Constantius II RIC VIII Antioch 135 I picked this up recently, probably overpaid. It has the spiral pattern on the soldier shield like my other and is the same officina but the slightly later in the series. I didn't notice it until I received it and it doesn't show up well in the pic but the shield on the ground is similar to the middle shield here : My other example of the spiral shield: RIC VIII Antioch 122 Another interesting RIC VIII Antioch 135, also from the same officina is this one. Unrecorded variant obv. headwear, pearl and rosette diademed.
Wow @randygeki great coin pickup and shield detail. Whenever you and @maridvnvm play out these coins, I always feel left in the dark. However, sometimes it is FUN that I may have just A coin that is a similar type. I HAVE a fallen horseman from Constantius II RI Constantius II 337-361 CE AE 2 Soldier spearing downed horseman... but it is just the boring "plain ole - plain ole" shield.
Randy you may or may not be aware of the Notitia Dignitatum which discusses late Roman military matters, it also contains shield patterns. It's from the late 300's to early 400's but may shed some light on the patterns. Here is a page with illustrations: http://lukeuedasarson.com/MagisterPeditumShieldPatternMismatch.html
It's pretty cool, but there is a lot of debate on how accurate it is. There's no evidence of individual designs in the early army. Home page: http://lukeuedasarson.com/NotitiaPatterns.html
Thanks all I've seen that, very interesting stuff. Quite a lot of patterns. You'd think we'd see more on coins.
