Next up is my first Vetranio. Only two mints - Siscia and Thessalonica - struck coins for Vetranio during the 10 months that he held the title before surrendering it to Constantius II. The coins from Thessalonica are a fair bit scarcer than the ones from Siscia. Here, Vetranio had two officinae strike coins bearing his own name, with the other three continuing to put out Fallen Horseman coins bearing Constantius's. This issue is considered rare, and this particular coin a little rarer still as a result of an engraving error that renders Vetranio's name VERTAN-IO. Because I'm not that savvy, I paid to have the error pointed out to me in the auction description. In spite of the mispelling, I still happily consider my Vetranio box checked . Please post your Vetranios! VETRANIO AE2. 4.93g, 24mm Thessalonica mint, 350 AD. RIC VIII 126 var. (obv. legend); Hirsch 258, lot 2707; CNG inv. no. 161220. O: D N VERTAN-IO (sic!) P F AVG, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. R: VIRTVS EXERCITVM, Emperor standing left, wearing military attire, holding labarum and shield; mintmark TSA.
Nice addition, especially with the engraving error. I own a couple Vetranio AE3s, but no die errors and they are not near as nice as yours: VETRANIO AE3 OBVERSE: DN VETRA-NIO PF AVG Laureate bust right REVERSE: VIRTVS AV-G-VSTORVM Emperor bare head and in military dress standing right, holding spear and globe and kicking a seated captive, mintmark officina letter and SIS Struck at Siscia 350 AD 2.7g, 17.5mm RIC 296 (Siscia), LRBC 1182 VETRANIO AE3 OBVERSE: DN VETRANIO P F AVG - Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right REVERSE: VIRTVS EXERCITVM Exe: TES - Vetranio standing left, holding labarum and resting hand on shield Struck at Thessalonica 350 AD 4.0g, 24mm RIC 138, LRBC 1652
Wow, great find Z. A sharp coin of a scarce emperor with an interesting error to boot. Collecting doesn't get much more satisfying than that.
Great score, Z-bro => #110 on the ol' RIC Rarity-list (very nice addition) ... yah, I'm skunked on this ruler as well (man, more coins on the ol' wish-list!!) Cheers
Thanks for the compliments! Bing's Siscia coin is interesting too, in that it makes you wonder how many varieties of the emperor-brutalizing-a-captive types there are... Kicking, trampling, dragging, spearing... Am I missing any?
Vetranio had only six AE types. Click here http://esty.ancients.info/ and then on the Vetranio link http://esty.ancients.info/vetranio/Vetranio.html to see them. Then, click on the link at the bottom of that page to see coins of those types he struck in the name of Constantius II and the types which were continued under Constantius Gallus.
