Hello guys, I know almost nothing about ancient Roman coins so can somebody please help out with an ID? Thanks in advance.
I see “IMP C GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS...” on the obverse, so it’s Galerius. Someone will be along soon to give more details.
Yours is extremely similar to this one in my collection--from the same mint, even--but from an earlier issue and a different workshop at the mint. Yours is RIC vi, p. 535, 41. It was struck AD 309-310. Mine, with the star in the left field, indicates a subsequent issue, struck AD 310-311. The mint mark on yours in the exergue, HT, indicates it was struck at the Heraclea mint; the Γ which follows the HT mint mark is the officina (workshop) mark, and means 3rd workshop, because Γ (gamma) is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. Mine uses Є (epsilon), which indicates the fifth workshop at the mint. The reverse inscription, GENIO IMPERATORIS, means "to the Genius of the emperor." It doesn't mean the emperor was smart, nor is it praising his intelligence, because that's not what a Genius was in ancient Rome. Rather, a man's Genius was a divine principle that gave him power and personality. It's not quite like "soul," however. The Genius was linked to a man but not identical with him, because they were not part of him. I say "a man" and "him" because the Genius was a male divinity; women had a counterpart, identical in function, called a Juno (plural Junones). The English word genie is closer in meaning than is the word genius. As soon as a human being was born one or two Genii or Junones were assigned to him or her, a white good one and a black bad one. The good one gives the person all the good thoughts, the bad one the contrary. Whichever is the stronger one that is the one who forms the character of the person. The Genii and Junones stayed with their person until death when they gave the person to the gods. The genii were not only associated with people. Each house and each town had its genii; the former were called Lares, the latter were named Penates. Rome had her Genius-goddess, to whom a statue was erected in the eighth region of the city. The influential presence of these unseen beings was held by the Romans in such high veneration, that when they entered for the first time into any place, they invariably paid a salutation to the genius of that place. During the republic, they swore by the Genius of the Roman people, and afterwards by that of the Emperor. You may read more about the Genius in John Melville Jones' A Dictionary of Ancient Roman Coins, available online here. Galerius. A.D. 305-311. Roman Æ follis, 26.0 mm, 7.73 g, 12 h. Heraclea mint, AD 310-311. Obv: IMP C GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS P F AVG, laureate head right. Rev: GENIO IMPERATORIS, Genius standing left, holding patera and cornucopia; *| //HTЄ. Refs: RIC 48a; RCV 14514; Cohen 48.
Reverse is GENIO IMP-E-RATORIS - Genius, nude except for chlamys hanging from shoulder, standing, facing left, pouring wine from patera in right hand and holding cornucopia with left. It is similar to the GENIO POPVLI ROMANI type but with a somewhat less common inscription. Mint mark is HT[Gamma], showing that it was minted in Heraclea around A.D. 309-310. Here's another example from Wildwinds:http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/galerius/_heraclea_RIC_037a.3.jpg
