Thread: Easy Question about Constantius II coin for you all....

I just had a page long question written out when my darn 'pop up' blocker or something screwed things up and made it all dissapear... so here is the abbreviated version of said questions....

I have this Coin, sold and labelled as Constantius II, I was wondering what year it was from and what years Constantius II was emperor or prince or whatever post he held ( I do not recall) also the year the coin was struck if possible..... also the mintmark on the back looks like "dot SMKA" but I am not positive (pics included) can anyone tell me where this coin was minted? I figure these should be easy questions for you guys, so let me know what you think... I know the pics arent too good and the coin isnt perfect, but it will make a great gift to a niece or nephew, especially if I can give them all the info about the guy on the coin and the coin itself, so if you can think of any other interesting facts, I would love to hear them, but mainly I am looking for mint, date, etc.... the basics

Been away for a while, months, nice to be back and see the site still doing well in my absence. I missed the place.


(first pic of obv/rev together is only 50% size, other two are fullsize, also I kept getting 'script error' messages when uploading, please tell me they all work and show up properly?)

Cyzicus mint, 4th officina. (mintmark •SMKΔ), struck 330-338. RIC VII 99. Constantius II was Caesar from 324 to 337

Perfecto!!! Just the info I wanted/needed, I knew you guys were good but darn that's quick! Thank you so much my friend.

-----------------------------------------
To make that question seem even less complicated I have another question about another coin, this of a Probus Ant.... Now I bought it very cheaply, it is in, well, not the best shape, but has a nice bust.... I was reading about this type and someone had a very similar coin and was toting it as being a 'RIC 49 Bust Type F' Now I am fairly certain my coin of Probus is RIC 49, I have never heard of this 'Bust Type F' or any other bust types for that matter... anyone have any insight... this would probably be best in a new thread since this one is titled 'Constantius II....' but I will try here, and I will understand if no one knows anything about this. So here is pics of the coin I have... I am just curious because the excerpt I read about 'Bust Type F' seemed to make it out to be scarce... this is what I read on wildwinds as a description of one of the same type of Probus ants as mine:

" RIC 49 Bust Type F

Probus AE Antoninianus. Lugdunum Mint.
obv: IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG - Radiate and cuirassed bust r.
rev: SECVRITAS ORBIS - Securitas standing l., legs crossed, leaning on column, holding sceptre in r. hand; 'I' in exergue.

Emission 3, Officina 1. November to December 276 A.D.
References RIC 49 Bust Type F (Scarce). Bastien 165.

Contributed by Martin Griffiths, August, 2004. "

any of that sound reasonable? here are my pics of my coin..... I also include the photo that they were speaking of in the writing above. **The FIRST photo is the one from wildwinds that they were talking of.... the other 3 are of my example.


and here are the links:
text: http://wildwinds.com/coins/ric/probus/RIC_0049.txt
image: http://wildwinds.com/coins/ric/probus/RIC_0049.jpg

Originally Posted by rexesq

Perfecto!!! Just the info I wanted/needed, I knew you guys were good but darn that's quick! Thank you so much my friend.

-----------------------------------------
To make that question seem even less complicated I have another question about another coin, this of a Probus Ant.... Now I bought it very cheaply, it is in, well, not the best shape, but has a nice bust.... I was reading about this type and someone had a very similar coin and was toting it as being a 'RIC 49 Bust Type F' Now I am fairly certain my coin of Probus is RIC 49, I have never heard of this 'Bust Type F' or any other bust types for that matter... anyone have any insight... this would probably be best in a new thread since this one is titled 'Constantius II....' but I will try here, and I will understand if no one knows anything about this. So here is pics of the coin I have... I am just curious because the excerpt I read about 'Bust Type F' seemed to make it out to be scarce... this is what I read on wildwinds as a description of one of the same type of Probus ants as mine:

" RIC 49 Bust Type F

Probus AE Antoninianus. Lugdunum Mint.
obv: IMP C M AVR PROBVS AVG - Radiate and cuirassed bust r.
rev: SECVRITAS ORBIS - Securitas standing l., legs crossed, leaning on column, holding sceptre in r. hand; 'I' in exergue.

Emission 3, Officina 1. November to December 276 A.D.
References RIC 49 Bust Type F (Scarce). Bastien 165.

Contributed by Martin Griffiths, August, 2004. "

any of that sound reasonable? here are my pics of my coin..... I also include the photo that they were speaking of in the writing above. **The FIRST photo is the one from wildwinds that they were talking of.... the other 3 are of my example.


and here are the links:
text: http://wildwinds.com/coins/ric/probus/RIC_0049.txt
image: http://wildwinds.com/coins/ric/probus/RIC_0049.jpg

Remember, Probus has many bust types. So some are labeled "types". Someone told me what mine was but I dont remember.

I have problems with bust types lol

Unlike many RIC volumes, the one that covered Probus (V) did not separte bust types by number but often listed a reverse as coming with several bust variations all listed under the same number. They described the common busts and assigned letters which I never memorized. There are now better references for Probus. You might enjoy this page and I suggest you click on the 'busts' option at the top to see a page full of variations.
http://probvs.net/probvs/

Thanks everyone. Dougsmit, I will check it out, gracias. It was a very inexpensive coin and I liked the bust style, cuirassed and frontal, the reverse lettering looks pretty nice too, what is on the flan.

Btw Rex, its easier for all involved for you to remember Caesar and Augustus. If a person was Caesar they were second in line to the throne, if Augustus they were emperor. I find it a lot easier to simply deal with Caesar and Augustus than to say emperor, prince, etc., and a lot less confusing.

Remember an emperor was king of kings, so second in line to the emperor would not be a simple prince.

Good point and good info medoraman. Thank you!

What I like best about Constantius II were his series of "FEL TEMP REPARATIO" coins.

That may be why the postman brought me yet another Falling Horseman today. At $18 it was about average for my group but condition fans could spend much more. I have fewer of the other types:
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/ftr.html
I need to update this old page. I got interested in them when I shot the photos for the Failmezger book on Late Romans and realized how many interesting low priced coins there were.

Good stuff DS. Here are 3 of my FTR's from 3 different mints.

Nice coins Ripley !!! I especially like the middle one and bottom one. I always liked this design, yet for some reason, even though I have around 20-30 Bronzes of this era, I don't have any of these 'fallen horseman' ' FEL TEMP REPERATIO ' coins. I will have to work on fixing that Seeing your coins has given me renewed vigor and inspiration to find myself a nice Fallen Horseman coin, thanks to you Ripley - Hopefully I will be posting a picture of a Fallen horseman of my own in this very thread someday in the next few months..... I have been extremely busy lately ( not so busy as to have not bought a coin or two here and there in my incresingly diminished free-time ). I just got married a couple of months ago and have all sorts of work to be done, busy time for me.... my coin collecting has fallen a bit behind, but I suppose it will save me some cash.... but I doubt it, especially considering the type of person my wife is and I mean that in all the good ways..... wink....


I will try to take some photos myself, with my own camera, of the Constantius II - two soldiers/ two standards coin I posted above, upon seeing it in person I realized just how horrible the seller pics make it look compared to it's actual beauty... truly an interesting surface, and great detail on both sides.... it is the least expensive coin I have bought in a LONG time ($5.50 USD - FREE shipping!) and has become one of my favorite new aquisitions.

Thank you Rex and congrads on your recent marriage.

oops