The Blessed Tranquility types occur on the coinage of Constantine, Constantine Jr, Crispus, and the Licinii. The issue of these types began in AD 317, after Constantine and Licinius had fought several battles (the Tetrarchs were constantly playing King of the Hill). The truce was uneasy at best, and eventually culminated in a civil war which Constantine won in AD 324. These coins were discontinued a year earlier, presumably when the hostilities would have made them ironic in the extreme. So the blessed tranquility expressed in the reverse inscription was mostly wishful thinking - the nervous quiet before the storm.
@GerardV those are some sweet coins. They are recognizable, and best of all, free! Thanks for sharing them with us. Here is my Constantine Sol similar to yours, but from London And my Constantine II votis altar, but also from London
Here is one that is truly a guess: Legend: IMP C VAL LICIN LICINIVS P F AVG Licinious I Reverse: IOVI CONSERVATORI Jupiter standing left, leaning on scepter, holding Victory on globe, eagle at left with wreath in its beak, captive right, K over II Mu in right field SMAL Mint Alexandria I'm pretty confident about the legend and reverse writing, it's whether the rest of the reverse description is right that is questionable to me. (And I am working on smaller pics, I promise)
When I won the contest, someone suggested trying to attribute them all...so that's what I'm doing. If people get bored with the attempt, I will stop the thread. So far, I'm still getting positive comments here, and in PMs, etc so it's full steam ahead. Thanks for posting yours too. The more posted here, the better. My hope is people will post whatever floats their boat!
That's Emperor Licinius I PS: If I had bothered to read before posting I would have noticed you already figured out as much. I'm such an idiot.
Under a magnifying glass I thought it looked like a M A with the L very faint. But, I trust you more than me. This was actually the very first coin I worked on. So, I wasn't confident about it.
Hard to tell from the pic, but I think the mint mark on the last one is Heraclea - SMHB Edit: Ajax beat me to it.
I thought you were pointing out my horrible typo. You could have kept quiet and looked like you were simply correcting my mistake.
I think we are all enjoying seeing your diligent work in attributing these coins. I feel you have proven to be a worthy winner. Carry on!
Haha. Reminds me now of the time someone else posted a coin of "Emperor Tits", who looked suspiciously a lot like Titus.
There are far too many jokes that can be made from this post and the one by @Sallent In order to avoid being banned from CT, I've chose not to comment.
Here is another coin very similar to the last: Legend: IMP C VAL LICIN LICINIVS P F AVG Licinious I Reverse: IOVI CONSERVATORI Jupiter standing left, leaning on scepter, holding Victory on globe, eagle at left with wreath in its beak, captive right, wreath over epsilon over N in the right field, all very worn Mint: looks like SMH to me - Heraclea (not very sure of this)
I don't see the wreath or N in right field just the epsilon and the mintmark doesn't look like SMH. Keep at it though you will find an exact match to your coin on wildwinds. Isnt attributing fun??