Another VRBS ROMA

Hi everyone, Just picked up another one of these Commemoratives. I really love these type coins. Not in hand yet, It's coming from England. My second coin with Remus and Romulus nursing on the She Wolf. CONSTANTINE I THE GREAT (307/10-337). Commemorative series. Follis. Lugdunum.
Obv: VRBS ROMA.
Helmeted and cuirassed bust of Roma left.
Rev: Lupa Romana standing left, suckling the twins Romulus and Remus; two stars above; ✷SLG.
Ref RIC 267. Please share any you have, would love to see them.

 

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here's one that's not in RIC

VRBS ROMA
A.D. 330- 331
17x18mm 2.2gm
Obv. VRBS-ROMA [City of Rome] Roma, helmeted, wearing imperial cloak.
Rev. She-wolf left with twins (Romulus and Remus); above, two stars with ✶between them.
In ex. SCONST
RIC VII Arles -- ; Ferrando 957; Failmezger 364h

 

Nice one @old49er

 

Sweet coins. I picked one up too from JA earlier this year.

 

I like to collect these and commemoratives in general.

Commemorative Series
Mint Arles
334 or 336 AD
Obvs: VRBS ROMA, Helmeted and mantled bust of Roma left.
Revs: She-wolf standing left, head right, suckling the twins. Above chi-rho between two stars, (P)CONS(T).
AE 14x15mm, 1.57g
Ref: RIC VII.385/400


Commemorative Series
Mint Rome
337 to 340 AD
Obvs: VRBS ROMA BEATA, Roma helmeted, draped, and cuirassed left.
Revs: She-wolf standing left, head right, suckling the twins. Above wreath between two stars, R * Q.
AE 14x15mm, 1.22
Ref: RIC VIII.29

 

There were two in the bag o Romans. The top is Aquileia, and I think the bottom is Ambianum, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

nice coins, i have a few of these

 

I've got a few of these as well from uncleaned hoards. This one had no detail when I got it but olive oil/dental pick freed up some of the encrustation.

 

Another not in RIC, from the "death workshop"


This coin is not in RIC and has ΔE versus Θ for workshop 9. Sometimes ΔE was used for workshop 9, instead of Θ, as some superstitous people at the time considered Θ the symbol of death because theta was the first letter of the Greek word for the personification of death- Thanatos


VRBS ROMA
A.D. 330- 333
17x18mm 2.7gm
VRBS-ROMA; Roma, helmeted, wearing imperial cloak.
Rev. She-wolf left with twins (Romulus and Remus); above, two stars.
In ex. SMANTΔE
RIC VII Antioch –-

 

The mint at Ambianum was first established by Magnentius in 350. Too late for the city commemoratives. It never issued the Urbs Roma. Moreover, the mint mark on your coin appears to start with the letters SM, which was not used at Ambianum.

I will show a few of the less known Urbs Roma types:

The first is from Arelate/Constantia in a full AE3 module showing the double spearpoint (or as I like to call it, a pine tree) between the stars. Arelate used a number of symbols between the stars, but this is one of the rarest:


The next is from Nicomedia with a series of three dots between the stars. Practically all of the UR commems with the three dots came from Nicomedia. This device appears on some coins from all of the officinae issuing UR commems from Nicomedia.:



The next three coins are often mistaken for mules, hybrids, because they make use of reverses used on earlier coin types. However they are not hybrids, but coins intentionally designed with "retro" reverses. They were issued by the sons of Constantine after the old man had passed away, and all appear in a reduced module closer to the range of an AE4 than the earlier coins. The first two make use of a single standard GLORIA EXERCITVS type. Both come from eastern mints near the center of the empire:

The first is from Constantinople:


The second is from Heraclea:


Finally, here is another reduced module example with a Vota inscription: VOT/XX/MVLT/XXX from Heraclea:

Flan reduction due to inflation caused the mint marks on these small module pieces to get crowded off, so examples showing a discernible mark are more desirable.

 

Here is an VRBS ROMA from Siscia:


19 mm. 2.87 grams. 6:00.
RIC VI Siscia 222 "C3" = extremely common

These are connected to a great event, the foundation of Constantinople, Constantine's City. For some of the story, see my site:

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/CON/Founding.html

 

There are mules also...

 

as mentioned earlier, these are not mules, but regular issues.

 

On what do you base the dating of UR coins after rather than contemporary with the two soldier one standard male coins and the distinctive female types as they are presented by RIC?

 

EDIT: I posted an Alexander the Great coin in this thread. I moved it to an Alexander thread:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/alexander-tetradrachm-only-one.304985/#post-2889662

 

Yes, quite right! Sorry - it's amazing how things get stubbornly stuck in your brain, even when you know they're incorrect.

 

The best ones I have owned have been from Siscia....

 

Imitative of Lugdunum mint? Can't say I'm very sure one way or another. It's a small one at 13.8mm and 1.07g.

 

Here's my first one from JA.