Featured Celebrating the Site of Constantine I's Vision and Victory

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by TIF, Jul 3, 2016.

  1. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

    The coin is rather rare @techmuser. You need to try to take better images. It's hard to tell much from these. Anyway, welcome here.
     
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  3. techmuser

    techmuser New Member

    I am hoping I got a slightly better capture here:
     

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  4. techmuser

    techmuser New Member

    @Bing thanks :) I am new to ancients. I was shocked to see one of these being sold for $975 on ebay. I have been trying to collect all the varieties of commemorative ones issued under Constantine.
     
  5. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

    Try taking the coin out of the flip when you take the picture. However, from what I can see it's not in terribly good condition. When comparing prices, condition must be taken into consideration. Like I said it is a scarce issue which also plays into value. I do not have one of these, so wait till someone chimes in that knows more about the issue.
     
    techmuser likes this.
  6. Ancientnoob

    Ancientnoob Money Changer

    I really want to contribute to the thread but your coin is so awesome and I am so jealous I can only give you this high five.

    HighfivereshootC.jpg
     
  7. techmuser

    techmuser New Member

    @Bing thanks, will do.
     
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  8. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

    @Ancientnoob you can be so sacrilegious.

    *Edit* that was suppose to have a devil emoji at the end of that sentence.
     
    Ancientnoob likes this.
  9. randygeki

    randygeki Coin Collector

  10. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    Welcome to CoinTalk Ancients, techmuser!

    The coins are rated as common but as is sometimes the case, "book rarity" doesn't always correlate to real-life availability. Before reading about its (lack of) rarity in David Vagi's Coinage and History of the Roman Empire, I had assumed it would be rated as rare since examples don't come up very often in auctions and in webstores.

    At first I thought your coin might be fake because the style of the bridge looked very different that most I'd seen in various archives. However, CNG does have examples with similar styling. Here is one (image corrected here; on their website the reverse is upside down):

    CNG-Milvian-RotationCorrected.jpg
    This CNG example isn't in great condition. It sold last year for $160 + buyer's premium. Your coin, assuming it is authentic, has much more wear or corrosion so I'd expect the value to be less.

    Here's another CNG example which in 2010 sold for $115 plus BP. It was struck by the same officina as yours:

    [​IMG]

    As for the eBay example, wow-- that is a very optimistic price! Here's the coin in question:
    Screen Shot 2016-07-20 at 4.31.19 AM.jpg
    The seller, Mithra (Sergey Necheyev) often has very desirable coins in his Vcoins store but in general I find his prices to be rather high. Interestingly, he has the same Milvian Bridge coin for sale in his Vcoins store but is asking $325, not $975. I wonder if he ever gets any bites on the grossly inflated eBay listings or if he's just posting them there for some type of advertising or marketing trick?

    For comparison, the coin I posted-- which is considerably better condition-- cost less than a quarter as much as this eBay price, and considerably less than his Vcoins price as well. It was a fair price but not really a "bargain". To help you determine the value of your coin, you can compare it to other examples in CNG's archives and in acsearch (although with the latter you can only see hammer prices if you have a paid subscription).

    Bear in mind that in general, you might pay more in a fixed price store. You're paying for the convenience of buying the coin now rather than waiting for one to appear at auction. Plus, dealers are running a business. They have to make a profit or they wouldn't be able to keep their stores open.

    LOL, that's fantastic :D
     
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2016
  11. YOC

    YOC Well-Known Member

    I recognise this coin.......I think I sold it once?
     
  12. John Anthony

    John Anthony Ultracrepidarian

    :)
     
  13. YOC

    YOC Well-Known Member

    oh....I get it. i have a memory like a gold fish ... ive been working long late days....
    i have a memory like a goldfish ..... wait....did i say that already?
     
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  14. Smojo

    Smojo dreamliner

    Yeah you did. I picked it up because it just caught my eye, wasnt really on my want list but now that I have it I dont know why it wasnt. Seen plenty before just not in this good of condition. It's in a airtite now, happy to have it. I believe I have 3 of your coins to date.
     
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  15. JeffM-Houston

    JeffM-Houston Active Member

    Excellent write-up, thanks!
     
    TIF likes this.
  16. David@PCC

    David@PCC allcoinage.com

    ri157a.jpg
    This is one of my favorite time periods to collect. One of mine VRBS ROMA BEATA
     
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  17. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

  18. YOC

    YOC Well-Known Member

    welcome David.... youve come to the right place if you like the occasional LRB!!
     
  19. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    That is not the kind of UR that a
    collector would have. That is a coin I have seen in a catalog but never in the 'flesh'. Welcome!
     
  20. Gavin Richardson

    Gavin Richardson Well-Known Member

    This write-up appears on the splash page of CoinTalk today, so I suspect it will enjoy new life. I enjoyed the OP coin and write-up.

    As with all things Constantine coinage, I turn to Victor Clark for some great insight. Somewhere I record him as saying, "People who expect to find Christian imagery on bronze coins of Constantine will be disappointed. Of approximately 1,363 coins of Constantine I . . . covering the period of 313-337, roughly one percent might be classified as having Christian symbols.” It seems that the sons of Constantine seemed more eager to exploit that Milvian Bridge moment and its associated iconography on their coins, and it seems that the usurper Magnentius upped the ante with his gigantic Chi-Rho: "My Christianity can beat up your Christianity."

    Here's my "bridge" coin--a worn version I bought in 2006 from "Silenos Coins," then on VCoins, for $31. At the time, I recorded these notes:

    Notes: There is much disagreement over what the bridge signifies and the context for this coin’s issue. The general view now is that the coin was a donative distributed to commemorate the formal founding/dedication of Constantinople in 330 AD. However, “LRBC p.25 dates the POP ROMANVS (and the Star in wreath) issue to the Period IV, AD 341-346, after the death of Constantine I AD 337.” Some have suggested that the bridge is the Milvian Bridge where Constantine received his victorious Christian vision. Curtis Clay disputes this reading, arguing that these events would have become a dim memory by 330 AD. Another argument maintains that Constantine wanted to commemorate the peace between Goths and Sarmatians who had fought from the opposite banks of the Danube. Similarly, the bridge might symbolize the unity of East and West, of Rome and Constantinople, and thus the unity of the Populus Romanus.

    RIC VIII, 21 (C3); Ex: Silenos Coins; 1/06

    GENIO POP BRIDGE.jpg
     
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  21. David@PCC

    David@PCC allcoinage.com

    Good 'ole Silenos, I remember them!

    I was saving this for another thread, but where's the fun in that. Still in the mail and I only had to sell 8 coins to get it :blackeye:
    milvian.jpg
     
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