A white whale had popped up on ebay a little while ago, a falling horse of Constans from Alexandria. Unfortunately it still remains a white whale for me as I did not get it. However, I did pick this white vaquita, an unlisted Falling horseman of Constans from Rome 24 mm / 4,8 gr. DN CONSTA-NS PF AVG Constans pearl-diademed, draped,cuirassed bust right; A behind FEL TEMP RE-PARATIO soldier spearing a falling horseman, Phrygian helmet, kneeling, arms up Star over A left RP in ex Not in RIC I also managed to pick up this psychrolutidae (might as well keep using oceanic references). A captives FTR of Constantius II from Constantinople. Not pretty, but was cheap. It was also the last needed for my captives mint set.
CoinTalk: come for the coins, stay for the psychrolutidae. Had to look up that classification... it includes blobfish, winner of the Ugliest Animal vote in 2013 by the Ugly Animal Preservation Society.
@randygeki : Nice Constans! How many different falling horseman varieties are there, if you count just emperors and mints? How about if you include officiana and other symbols? How many different ones do you have so far? John
Nice coins @randygeki ! Shield designs are one of my interests, and I see that there are many different ones on the coins of Constantius II ! Bring on the notitia dignitatum.
Thanks all I think it's safe to call the Constans FH R5 and I'd be pleasantly surprised to see another pop up on CT , or anywhere. For Constantius II and Gallus, it's 15 mints, for Julian 13, Constans ric says 9 but I've seen a 10th mint and Magenitius 1. So 54. Dane Kurth says there's over 2000 varieties. Much more if you count things like shield patterns, boot style and arm positions I have 176 and about 10 or 15 I'd consider duplicates.
A great find @randygeki . I had a shot at the Alexandrian that was listed at the same time but missed out too. Glad this one found a deserving home.
So 54 emperor mint combinations would make a fun and challenging set. Then you can keep going forever on the variations or really specialize on a particular series. Sounds like the Lincoln cent series for late Roman (although these can be much larger and had more buying power than Lincoln cents). John
I would suggest that the falling horsemen should be collected with the other types of the FEL TEMP REPARATIO series so one could expand the 54 collection to include the others or keep it about the same by replacing the FH coin of some mint or ruler with, perhaps, a Phoenix on orb of that ruler and mint and replacing another FH with the equivalent hut or galley or whatever was available for that combination. Carefully selected, this could be a nice overview of the coins from the FTR period. Some of the choices will be made for you. Your Magnentius will be a Trier galley like mine. You won't find a FH of Magnentius even though there are a few out there. I would suggest adding a barbarous coin to the set just to make the point that they exist. I'd even add a Procopius who claimed the throne based on his relationship to Julian II even though his coins read REPARATIO FEL TEMP. Part of the fun of ancient coins is being able to decide which ones belong in your 'set' whether that set is restrictive or massive.
I scored a Constans/Alexandria at an auction. But, it isn't the "falling horseman" version. Still, it's one of my favorite coins! 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.
