By the freaking gallon baby 167 of the wee buggers. Lots will obviously need a long soak and may only come up fine, but quite few light scrubbers in there too! Show us your twins
Wow!!! That'd be fun! Can't wait to see some! I've only got this one currently... Appears to be a gaming token crafted in antiquity over a VRBS ROMA type. Constantine I, AE3 Rome Commemorative, 335-337 AD Obverse: VRBS ROMA, helmeted head of Roma left, wearing imperial mantle and ornamental necklace. Reverse: She-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, [two stars above]. Exergue: [unknown]
Equally wowed by your lone wolf. If you could only have one! Can't begin to imagine the game ... Actually "only" have 157 wolves here, as a few phoenixes, a couple soldiers and a campgate seem to have made it in to the mix:
I dunked the whole slug in a jar of lye solution. The red areas seem to be areas where the lye ate through the metal and exposes the underlying copper. I rather like the color myself though
I have only two of this type. An ordinary Cyzicus: And an unusual type, that I bought some years ago at a JAZ auction here on CoinTalk. Constantine dynasty, Heraclea, AE3, AD 336-337. VRBS ROMA commemorative. Obv. Helmeted head of Roma left. Rev. Two soldiers with one standard between them. GLOR-IA EXERC-ITVS; // SMHE (this is not an E, but a Greek letter Epsilon, meaning 'Officina 5'.). 17 mm, 1.71 gr. A mule with ROMA obverse and GLORIA EXERCITVS reverse! This is an intentionally muled design. There are several types, that only occur from the Heraclea, Constantinople, Cyzicus, and Nicomedia mints - a phenomenon from the Eastern part of the Empire. Looking through CoinTalk in search of a Why were these made? (encountering this same coin once or twice - I'm very happy with it, @John Anthony!) I found this in an old thread by @gsimonel: "These are much scarcer than the regular Roma coins. Nobody knows for sure why they were minted. Though scarce, there are far too many of them to have been a mistake (a mule). One possibility is that they were minted during the interregnum--the three-month period after the death of Constantine I, but before the ascension of his sons to co-Augusti. But, like I said, nobody really knows for sure."
Very cool indeed @Pellinore Though I wasn't lucky enough to find any of those in the lot, I did stumble on this interesting piece It appears to be a barbarous imitation.
I do, but lack pictures of it presently. I got a pretty nice one as a gift from @kazuma78. Since it didn't cost me anything, I sent it off to NGC with some other stuff to be slabbed and photographed, on a whim. I'm interested to see the outcome.
Fascinating! I have a VRBS ROMA mule but with a different reverse. Constantine I, Rome City Commemorative BL Reduced Centenionalis, Heraclea mint Struck 347-348 AD Obverse: VRBS ROMA, helmeted head of Roma left, wearing imperial mantle and ornamental necklace. Reverse: VOT/XX/MVLT/XXX within laurel wreath. Exergue: [•SMHB] References: RIC VIII 56, LRBC 965, SRCV IV – Size: 13.9mm, 2.235g Ex: Forum Ancient Coins Scarce. More info in this thread: Urbs Roma/Constantinopolis/2 Soldiers Hybrids
@Limes Nice coin! 335-337 to be specific @Justin Lee these hybrids are nifty still a bit sour I didn't find any But cheered up a little when I found this exceptionally (meta)rare R5: Constantine II, Rome Commemorative, Arles, 337 CE Obverse: VRBS - ROMA | Bust of Roma, wearing imperial cloak, left Reverse: She-wolf, standing left, suckling twins; above, two stars, O between; PCONST in ex. Reference: RIC VII 415 No examples on acsearch, none available on vcoins. I know key dates are tacky round these parts, but some folk do appreciate and pay a pretty penny ... Find a couple more of them and that's the whole lot paid for
two small points the term mule has been used several times. these coins are neither mules nor hybrids, but regular issues. In ancients, mules means unintentional pairing. RIC 415 is only listed in RIC for workshop S, so P would be an unlisted workshop. The problem being, is this 415? This issue continued into RIC VIII as Arles 8. The later issues are usually smaller (circa 16mm) versus the earlier (circa18 mm). The weights are (usually) different, with the later issues being a bit less. EDIT- this is all very arbitrary since I don't believe there is otherwise a distinction between the two issues- they are actually the same. Best way to record this coin is RIC VII Arles 415/ RIC VIII Arles 8
I like mine because it's an Old Rome from the New Rome! City Commemorative. Time of Constantine I, circa 333-335 CE. AE3. 18.5mm, 1.9g. Constantinople mint, fifth officina. Obverse: VRBS ROMA, helmeted bust of Roma left. Reverse: She-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, two stars above. •CONSΕ• in exergue. Van Meter 6a, RIC VII Constantinople 85.
A little different from the great Late Roman wolf and twins coins posted in this thread but this is my favorite wolf and twins in my collection. Roman Republic AR denarius(19mm, 3.87 g, 9h), anonymous, circa 115 or 114 B.C., Rome mint. Helmeted head of Roma right with curl on left shoulder; below, ROMA; behind, X. Border of dots. / Roma, wearing Corinthian helmet, seated right on pile of shields, holding spear in left hand; at feet, beside pile of shields, helmet; before, she-wolf right, suckling twins; on either side, bird flying. Border of dots. Crawford 287/1 Ex Andrew McCabe Collection, AM#13206-39, CNG e-Auction 443, 1 May 2019, lot 455, ex Roma V, 23 March 2013, lot 519, ex Mayflower (Herb Sukenik) Collection, Heritage 3019, 25 April 2012, lot 25924, ex George N. Polis M.D. Collection, Bowers & Merena, 10 June 1991, lot 74, ex Aurelia Collection, Owl, Ltd. & Thomas McKenna, November 1980, lot 72.
SEXTUS POMPEIUS FOSTLUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS POMPEIA AR Denarius OBVERSE: Head of "Minerva or Pallas" (personification of Rome) with winged helmet, earrings and necklace, looking to the right. Below the chin, it is the "X" (although its value then was 16 aces) and behind the bust is a small jar REVERSE: FOSTuLVS left and Sextus. Pompeius. to the right of the field. She-wolf suckling the twins Romulus and Remus. Behind Ruminal fig tree is represented with three birds in their branches. On the left, the pastor Faustulus figure in an attitude of admiration for the wonder he sees. ROMA in ex Struck at Rome 137 BC 3.63g, 19.5mm Cr235/1a; Syd 461; Pompeia 1
Rome under Theodoric, Ostrogothic Kingdom AE follis Obv: IMVIC-TA ROMA, Roma helmeted, facing right Rev: She-wolf standing left, suckling Romulus and Remus, XL (40) above, dot V dot in ex Mint: Rome Date: 496-528 AD Ref: BMC 24
Thanks for pointing that out Victor, as I'd searched for "vrbs roma twins", I completely missed all of the VIII isues as the authors don't use the term "twins" in their reverse description. Regarding your edit, you are saying there is likely no physical difference between the two as both were issued after the reform of 336? As this seems to be the case, I am left wondering how the RIC authors decided VII 415 and VIII 08 were indeed seperate issues and how they arrived at their Secunda --> Primera chronology. Arbritrary is one thing, but that seems awfully backward!
