Had coin club Wednesday night, haven't purchase any Ancient coins since June, i had to close out 2014 with a couple. i bought and won at club auction 5 different forum type of coins. ancient, world, modern, rolls and exonmia... First i'll start here, if you have any Constatius ll or campgate coins post them.. Constantius ll as Caesar..324-337..AD. Ob. Constantius ll, bust facing left.. Rev. Campgate with two turrets and star above. Mint..SMANTH..Antioch 17x20mm no wieght yet. Still has good silvering on it...
excellent details ENG...no new ancients since june!!!!!! man, I thought I had been a long time since you posted something. welcome back to the dark side!
Grats on getting off the wagon and picking up a nice coin. Here's another Antioch campgate, but from his dad. CONSTANTINE I AE3 3.99g, 20.2mm Antioch mint, 327 - 328 AD RIC VII 81 O: CONSTAN-TINVS AVG, head with rosette diadem right. R: PROVIDEN-TIAE AVGG, SMANTepsilon in ex, camp gate with 11 layers, 2 turrets and star inbetween, pellet in doorway.
Cool Antioch little coin I still have to purchase my first roman for 2014. It will be too late very soon now... Q
Nice coin, John, with super detail. I have the same type from the same ruler, but from the Heraclea mint. It's got a lovely patina with traces of silvering left...
Nice detail, John. CONSTANTIUS II AE3 OBVERSE: FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C, laureate, draped & cuirassed bust left REVERSE: PROVIDEN-TIAE CAESS, campgate with two turrets & star above, SMKB dot in ex. Struck at Cyzicus 325-326 AD 3.5g, 18mm RIC VII 38,B CONSTANTIUS II AE3 OBVERSE: FL VAL CONSTANTIVS NOB C, laureate, draped & cuirassed bust left REVERSE: PROVIDENTIAE CAESS, campgate with 2 turrets, 6 layers, star above, & no doors, R(wreath)Q in ex. Struck at Rome 355-361 AD 3.31 g, 20 mm RIC VII 290
You would think these coins would be more popular with collectors, especially since they can be had in high grades for very little scratch. But I've heard people say, "Meh - just another common campgate." Really? When is the last time you got one in change?
Quite fond of campgates myself, even if I'm not a big collector of LRBs. One of those with the open doors and a Flavius Victor are on my want list. Heck, I'll even take a bunch of the junky Valentinian and Theodosian ones. I'm not fussy when it comes to campgates.
You know, finding decent examples of those is not easy. They have a particular style that is uniquely different from earlier campgates, but as you say, the coins are very junky. I don't have any myself, but here's an example. Go home, campgate, you're drunk.
Nice one Eng! Nicely centered with some great detail and nice surfaces. I agree that there are some great camp-gates to be found cheap. Just because they are common doesn't diminish their appeal to me. I've always liked the design. I picked this one up for under $20 bucks. The surfaces aren't nearly as nice as your OP coin, but to buy an ancient Roman coin for that kind of money you can't go wrong imho. Constantine II; 326-8 AD Bronze AE3, 20mm/3.7g, Thessalonica mint, OBV: CONSTANTINVS IVN NOB C, head, laureate, draped & cuirassed bust left / REV: PROVIDENTIAE CAESS, camp-gate with two turrets and star above, SMTS in ex. (RIC VII 157.1)
I'm not sure if that one is barbarous, drunk, or both but I'd love to have it. This rather nice Magnus Maximus from around the same period is one of my pride and joys.
Here is one that I collected, not for the campgate, but for the very crisp, stylized bust of Constantine. Also, it appears to be a strike-through error as N, S, T and V are barely visible on the obverse...
Here is an early campgate: TIBERIUS AE 25mm (As) OBVERSE: TI CAESAR AVGVSTVS PON MAX IMP, laureate head left REVERSE: COL AVGVSTA EMERITA, campgate Struck at Emerita, Spain, 14-36 AD 9.27g, 25mm RPC 42
Cool new pick-up, Eng ... wow, that's a long time to be on the ol' wagon!! (brutal) I still only have my two Constantius II examples ... => a Fallen Horseman & a Campgate (with doors)
Sure, I like my two Constantius II examples, but man, my Constantius "I" is one of my all-time favs ...
Flavius Victor AE 4. 387-388 AD. 0.7g, 12mm OBV: D N FL VICTOR P F AVG, Diademed bust right. REV: SPES ROMANORVM, camp gate with star between two turrets. REF: Uncertain Extreme low grade version but I consider myself lucky to get a Flavius Victor coin since I ain't in no way going to pay a few hundred for a higher grade example.
I wouldn't pay several hundred either but this was $15 from a professional dealer who was at the stage of study that all little junky ancient coins were the same. If this were a Constantius, $15 would be a fair price. This is also why I suggest we all prepare our heirs for what to do when we are gone. If they walk into a coin store that sells mostly bullion on proof sets, your Flavius Victor will be just another coin. I would not buy this coin from your grandpa for $15 but when someone sets himself up in business, has a neon sign that reads COINS and buys collections from whoever walks in, should I have told him $15 was not enough? I wonder if my grandson will sell this one for $5 and complete the cycle. If he does, maybe the real value of such a coin is what it actually sold for the last three times it sold rather than what a big auction house would ask if they had it. On the other hand I paid a professional dealer a great deal more than any of you would for an uglier coin so it all comes out even in the end unless you only buy coins for what they are 'worth' and not what they are.