Vandal,Majorian, or other Barbaric Issue? HD photos for identification included

What is your opinion on this coin?

The reverse is a Victoria Aug type. Around 7 O’Clock there is “VIC” visible. At about 2 O’Clock there is some illegible writing then “AC *large space* C”. The single victory facing left is presumably holding a wreath although you can’t tell. There is an “S” in the left field.

The obverse is where it gets interesting. There is text that was cut off by the size of the coin. Only the bottom of the letters are visible. Around 10 O’Clock “AI” appears and the letters following these are also cut off. Around three O’Clock the lettering picks back up with more cut off letters and then “VS”. Having the “AI” and the “VS” would seem to only fit with a “D N IVL MAIORIANVS PE AVG“ legend (If it indeed is an A on the coin). The style on the portrait is unusual. It features an elongated head (or a head with a large Diadem on top. It is too worn to tell) with a long neck and the shoulders of the emperor. The coin weighs 1.12 grams and is about half the size of a US penny.

I am pretty confused on the coin. After looking at Johannes, Valentinian III, Majorian, and Vandal issues I haven’t found a die match. If anyone can help identify this, I would greatly appreciate it!



*I posted about this coin a few days ago with poor quality photos and not much information. I recently spent more time identifying it and I finally picked up a decent light for pictures*

 

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I think it is the type
AE4. VICTORIA AVGG(G)
Victory advancing left with wreath and palm, sometimes with christogram in right field
410-423, 425-?c.430 [RIC, p.172, different dates for different emperors.]

illustrated on this page:

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ricix/type55i.html

which was issued in the names of Honorius, Theodosius II, Johannes, and Valentinian III.

Many are very crudely produced with irregular lettering, so a letter here or there may not be enough to identify it. Your coin seems to show an "A" at about 10:00 on the obverse, but where are the letters that would be on either side of the "A" if it were accurately engraved? It is not accurately engraved so we cannot be sure that that one letter determines the identification. Also, there are many coins from that era that are so crude they would be called "ancient imitations" in any other century.

It might well be an official issue, in poor condition like most. In my experience the type is most common for Honorius, but I can't match the legend.

 

I think the style is too far gone for a Honorius or Theodosius. The time table would be 423-Onwards in my opinion.

 

I have a few nummus of Honorius in very similar style. The AE4 nummi got very crude towards the end of his reign (which lasted 28 years). I’d also say it’s possibly him.

 

I think trying to distinguish official 5th century AE4s from Vandalic imitations from other imitations is an exercise that should be attempted only by bald people, because anyone with hair will end up tearing it all out in the process.

 

It's practically impossible to say without the legend. Finding a die match with a more readable portion of the obverse legend would be the one way but the chances of this is pretty much zero tbh.

Rasiel

 

Cool, thanks! I love your articles and you seem like a very knowledgeable guy. Do you knkw what reference books would be helpful fkr this thoe of coinage? I have RIC X, Ostrogoth coinage and a study on the dies of Theodahad, the British Museum collection of vandal, lombard, and frankish coinage (or something like that).

 

Thanks for the kind words. The references aren't the problem. It's that the bronzes are usually too far gone to identify. Even when you come across nicely preserved coins like yours you can see that for the AE4s the dies were consistently too big for the module. Frustrating!

My guess would be Valentinian III but that's just a hunch... no weightier than anyone else's guess :-(

Rasiel