Crusty Little Valentian III (?)

I picked up this tiny little dude for pretty cheap. He hit two wickets; Victory reverse and an emperor I didn't yet have. In this case, Valentinian III.



I'm having a bit of a hard time nailing down an attribution though. I was hoping someone here could help and/or confirm I had it right.

I found this off wildwinds but I don't think the reverse legend is correct. However, it's the only one I can find with a "T" in the left field. I believe mine is a VICTORIA AVGG reverse though

Valentinian III, AE4 of Rome. DN VALENTINIANVS PF AVG, pearl diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right / SALVS REI-PVBLICAE, Victory walking left, holding wreath, T in left field. Mintmark RM off flan. RIC X 2108.



Can anyone help a brother out? Also, feel free to post some tiny little Late Roman nuggets

 

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A member here commented on a post of mine once: if you think you have a V3, it’s a V2

 

Can't find a V2 with this reverse either. The V3's on wildwinds have a closer match than any V2 I can find.

 

I found one on acsearch that is a possible match from a CNG Auction in 2010



Description
Valentinian III. AD 425-455. Æ (12mm, 1.01 g, 6h). Rome mint, 3rd officina. Pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm; T//RM. RIC X 2118 or 2121; LRBC 845. VF, dark brown patina.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=167206

 

I believe you, that certainly looks more 3 than 2. I’m just bitter haha

 

So I found these as well:
http://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.10.valt_iii_w.2121?lang=en
My obverse is better I think, as is my reverse. I'm pretty sure my crusty little dude is V3

 

The places to look for these online is @Valentinian's Esty's Guide to Late Roman AE, and Tesorillo's Identifying Late Roman Bronze Coins. The Nummus Bible is also helpful.

Just looking at Warren Esty's guide, the trick with these Victory advancing with wreath types is distinguishing type 55 from type 66, and then identifying the emperor. Basically if you can establish some variation of SALVS REIPVBLICE as the reverse legend, it's Val III, type 66. Or it could be Galla Placidia, which is in fact what I have (based on some portrait details):


Yours looks to be some version of VICTORIA AVGG(G), which means it's type 55. In principle it could be Honorius (S), Theodosius II (R4), Johannes (R4), or Valentinian III (S). Warren has several photos of both of the more common ones, Honorius and Val III, here: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ricix/type55i.html
I actually own one of the Honorius coins on that page:

I guess there's just enough legend to ID it as Honorius, though personally I can't be 100% sure of that.

Then there are Vandal imitations, which make things a lot more complicated. I think that's what this is, though again I'm not 100% sure:


Overall these types are very difficult!! Probably yours is either Honorius or Valentinian III, but I don't think it's possible to tell which.

 

I've spent alot of time on @Valentinian 's website and learned a ton. I've also spent a lot of time on tesorillo. Numis Bible is new to me though.
Got a lot of reading and studying to do

 

Valentinian III reigned for 30 years, so his coins are plentiful. Unfortunately, with most of these little AE4s from this era, it's impossible to attribute the coin to a specific emperor unless you have some key letters of the obverse inscription visible. Often, it's not even possible to distinguish official issues from imitations. So although there are a lot of V3 coins out there, coins that you can positively identify as such as quite scarce.

Here's one from my collection. Although it's difficult to see in the photo, in hand the 3rd letter of the obverse inscription is clearly a V. That's how I know it's a V3. But whether or not it's official, well . . .
Valentinian III
Caesar, A.D. 424-425
Augustus, A.D. 425-455
(Bronze) AE 3/4
Rome mint mark, possibly No. African mint, ca. A.D. 440-455
Obv: D N VAL-EN AV
Rev: VICTO-RI AVGVS - Victory advancing left with wreath and palm
ROMA in exergue; (no cross in field)
11mm, 1.3g

 

Well, if he is V3 or not, he has certainly been a cheap little lesson

 

You're ending up the year with a rare and lucky coin.. CHEERS.

 

I have one last purchase on the way. Stand by

 

Valentinian IIIs are relatively hard to find, compared to his uncles Arcadius and Honorius - I wonder sometimes how many of his coins are hiding in plain sight?

None of these are certainly attributable, but I strongly suspect that most are Valentinian III, but could in theory be Honorius, Theodosius II, Johannes, etc...



This one has enough of the DN PL to assign to him with certainty


This is my best condition Valentinian III AE, with the scarcer dative obverse DN VALENTINIANO

 

Like the rest here is my mystery.

 

Here's a Val III that is sure because it was only struck for him, like his other campgate with VOT PVB



Valentinian III
A.D. 425-455
10x11mm 1.2gm
[D N VALEN AVG]; pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right.
[CAST] VIC; camp-gate with no doors and two turrets, star above.
RIC X Rome 2163

 

That's the one I have:


Also this AE2 struck in/for Cherson:

 

Back in the day (20+ years ago) you could go through bags of uncleaned ae4's and almost always find lots of interesting monograms, Leo lion types and even identifiable Valentinian III's. Here's a couple of them:

1. Rev: VICTORIA AVGG: Two victories facing each other and jointly holding a wreath, P above and RM in exergue


2.
Obv: D N VALENTINIANO P F AVG; Bust right
Rev: CONCORDIA AVG; Victory facing holding a wreath in each hand, SMKA in exergue

 

Those Victories are GREAT!

 

The page devoted to the AE types of Valentinian III is here:
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ricix/ValentinianIII.html

Few AE coins of Valentinian III have a full legend and many are hardly legible. Here is one with a legend much better than average:

Valentinian III
13 mm. 1.83 grams. 6:00.
RIC X, 2130