I have been having a real dry spell. I am simply not bidding high enough to win anything. There have been several coins that fit my collection but there seem to be bigger sharks than me in the pool. After losing my most recent two eastern Severans I got distracted with two coins of Constantius Chlorus. I don't collect these but wanted to break my dry spell. Constantius I Chlorus AE Follis Obv:- FL VAL CONSTANTIVS NOB CAES, Laureate head of Constantius right. Rev:= GENIO AVGG ET CAESARVM NN, Genius standing left holding patera and cornucopia, KB in exergue. Ref:- RIC VI Cyzicus 11a 10.01g, 27.82mm, 180o Obv:- FL VAL CONSTANTIVS NOB CAES; Laureate head right (great curly beard) Rev:- GENIO POPV-L-I ROMANI; Genius of the Roman People standing facing, head left, holding cornucopia and pouring libation from patera Minted in Alexandria (XX | E/I //ALE). A.D. 301 Ref:- RIC VI Alexandria 33a 10.35g, 27.21mm, 180o Slight double strike on reverse
I'm less fond of the Kyzikos but I love that Alexandria. Some beard! I am also fond of the XXI folles. Diocletian My Constantius is a cast fake but I like to think/pretend is ancient. There are even clay molds for these so counterfeiting was a problem in Egypt that year. I bought it from Victor Failmezger and it appears on Plate Two of his book. Galerius I have pretty much stopped looking at auctions finding them a waste of time in my price bracket. I almost bought a Diocletian Alexandria last week but decided it was insufficiently different than the one I showed above (officina). I wish you a speedy end to the dry spell. I have ordered only one coin since May (not arrived yet from Europe). I may be done until the Fall shows resume around here. Shark? I'm a guppy.
My favorite Follis of Constantius I Mint Lugdunum 301-303 A.D. Obv. bust of Emperor Left with club over shoulder and lion skin. RIC 147 9.11 grms Plus one other as Divus Follis Mint Treveri Obv head right veiled Rv Altar RIC 789 307-308 A.D.
That's a really nice one from Alexandria. I'm glad you got it. I have none comparable from Kyzikos. I do have this worn down Galerius that is quite charming.
I can't do real auctions because I don't have the budget for them. It's pretty much all eBay for me. Although I never had a particular urge to collect LRB, sometimes while scrounging on eBay I find some I like, and I (almost) always find myself glad I got them. None of the coins below cost more than 10 bucks (maybe that's because they aren't worth 10 bucks?). I have 2 Constantine Chlorus AEs, with problems, but I really like them: Constantius I Chlorus as Caes. (struck by Maximian) Follis (301 A.D.) Aquileia CONSTANTIVS NOB CAES, laureate head right / SACRA MONET AVGG ET CAESS NOSTR, Moneta standing left, holding scales and cornucopiae, V in right field, mintmark AQΓ. RIC VI Aquileia 32a. (8.70 grams / 26 mm) Constantius I Chlorus as Aug. (struck by Maximinus Daia) Æ Post-reform radiate (305-306 A.D.) Alexandria IMP C CONSTANTIVS P FAVG, Radiate, draped, cuir. bust rt. / CONCORDIA MIL-ITVM, Constantius r. receiving Victory from Jupiter l., Δ /ALE. RIC VI Alexandria 59a. (3.68 grams / 20 mm) This past week I got this one from his son - London Mint: Constantine I Follis (Æ 23) (307-310 A.D.) Londinium (London) mint IMP CONSTANTINVS P AVG laureate, cuirassed bust right / PRINCIPI IV-VE-NTVTIS, Constantine standing facing, head left, holding standard in each hand, PLN in exergue. RIC VI, London 112. (5.79 grams / 23 mm)
I love the beards on the ones from Alexandria. Do you think they are trying to show curls, or was it the custom in Alexandria to decorate one's beard with Cheerios?
Apparently somebody in Alexandria thought the emperor had curly hair in his beard, since we see that motif in one of the OP coins and also in one of the coins from @Severus Alexander. I never noticed that before, but I wonder how widespread that image was.
My favorite bearded Caesar. CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS CONSTANTIVS NOB[ilis] CAES[ar] FELIX ADVENT AVGGNN Africa standing right, head left, wearing elephant headress, standard in right and tusk in left. struck 293-306AD at the 3rd workshop of the Carthage mint. (I think?)
maridvnvm, Nice score on the two folles, especially the gem from Alexandria ! I've been trying to score a nice example with the XX I mark on the reverse for a long time without success . Three favorites from my collection of Constantius I are pictured below. Constantius I as Caesar, London Mint, 8.96 gm. circa AD 300 Constantius I as Caesar, Lugdunum Mint, 9.64 gm, circa AD 301-303 Constantius I as Augustus, Lugdunum Mint, 10.61 gm, 1 May 305 - 25 July 306
I know that the Cyzicus sin'tas attreactive as the Alexandrian but once I had decided to buy the Alexandrian I couldn't walk away from the other at the price. For less than $20 I decided to give the Cyzicus a good home. I have been looking for some of the Alexandrian XXI coins and the split XXI was my preference.
Nice captures @maridvnvm ! I like the Alexandrian best (more realistic style of face, to me.) My Chlorus CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS: RI Constantius I Chlorus 293-306 CE DIVO AE Quinarius Thesalonika 317-318 Seated RIC VII 25 R5
Besides Alexandria, I have noticed curls (only on Constantius) at Antioch, Cyzicus, Thessalonica, and here's Cheerio style on a post-reform radiate from Heraclea:
I decided to look into the curly beard detail to see if I could find more. I have just over 40 examples from 13 of the 14 mints. Most mint examples I saw (hardly a complete coverage) just have a straight hair beard, but Alexandria is not completely alone in this. Alexandria: RIC VI 27a - c.297-298 There appears to be a single row of curls in the beard on this early follis for Constantius. RIC VI 31a c. 300 Much of the chin is covered by a curly hair beard in the first of the XXI issues for Constantius. RIC VI 33a c.301 At least two rows of curly beard are evident on this example, but see the OP example for a more complete look. Thessalonika RIC VII 25 - 317-318 (under Constantine) The posthumous fractional issue under Constantine shows a curly hair beard for much of the chin. Antioch RIC VI 57a Although somewhat worn, this example shows a beard that has curls for at least two rows up from the bottom of the chin. In this preliminary look it would seem that Alexandria was not alone in observing a tradition of curly hair for the beard of Constantius I. The fact that this tradition was observed in Thessalonika again when Constantine issued the DIVO CONSTANTIUS posthumous fractions hints I think that this may have been a more accurate rendering of his father's face. EDIT: I was working on this while SevAl and @maridinum posted their examples of pre-reform ants and post reform radiates. I have not yet looked at those so glad to see the trend is growing.
One beautiful mint state follis of Constantius I, I forgot to post is pictured below. It was struck while he was Augustus, May 1st 305 - July 25th 306, 27 mm, 10.67 gm, 6h, Ticinum Mint, 3rd Officina. The reverse is the rarely seen FIDES MILITVM (Loyalty of the Military) with Fides seated holding two standards. This coin is perfectly centered & struck with fresh dies .