As someone who has been purchasing Seleucid tetradrachms like they are going out of style, I am very used to seeing diademed kings on coins. However, the other day I was browsing eBay and I came across a lovely Crispus AE-3 from Thessalonica. The first thing I noticed was that Crispus is not wearing a diademed but a laurel wreath. According to Victor Clark, Constantine I abandoned the laurel wreath due to it's pagan connotations along with the desire to be viewed in the similar vain as a hellenistic monarch. From what I can tell the last Roman coins to use laurel wreaths were the Caesar coinages of Crispus, Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans. When Gallus and later Julian II became Caesars decades later they are depicted bare headed instead wearing the traditional laurel wreath. As for the man on the money; Crispus was the oldest son of Constantine I by way of his concubine/first wife. Crispus was an able military commander, who helped win a decisive naval victory over Licinius in 324. My coin was struck at Crispus's high point in 324, when it looked like the Roman Empire would have a capable and level headed successor to Constantine I. It was not to be, two years latter Crispus would be put to death by his father for unknown reasons. Fun fact According to Douglas Smith's article titled Buying Power of Ancient Coins, he states that two silvered AE-3 could buy a loaf of bread. Please post your later laurel wreath coins!!! Crispus, Caesar - Thessalonica, 324 CE. Æ follis, FL IVL CRISPVS NOB CAES laureate, draped, cuirassed bust left CAESARVM NOSTRORVM around VOT X in two lines in wreath; below: TSΔVI. RIC 125. 2.67 grams 19mm Silvered AE-3 Fun reading http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/CONSTANTINE_THE_GREAT_THE_COINS_SPEAK.Pdf https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Buying Power of Ancient Coins
That's a very nice Crispus, I like the silvering. Valentinian I, circa 364 A.D., (19mm, 3.37g), Sirmium, AE Follis, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Valentinian I to right. Rev. VOT / V / MVLT / X in four lines within laurel wreath; in exergue, BSIRM. RIC 8.
Jovianus. Note what (I think) is a laurel wreath on the reverse. Is it true that laurel wreaths ended with Constantine's kids, but that they were still used on reverses during later periods?
Nice pickup, @Magnus Maximus ... great strike, centered, and lots of detail. Nice History. LAUREATE RI Constantine I CE 306-337 Æ Follis 19mm 3.2g Siscia CE 326-7 AVG Laureate R - PROVIDENTIAE AVGG Camp gate 2 turrets no door star RIC 200 RI Balbinus 238 CE AR Denarius 20mm 3.7g Rome Laureate draped cuirasses - Victory wreath palm RIC 8
Vetranio is also represented with a laureate bust: And I think @ancient coin hunter 's Iovian is the ASIRM unrecorded officina of Sirmium 120, with laurel and rosette-diademed bust right: If laurel remained an attribute of the Caesares of the 330s and Constantine's heirs up to around 340 and we accept this as true, then Vetranio used it especially to appeal to Constantius II. But by the time of Iovian, the House of Valentinian or the Eastern mints under the House of Theodosius, probably a more ornate head-gear was just that: a more ornate head-gear.
Never really thought about it, but don't see it much past the 340's Constantius II Mint: Antioch 324 to 325 AD AE Follis Obvs: Laureate, draped, and cuirass bust left. Revs: CONSTAN TI•VS CAESAR SMANTS in four lines. Star above, dot below. 16x18mm, 2.32g Ref: RIC VII 60; LRBC 1327 Constantine II Mint: Rome 320 AD AE Follis Obvs: CONSTANTINVS IVN NOB C, Laureate draped and cuir. Revs: VOT X ET XV F PR, in three lines within laurel wreath. 19x20mm, 3.22g Ref: cf. RIC VII.209 Note: Mint mark P not known for this RIC entry. Only S & Q are recorded. Possibly unpublished. Delmatius Mint: Siscia 337 AD AE 3 Obvs: FL DELMATIVS NOB C, Bust laureate draped cuirass right. Revs: GLORIA EXERCITVS, Standard between two soldiers. BSIS* 17x18mm, 1.60g Ref: RIC VII 266
Nice coins everyone. Here is my Crispus, last emission in Rome (326 AD). This type started after the fall of Licinius in 324 AD. Crispus Ae follis Laureate draped & cuirassed Rome 326 AD 19mm 2.60g FL IVL CRISPVS NOB CAES / PROVIDEN-TIAE CAESS RIC VII 288
@seth77 I think your Vetranio may be the last instance of a laurel wreath depicted on a Roman emperor on coins.
Probably, but the laurel as part of an ornate head-gear goes on to the end of the 4th century at the Eastern mints.
322 AD Obv: CRISPVS NOB CAES, bust r. Rev: CAESARVM NOSTRORVM around wreath containing VOT X Aquileia Size: 18.95 mm Weight: 2.8 grams
This is probably my latest coin with a laureate bust: Delmatius Caesar (nephew of Constantine I), Billon reduced Centenionalis, Antioch Mint (10th Officina), 335-337 AD. Obv. Laureate and cuirassed bust right, FL DELMA-TIVS NOB C / Rev. Two helmeted soldiers, standing facing one another, reversed spears in outer hands, inner hands on shields resting on ground, one standard between them, GLOR-IA EXERC-ITVS; in exergue, SMANI [Antioch, 10th Officina]. RIC VII Antioch 112, p. 697; Sear RCV IV 16901; Cohen 4. 15x16 mm., 1.7 g.
The laurel crown is pretty clear on this one: Vetranio AD 350 Roman AE maiorina; 4.77 g, 24mm Siscia, AD 350 Obv: D N VETRA-NIO P F AVG, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right; A to left Rev: CONCORDIA MILITVM, Vetranio standing left, holding labarum in each hand; star above; A to left; in exergue: •ΓSIS✷ Refs: RIC 281; LRBC 1168; Cohen 1; RCV 18903.
LAUREATE - Later one... VETRANIO 350 CE. AE3 17mm 1.78g (F) AV: DN VETRA - NIO PF AVG; laureate, draped cuirassed bust r. REV: GLORIA RO - MANORVM; Emperor standing facing holding standard and spear. EXE: gamma SIS Siscia mint. REF: RIC VIII Siscia 294, scarce, One of the scarcer types for Vetranio. Ex: @seth77
Thank you! All due credit should go to our own @Victor_Clark, from whom I bought the coin, for making such a nice coin available.