Scored this pretty nice example of the Chi-Rho type for Magnentius. Its my second one in two years. The obverse was tough to photograph so that was the best I did (its not much better in hand - basically a few of the obverse letters are slightly more visible). I definitely got it though for the prominent and well-preserved Chi-Rho displayed on the reverse. It was struck in Trier.
Congrats on the new coin ... *sigh* => sadly, I don't have Magnentius to show-off (I need to buy more coins!!)
I need top buy more coins too Steve. Oh wait, I've never bought any ancients! Why? I keep getting out bid on Ebay! No, no, no, no!
Thanks everyone! Thanks Bing. Yeah, for my first one I basically started what ended up being a 3 page thread about acquiring it lol. And while my newest one has a better Chi-Rho, the first has a nice obverse and reverse which results in that good balance imo that it has, as opposed to great reverse/crappy obverse, or vice-versa with other coins.
two neat coins...the chi rho on the first is great, but the portrait on the second is better...chi rho wins..i think i like the first one better.
While I have nicer examples, my offering here is a sad story I am ashamed to tell. I was at a coin show and pulled from a junk bin a coin with one decent side and one total loss. Looking at it I thought it would make a good piece of ancient coin jewelry so I bought it. I took it home and scrubbed the reverse so the design showed best and painted it with polyurethane so it would not retone and lose contrast. Why would anyone do that to a genuine ancient coin? The coin fit very well in a ring intended for a US quarter (which cost more than the coin) so I bent it around the unround coin and added a chain. My wife has worn in on several occasions including one day when we were invited to a coin friend's house to meet in person another coin friend from out of town. He looked at the coin an commented on the SIS mintmark. It seems that the list of mints for which the Chi-Rhos were struck does not include Siscia. I had the sinking feeling that I had been very naughty to the only surviving example of a very important coin. Looking closer, it is pretty obvious that the spellings are not exactly correct so the coin is probably a barbarous copy (reducing my crime from a felony to a misdemeanor?). There is no restoring the coin to its original state and the obverse is and forever will be nothing but the coin shows a reason why you should be a little more careful when making jewelry out of innocent coins. I do like these coins. They were made at several mints with contrasting styles (I prefer Amiens) and in the name of Decentius Caesar as well as Magentius. Most scarce are the few struck in the name of Constantius II supposedly by Poemenius during a very confused period in the civil wars. The original point of the type by Magnentius was to curry favor with Roman (Catholic) Christians against the Arian heretic Constantius. Arians did not believe in the divinity of Christ and would not, in particular, like the alpha and omega flanking the Chi-Rho since this suggested a belief that Christ was not a later creation but had been there with God from the beginning. Issuing an Orthodox coin in the name of the great supporter of the heresy was just plain wrong.
