2nd Attribution - Tougher This Time

So this one is much rougher than my last coin that I was able to ID.
After looking at the resources I have so far, I think I have narrowed it down fairly well. What do you think?



I believe it is:

Constantius II. AE Follis. Trier. 330-348 AD.
FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C, laureate, cuirassed bust right
GLOR-IA EXERC-ITVS, two soldiers holding spears and
shields with two standards between them with thin
pointed banners.
Mintmark: TRS dot.
RIC VII Trier 528.

http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/constantius_II/_trier_RIC_vII_528.jpg

 

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you have the obverse inscription (and ruler) wrong

 

I like your determination!!

I did not brighten the image, but I think I see ...TINVSIVNNOBC in the obverse inscription. That would make it Constantine II (Junior) rather than Constantius II.

 

Gah! I can't for the life of me make out any of the inscription besides maybe an O in the 2nd letter

 

Looking at Constantine II it looks most like this. It really is hard for me to make out any of the inscription. Looking through the loupe isn't helping. Just makes it harder to make out haha
http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/constantine_II/_trier_RIC_vII_520.jpg

 

Hey there Furry Friend,

You might find this website superduper helpful if you have a lot of LBRs ("Late Roman Bronzes".... generally Constantine and later) to identify:

http://www.tesorillo.com/aes/home.htm

I find the "Types of Reverses" links the most useful when faced with a coin whose legends I can't discern.

 

The second letter is indeed an O, which can help to see the word Constantinus, which in turn would invalidate the FL IVL at the beginning of the one you first attributed it to. Still, you are learning quickly, so that is a good thing.

 

close, but not right. Remember there are three brothers who have names in which the letter after C is an O. This coin has a huge clue because of the IVN in the legend

 

I guessed that's what it was haha. I was looking at the reverses on the site that @TIF provided which led me to
https://www.tesorillo.com/aes/029/029i.htm
The bottom row of reverses, 2nd in.
Past that, I had a really hard time trying to match my obverse with any of the busts they show.

 

Huh? I can read CONSTANTINVS NOB C, but I couldn’t read the IVL. However, after checking my references, only Constantine II didn’t have any personal name or title preceding him.

 

In your post that I quoted, you said "Constantius" who is quite distinct from Constantinus...which you have already edited...perhaps you merely made a typo

 

Yep! Autocorrect couldn’t save me there.

 

Not IVL, but IVN. Can you see it now?


IVN stands for IVNIOR / Junior.

 

After Victor pointed it out I could read it.

 

This coin has many readable letters but lightening the photo will help a lot. The giveaway letters are at the right where you see IVN before the NOBC. IVN=junior which separates the boy from his father and two brothers. If you are going to play with the family of Constantine, you must get used to the fact that the names require reading every letter.

 

I can see the V now.
Phew, this sure is hard! Fun, but hard!

 

When you know what letters to expect and where to expect them, you can fill in the blanks more easily. It comes over time with lots and lots of repetitions, mostly with reading coins that are clear enough to be read easily. As TIF said, Tesorillo will show you the patterns.

 

that's a good rule, but like every good rule, there are exceptions. An example-



however that rule works in 99.99999% of the time.

Another good rule, which has more exceptions, is that the caesars are always laureate while Constantine I is almost always diademed, with a few exceptions from Trier where he is laureate. One of the exceptions below-

 

OK, I've looked through the Constantine II's in wildwinds and tried to cross reference it with the images on tesorillo and I now think it is this:
http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/constantine_II/_trier_RIC_vII_520.jpg

Be gentle...lol

 

While true for this short period, the vast majority of Caesars shown on coins before and after this time are shown bare headed. Why Constantine chose to allow his sons head gear on coins, I do not know but when Constantius II was sole Augustus and appointed Caesars, they were back to bare heads. Whenever we apply a rule, we must remember that these are our rules. Roman Emperors were allowed to make up rules as they chose and we need to deal with that fact. Sometimes there were even full and powerful Augusti who issued coins with bare heads. We deal with that, too.

I had never seen that Constans IVN coin. Thanks for sharing it.