and a Constantine I Sol Invictus! Thanks very much bobby! Don't you worry, I think the coin looks great! Is it by any chance a London mint coin? Just wondering.
Edited by VisigothKing
10/17/2011 3:13 pm
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bobbyhelmet's Avatar
United Kingdom
2838 Posts
 Posted 10/17/2011  3:21 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add bobbyhelmet to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Haha - Glad you like it mate.

I'll let you do the search (helveticas tables will be useful here) but what I will say is that the coin can only be narrowed down to one of two mints by the visible data. To make the final decision we must use the style of the coin as unfortunately the mintmark is not present.

I know what it is and I'm 99% certain about it - let me know if and when you need any hints or pointers
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VisigothKing's Avatar
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 Posted 10/17/2011  3:30 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add VisigothKing to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Ok I'll get right on it! It's probably going to take a while, but I'll find it!
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VisigothKing's Avatar
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 Posted 10/17/2011  3:54 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add VisigothKing to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Ok, I managed to narrow it down to two mints like you said, but I'm most likely wrong, so here goes: either RIC 57 Arles, or RIC 33 Rome (from the style of the bust and Sol I'm thinking Rome).
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bobbyhelmet's Avatar
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 Posted 10/17/2011  4:25 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add bobbyhelmet to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
That was pretty quick Jango! - you are absolutely correct in saying it is either 57 Arles or 33 Rome.

This is where it gets difficult, the bust styles of Arles and Rome are different, but there is not much in it. Both mints produced similar style, size and weight coins with Arles perhaps having a slight advantage size wise. To be honest this is something that people just pick-up as there are very few hard and fast rules. After seeing a number of these you just start getting gut feelings that are usually correct. Not sure how this works but I can now often tell whether or not the reverse of a Constantine coin is a Sol just by looking at the Obverse! Can be useful on ebay when often only Obverse pictures are shown

Both Arles and Rome have the same 'rounded' busts, specifically heads and chin-lines as is seen on your coin, in general the Arles coins show a more anatomically correct head, some of the Rome coins can be poor in this respect. On the Reverse Sol is often shown with a very prominent 'six pack' in Rome where as the Arles coins are a little more realistic. As you can see by looking at Sol on your coin he is quite nicely modelled (subjective but true), this is certainly indicative of an Arles coin, Rome coins can have very poor styled Sols and often the text lettering is poor.

You would think the Rome mint always had the best die cutters and made the best coins but this doesn't seem the case to me. For these coins London and Trier seem to have produced the 'nicest', largest and heaviest coins - It may be that as these areas were on the 'edge of the world' the Romans needed to reassure the natives with substantial, pleasing coins to get them to ender into trade. It could also be a deliberate attempt by these mints to minimise barbaric deceptive imitations as these areas are also where a lot of those came from.

Anyways, I digress, conclusion - Your coin is Arles RIC VII 57 - 315/316AD - 99% certain
Edited by bobbyhelmet
10/17/2011 4:29 pm
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VisigothKing's Avatar
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 Posted 10/17/2011  4:41 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add VisigothKing to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Woo-hoo! Got it! I'm better at this attributing thing than I thought. Thanks again for the coin bobby!
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VisigothKing's Avatar
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 Posted 10/17/2011  5:31 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add VisigothKing to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
On the helveticas table for the Sol Invictos, there are 4 RIC 57 Arles that are the same (lines 1663-1666). Is there any way to tell which one of those is my coin?
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bobbyhelmet's Avatar
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 Posted 10/17/2011  5:38 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add bobbyhelmet to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Sadly I dont think so - at least I dont have the knowledge to do it.

An expert in these coins may be able to see style differences between workshops (if these even exist?) but I would think it could only ever be an educated guess.
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VisigothKing's Avatar
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 Posted 10/17/2011  5:54 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add VisigothKing to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Ah I see. Oh well, at least we have the right attribution for it. Thanks Bobby.
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