New Constans Fel Temp

This arrived today and is feeding my burgeoning Fel Temp addiction. Post anything you think is relevant.

Constans, AD 337-350.
Æ Centenionalis, 20mm, 3.4g, 12h; Alexandria, AD 348-350.
Obv.: D N CONSTANS P F AVG; Pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust left, holding globe.
Rev.: FEL TEMP REPARATIO; Constans standing left, holding labarum and resting hand on shield; two bound captives kneeling before him // ALEΓ
Reference: RIC VIII 56, p. 542.

 

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Nice one. I don't have that issue. I only have the RIC VIII Alexandria 64 with the star in the field. Admittedly I have gone typically over the top and got three examples from different officina.

 

Nice one @GerardV ! Quite a pick-up. I've sometimes wondered about the changes of the mint of Alexandria - producing tets and drachms for so many years then issuing tetrarchic coins of vastly different style, followed by LRB's. One wonders how the mint workers were trained when they had to follow the new styles of the dominate, as in dominus noster or DN.

 

I would be very interested in knowing (but doubt we ever could) whether any die cutters of the last tetrarchal tetradrachms actually did work on Imperial style coins and when the last one (if there were any) retired. Can someone show coins of both types that seem to have been cut by the same 'hand' or even the same style?

I do not own a coin of the earliest Alexandria mint Imperial follis issue. By the time of my Diocletian, I see no stylistic holdover from the tetradrachms. Perhaps the intervention of Domitius Domitianus saw a housecleaning of staff???


CNG sold a Galerius as struck under Domitius. The style there does have some relation to the tets.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=288496

 

Nice new LRB! I don't have a Constans but I have a Constantius II with the captives from Alexandria. Kind of cool that @Bing 's captives are standing instead of kneeling.



Constantius II, 340-361 AD

O: DN CONSTAN-TIVS PF AVG, R: FEL TEMP-REPARATIO, Emperor with two captives, ALEA in ex., Alexandria mint. RIC VII, 55. 21 mm, 4.2 g.

 

nice one gerard, think i got one...


Constantius II AE3. 348-351 AD. D N CONSTAN-TIVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust left, globe in hand / FEL TEMP-REPARATIO, emperor bare headed and in military dress standing, holding labarum in his right hand, resting left hand on shield, two bound captives wearing Phrygian helmets kneeling, leaning to the left before him, star in left field. Mintmark SMNdelta.
Nicomedia mint. RIC VIII 71 p. 476
21.46g, 3.6mm

 

Great coin!

I only have Constantius II from Alexandria as well

Nonsense, you need one more.

 

Thank you, everyone, for the kind words about the coin. The discussion about the Alexandria mint is fascinating as well.

It’s what makes ancient coins so much fun.

 

Nice coin. I have four FEL TEMP REPARATIO of Constans:
(23 mm, 4.3 gr)

(19 mm, 2.4 gr)

(19 mm, 2.9 gr)

(19 mm, 4 gr)

 

Congrats @GerardV . Great looking coin... patina is great!

The only Constans I have:


RI Constans 337-350 Æ Follis 22mm 3.9g Heraclea AD348-351 holding globe - FEL TEMP REPARATIO soldier spear leads figure from hut


RI Constans 337-350 AE3 19mm Thesalonika mint Reparatio stdg CHI RHO banner

 

Now there's three of you!


All jokes aside, that's a great looking coin.

 

Almost forgot.

 

Thank you and, yes, this is an addictive coin type. The funny part is there were several in the "Bag o Romans" and they've had my eye ever since. You can blame @Deacon Ray - he created my addiction. For me, it's easy to see why the other "Fel Tempers" are hooked (I should trademark that nickname and start a club).

 

Here's my latest tet issue, of Maximianus, year 295-6:


I don't have the Domitius Domitianus issued follis for Maximianus, but here are the other three. (I seem to have stumbled on a mini collection theme here. If anyone can find me the Max I'd be eternally grateful!!)




I would say the Galerius you linked, @dougsmit, and my Diocletian show the strongest stylistic similarities with the last tets. If the tets had decent fabric perhaps we'd see even more similarity.

 

The Emperor and Captives type was only minted at Alexandria, Cyzicus and Siscia for Constans. There were many more mints for Constantius II - Alexandria, Antioch, Aquileia, Constantinople, Cyzicus, Heraclea, Nicomedia, Rome and Siscia.

I have collected a few of these and thought it would be useful to see a few of them side by side for comparison. I have many more but have picked a few out for illustration.

Alexandria
Constans (from above)

Constantius II

Antioch

Aquileia

Constantinople

Cyzicus
I have Constans and still looking out for Constantius II. They are not particularly scarce so I should find one relatively eaily now that I have noticed that I don't have one.

Heraclea

Nicomedia

Rome

Siscia
Constans

Constantius II


Martin

 

Oh no——and one of my church duties is to assist people with addictions find help—

 

You're helping them find coins. That's a public service, right?

 

I chose 2 coins. The first represents Constantius II with a christogram ( Rho ) on standard. The second was struck in Alexandria and represents the famous hut with a Roman soldier guiding a subordinate to the new civilized world of Rome.

 

And you did...you gave me a list of reputable dealers on VCOINS!