City Commemorative AE3. VRBS ROMA, bust of Roma left wearing plumed, visored and crested helmet and ornamental mantle / wolf and twins left. Mintmark TRP dot. Sear 16487. Ex. @Sallent
Did you scan the coin at 200PPI resolution in a scanner? Interesting results. I should add that the coin does not have any cracks...so I think the scanner is shading the surface irregularities on the die as struck on the obverse of the coin way too dark, thus creating an exaggerated representation of the irregularities contained in the fields of the obverse of the coin. Other than that, nice image overall, though the reverse seems to be slightly out of focus. You may want to try your cell phone. You'd be surprised how good the images might turn out.
THey are a great series. Guido Bruck details all the variations on the reverse, which would make a fantastic collection. I just wish I didn't have so many other sub-collections going, or I could chase these. The Chi-Ro between stars seems to be the most famous and expensive variation.
However they are made, JPG images can have no more than 256 steps from dark to light in three colors. Usually it better if quite a few of the possible steps are used to give smooth transitions and shading. It is always possible to compress them down to fewer. Your idea of 'slight' is not all that far from my image using just two. It was shot with flat lighting using a dSLR camera but could have been done with anything and postprocessed 'slightly'.
Lovely coins! Here's my latest VRBS ROMA: Constantine I, AD 307-337. Roman billon reduced centenionalis, 2.44 g, 17.4 mm, 12 h. Constantina/Arles, AD 331-332. Obv: VRBS ROMA, helmeted bust of Roma, left, wearing imperial robes. Rev: Lupa Romana, left, suckling Romulus and Remus; branch between two stars above; SCONST in exergue. Refs: RIC vii p. 273, 368; RCV 16497; LRBC I 371; Cohen 17.
I am still convinced the star between stars is a genuine variant of this type and rarer minted at Arles. i know of at least 2 examples. VC would disagree.
Do you have a pic or even a hand drawn graphic to give us some idea of what you mean? Three stars in a row?
Actually I was completely wrong in my initial thoughts on that topic. If I had bothered to look in some references, I would have seen examples -- Failmezger and Ferrando both have it listed. I have since acquired and sold two myself and won a third that the seller never shipped.
I'm glad Victor... I have always believed the Urbs coins minted at Arles Secunda would follow the progression of the Gloria ex coins which have a star between standards. You are certainly an expert in this field and I'm even happier with the coin in my collection now!! I'll chuck in a photo of my chi rho between standards as it came from same source....
RI URBS ROMA 223-336 CE Romulus Remus She-wolf S R Alexandria mint AE 15mm 1.5g RIC VIII 8 C2 Rare RI commem AE Follis Urbs ROMA She-wolf Rom Rem Stars RIC VII Lyons 242 RI Commem Urbs Roma AE Follis Thessalonika 330-333 CE She-Wolf Romulus-Remus stars S 16516R
Here are a few more : https://www.nummus-bible-database.c...s=&nombreResultats=50&btRechercher=Rechercher Q
