Busy Reverse!

Spent an enjoyable evening attributing some of my inexpensive LRBs.
This one was a lot of fun.
Common, extremely inexpensive and frankly not a great example of the type, but I certainly love this coin.
The reverse is amazing to me. The amount of symbolism on display is great and how it was ever decided to fit so much onto one reverse I will never know.



Obv: DN CONSTA-NS PF AVG, laurel and rosette-diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right.
Rev: FEL TEMP-REPARATIO, Emperor in military dress standing on galley moving left, holding wreath-bearing Victory on globe, and standard with chi-rho on banner. Victory sitting at the stern,steering the ship. A in left field. Mintmark AQT dot. RIC VIII Aquileia 118 21.6mm 3.71g

If anyone has a nicer example I would love to see it.. or any coin with a busy reverse!

 

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Nice reverse. Since you asked to see a coin with a busy reverse, the only coin I have that may fit that criteria is my M. Scaurus denarius, which is a busy coin both obverse and reverse due to the large legends, and a camel, king, God, chariot, 4 horses, palm branch, thunderbolt, and scorpion to boot. So much stuff that very few of these coins have all the design and legends in the fields...mine being no exception as the flan is too small to fit everything in (though most of it is there).

 

I suppose this uses some real estate.

Valens
Mint: Siscia
367 to 375 AD
AE 3
Obvs: DN VALENS PF AVG
Revs: SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE, Victory walking. k P ASISCR Q
18mm, 2.8g
Ref: RIC IX.147.15b

Worse condition but similar to yours except holding phoenix instead of victory.

Constans
Mint: Thesalonica
348 to 350 AD
AE 3
Obvs: DN CONSTANS PF AVG
Revs: FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Constans holding labarum and phoenix on globe in galley piloted by Victory. TESΓ
18mm, 2.1g
Ref: RIC VIII.412.120

 

Not bad! and not that common.

 

I will trot out my "holding Phoenix" version of the type from Aquileia.



I think that I must like the reverse type because I have over 25 examples now if we count across emperors, mints and contemporary imitatives.

 

How about this one for busy:

 

lol... spin that coin and it must be hypnotizing..

 

Well, its not a coin really but a good luck charm, from the Qing Dynasty.

 

Very nice!

 

Busy lrb immediately brings to mind Constantine's Dafne reverse:

 

Ha, you posted yours while I was trying to post mine.

 

Cool coin @Clavdivs !

I am always amazed at all the busy-ness on Ancient India coins:


India Indo-Scythian King Azes I 57-30BCE AR Drachm obv-rev


INDIA Kushan Empire Vima Takto-Soter Megas Æ Tetradrachm 21mm 8.5g AD 80-100 bust r holding scepter tamgha behind on horse r holding axe tamgha Senior B17.1vT


India Gujarat Chalukyas Gadhaiya Paisa BI Drachm 11th C CE Sun Moon Fire Alter Crescent

 

I was not defending the behaviour of the dealers. There are some who choose to use the term interchangably with silvered when it suits them best to add some "mystique".

 

Great coins with some fantastic detail! Thanks for posting!

 

What did the original owner do with such an item? Carry in pocket? Sew to clothing? Touch to lips, head? Toss in well? Leave at shrine?

The above suggestions all apply to some culture's way of handling good luck materials. What was the place of such an item in Chinese society?

 

Picked up this Livia dupondius today, with double-line inscription on reverse.

 

Very nice @Nerva

 

Returning to the type of the OP, different mint: this reverse with Victory at Thessalonika could be just as busy as it was at Aquilea -

Constantius II
RIC VIII Thessalonika 178 officina 4


field marks:
.....Series mark: Gamma in left field; star in right field
exergual marks:
.....mint mark: TSdelta
.....series mark: star (left); dot (right)

 

Hey LateRomanBronzeGuy, that is a great example, far better than most and very hard to come by in that condition. No matter how much money a collector has, he can't buy one that nice on vcoins today because they don't have one that nice. We could take bets on when one that nice next becomes available to buy, and it might not be this year.

Here is mine:

The reverse is very nice, but your obverse has mine beat.

 

That is all probably true. My example was bought in 2001 as a special direct purchase from an eBay seller who called himself "augustus." (He was out west too.) I was after the "one captive" FTR which was done at Thessalonika while the other mints were doing the two captive variety (among other FTR things).

Your's is no slouch by any stretch, and I wonder how and when it happened to amble by?