Two Contrasting Folles of Constantine I, from the Trier Mint

The coin pictured below I recently added to my collection; it first appeared in CNG's Coin Shop in July, 2006, where it sold for $245.00.


Constantine I, as Caesar, AD 306-309 (struck circa summer AD 307), Trier Mint. 1st Officina, AE Follis: 8.73 gm, 29 mm, 6 h. RIV 719b.

The coin pictured below I won at CNG Feature Auction 84, May 5, 2010, for $330.00


Constantine I, as Caesar, AD 306-309 (struck AD 306 - early 307), Trier Mint, 1st Officina, AE Follis: 9.50 gm, 30 mm, 7 h. Light silvering, porosity on the reverse. RIC VI 666a. RARE

For comparison I've paired the obverse and reverse of each coin.


The portrait on the left depicts Constantine laureate, draped and cuirassed, facing right and seen from behind. The portrait on the right depicts Constantine laureate, with slight drapery, cuirassed, facing right and seen from the front. Both coins have the same inscription. Despite both coins having nearly the same diameter, the coin on the right side has a smaller die diameter.


Both coins depict the Genius of Rome standing and facing left, wearing a turreted crown, holding a patera and cornucopia. The coin on the right has an abbreviated inscription with a S A in the field, and the coin on the left has a S F in the field. Does anyone know the meaning of the S F and S A on these coins ?

CT members are welcome to post any recently acquired Constantine I coins or coins of Constantine I that seem interesting .

 

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Sorry, @Al Kowsky, I'm no help at all (surprise, surprise), but, never having seen the type before, it's interesting that the Roman Genius has a turreted headdress, like Tyche in eastern Mediterrannean provincials, at least back to Trajan. Eloquent evidence of the extent to which the Roman government had appropriated visual rhetoric from the provinces.

 

VGO.DVCKS, That's a good point . After all Diocletian's new folles were a replacement for all the provincial coinage. Maybe the turreted crowns were an intentional link to the old provincial coinage....

 

@Al Kowsky, some valued context, along with some incisive interpretation (...if necessarily speculative; Not an oxymoron!).

 

S - A and S - F are mint markings that differentiate between issues. They are helpful in determining which types were struck at a certain point in a series and what their dating is. In this case S - F about end of 306 and S - A is 307.

 

Excellent coins in great style- congratulations.

Below is a large follis of Constantine I acquired a couple of months ago.


Constantine I (Caesar, 306-309). Æ Follis (29mm, 8.59g). Heraclea, 306-7. Laureate head r. R/ Genius standing l., holding patera and cornucopiae

 

Seth77, Thanks for the info ! Intuitively that's what I thought, however, with the limited reference material I've got at hand I've never seen it in print.

 

Clavdivs, Nice score ! The portrait is excellent, & despite some weakness on the reverse inscription Genius is unusually well engraved .

 

@seth77, that's some Stuff! So, Please, Tell Us. References, puh...Leeze!

 

Nice pair, @Al Kowsky! Very attractive folles. I have a couple of similar coins from Trier with S-F in the fields:


Diocletian, AD 284-305.
Roman billon follis, 8.99 g, 28.3 mm, 6 h.
Trier, AD 302-303.
Obv: IMP DIOCLETIANVS AVG, Laureate and cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: GENIO POPV-LI ROMANI, Genius, turreted, nude but for chlamys draped over left shoulder, standing left, holding patera in right hand and cornucopiae in left hand; S/F//IITR.
Refs: RIC vi, p. 196, 524a; RCV --.


Galerius as Caesar, AD 293-305.
Roman silvered billon follis, 8.62 g, 27.2 mm, 6 h.
Trier, AD 302-3.
Obv: MAXIMIANVS NOBIL C, laureate and cuirassed bust, right.
Rev: GENIO POPV-LI ROMANI, Genius standing facing, head left, wearing modius, naked but for chlamys over left shoulder, holding patera and cornucopiae; S/F//IITR.
Refs: RIC vi, p. 196, 508b; Cohen 65; RCV 14348.

 

I would suggest to research further.

Some authors say the S/F letters on either side likely mean "SAECULI FELICITAS". Haven't reearched the S A letters, maybe they stand also for Saeculi something

 

R.C., Thanks for posting your two folles . I was under the impression that the turreted crown on folles was a sign of early manufacture, but your Diocletian follis negates that idea . I find the II before the TR interesting also. Is the II a designation for the 2nd officina or does it have another meaning ? I think that Diocletian era folles presents a real challenge for anyone collecting these coins. For too long these coins have been neglected for serious study by the experts & collectors . Hopefully a comprehensive study of these coins will become available to collectors at a reasonable price in the not too distant future .

 

cmezner, Thanks for adding your "two cents worth" . SAECULI FELICITAS (Age of Good Fortune) was a commonly used inscription on coinage from previous emperors, so it wouldn't be surprising to see it on the new folles .

 

It is the second workshop...there is also ITR for the first workshop. This is all in RIC VI.

 

See RIC VI p. 154 for the two issues marked S - F and S - A, briefly discussed.

p. 206




p. 211

 

Thank you Victor . Again I had an intuitive feeling that was the case, but no means of substantiating it.

 

seth77, Many thanks for going out of your way to dig up this research ! So indeed the S - F & S - A letters are useful tools in dating these coins . Never the less, the question still remains what is the translations of these letters ? As was posted by Roman Collector, the S - F was also used on Diocletian folles from the Trier Mint. I also have a rare follis of Diocletian that also uses these letters from the Trier Mint, see the photo below.


Diocletian, AD 284 - 305 (struck AD 303 - May 1, 305), Trier Mint, 1st Officina, AE Follis: 10.59 gm, 32 mm, 6 h. RIC 587a.
Notice Genius is also wearing a turreted crown.

 

The fact that certain letter sequences were used at different stages, perhaps purposely to differentiate between issues, might also suggest that they also had an independent meaning. But whether that meaning was propagandist in purpose such as the Saecvli Felicitas mentioned above or just had an administrative purpose for the mint such as the series nowadays on banknotes I do not know. And I don't think we'll ever be able to tell for certain either way.

 

seth77, That's a good point . We can speculate ad infinitum about the meaning of those letters without reaching a positive conclusion; unfortunately that is the case with so much ancient history .

 

Many questions.

For example, why did they stop indicating the officina during this time? The P does not stand for primera (or whatever the correct Latin for first officina is). Was there just one officina?

The P also appears at Lugdunum in their PLC mint marks at about the same time. As at Trier, this P does not appear to indicate officina either. So what does the P stand for?

In 307, Genio coins from Lugdunum had T - F in their fields. In Rome, coins from 305-306 minted in the names of the recently-retired Augusti Diocletian and Maximian has S - F in their fields, but coins of the other Augusti and Caesars do not.

What gives?