With the intent of establishing a new capital of the Roman Empire, from 326 to 330 AD Constantine I undertook a great rebuilding of the ancient Greek city of Byzantion. At great expense he erected a new city wall encompassing a greater territory, constructed monumental architecture, installed great works of art, and enticed wealthy noblemen to move there by offering gifts of land. In 330 AD Constantine renamed it Nova Roma, and in 334 he issued a series of coins commemorating the establishment of his great new city while at the same time paying homage to the historical capital of the Empire, Rome itself. This is one of these coins. These “City Commemorative” coins seem to be quite popular. Though they are not rare this example is among the nicest I have seen. Somehow I feel like I can’t call myself a Roman Coin Collector without a Romulus and Remus She-Wolf in my collection. Here is the description from Roma: City Commemorative Æ 17mm. Struck under Constantine I. Siscia, AD 334-335. VRBS ROMA, helmeted bust of Roma to left, wearing imperial mantle / She-wolf standing to left, suckling Romulus and Remus, two stars above; •BSIS• in exergue. RIC VII 240 corr. (two stars above). 2.40g, 17mm, 7h.
That's an outstanding example of that coin -- well-struck and with fresh dies. Very handsome coin. I like the city commemoratives and have a couple dozen of them from various mints and struck on various size flan modules. Here's one of my better preserved VRBS ROMA with wolf types. Constantine I, AD 307-337. Roman billon reduced centenionalis, 2.44 g, 17.4 mm, 12 h. Constantina/Arles, AD 331-332. Obv: VRBS ROMA, helmeted bust of Roma, left, wearing imperial robes. Rev: Lupa Romana, left, suckling Romulus and Remus; branch between two stars above; SCONST in exergue. Refs: RIC vii p. 273, 368; RCV 16497; LRBC I 371; Cohen 17. At certain mints, they were also issued with the contemporaneous GLORIA EXERCITVS reverse type. Sons of Constantine I. Roman billion reduced centenionalis, 1.67 g, 15.5 mm. Heraclea, AD 337-340. Obv: VRBS ROMA, helmeted bust of Roma, left. Rev: GLORIA EXERCITVS, two soldiers holding one standard between them; SMHЄ in exergue. Refs: RIC viii, p. 431, 28; LRBC I, 941; RCV 16529.
Nice coins! @savitale, the detail preserved on your coin is excellent! I like the Christogram and green patina on this example: Roman Imperial. Commemorative Series. 330-354 AD. Æ Follis (15mm, 1.29 g, 12h). Arelate (Arles) mint, 1st officina. Struck under Constantine I, AD 334. VRBS ROMA, Bust of Roma left wearing crested helmet and imperial mantle. / She-wolf standing left, head right, suckling the twins Romulus and Remus; above, Christogram (Chi-Rho) between two stars; PCONST in exergue. RIC VII 385; LRBC 403
Wow! That one is SHARP! I have one that @kazuma78 gave me. I’ve been told mine is a pretty nice example, too, but yours leaves it behind. Roma has a slight smile on mine, but looks more serious on yours.
I had a soft spot for these a few years ago and gathered a few... here is a small sample Siscia Rome Trier Arles
What a great variety of she-wolves here! Some look fairly realistic with well rendered fur and a canine-like body. Others look like armadillos! I guess artistic skill was not a requirement for getting a job as a die engraver back then ...
Is this generally agreed upon? I was under the impression that there was still disagreement about whether they were contemporaneous or were minted during the three(?)-month period between Constantine's death and his sons' ascension to Augusti.
I'm not familiar enough with the data to answer this question. @Victor_Clark would be the one to know.
A coin of 2.4g should have been made alongside the two standards coins. Constantine died after the weight reduction that brought us the one standards issues. I'm no expert so I'll be interested in Victor's answer. Mine is also 2.4g.
This thread has shown many excellent coins. I like the commemorative issues of the period and wrote a web page on them: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/CON/Founding.html There are examples of other, related, types on that page. Here is an interesting coin: This is a mule. Here the CONSTANTINOPOLIS obverse is combined with the wolf-and-twins reverse proper to the VRBS ROMA obverse. 14 mm. 1.70 grams. This particular coin was published in SAN XI.2 (1980) page 37 as potentially official. Subsequently an expert on the issue, Pierre Bastien, saw it and told me he thought it was an imitation. It has good style and lettering, but he assured me this is not the official style of Lugdunum, in spite of the clear PLG mintmark of Lugdunum (see RIC page 140). Then this piece was cited in A Survey of Numismatic Research, 1978-1984, page 288. The existence of official mules of this period was the subject of several articles in SAN (VI,1 (1974), pages 8 and 15; VI.3 (1975) page 42; X.2 (1979) pages 20-21; X.4 (9179) page 60). After 30 years studying the matter, I think no mules of these types were intentionally issued, but I do not rule out a simple mint error in some cases. EDIT: I found a better photo of that coin:
In 335/336 the number of coins per pound was changed from 132 to 196; which is why the GLORIA EXERCITVS coins go from two standards to one, as the flans were smaller. The VRBS ROMA and CONSTANTINOPOLI(S) paired with GLORIA EXERCITVS reverse were initially struck in A.D. 336 (in some Eastern mints only); while Constantine I was alive and the types continued after his death, maybe until around A.D. 340.
Great coin! This is the type that got me started collecting LRB's about 18 years ago. I still have that first coin, below, although perhaps it deserves an upgrade. Sad to say, but back then I recognized the "wolf & twins" motif, but knew nothing about the meaning/origin. I'd been on eBay, searching for electronics or some such, and randomly came across this coin and bought it since I thought it was neat this design went back so far! I then started actually looking for Roman coins, and bought my 2nd one, this SOLI INVICTO a month later. This time I was surprised to see a Christian symbol (cross) together with a solar one, and after a little research I was hooked!
I've got all three major VRBS ROMA reverse types. The wolf and twins is the most common, and my best example is below: The VOT and soldiers reverses are a bit less common (not at all rare), but are often in absolute awful condition. This one has a decent strike but surfaces and flan are atrocious. This one is okay, if a bit undersized.
That is 2.4g and 1.7g on average. Obviously they did not weigh each flan on a three decimal place scale but I tend to think of any coin over 2g to be from the early group with lighter ones later. I am not fond of any dealer who sells the Commemoratives without providing a weight. So, what do I do with a coin weighing 2.0g? Punt? Due to the roughness, I'll say it is an early standard coin. I have at least a 50% chance of being right.
Wonderful coins, everyone! Mine is 2.4 g as well: Constantine I, Billon reduced Centenionalis, Trier Mint 330-331 AD. Obv. VRBS ROMA, helmeted bust of Roma left/ Rev. She-wolf stg. left suckling twins (Romulus & Remus), 2 stars above; TRP• [Trier, First officina] in exergue. RIC VII 529, Sear RCV IV 16487. 17 mm., 2.4 g. (Found by metal detecting in Wiltshire, England, 2014).