Weighing just 1.12 g., this tiny coin has interesting symbols on the reverse. Beside the cross, there's a distinctive star, in addition to something I can't recognize in or below the hand of the person holding the cross. The obverse also shows the unidentified Roman Emperor with a sign to the right. Could you please assist me to identify the Emperor and the signs all together. Thank you.. Charles
I'm not 100% sure but has a resenbelance. Maximus (409 - 411) 5th century AD. Picture found at: http://www.romancoins.info/ImaginesImperatorumStart.html
Leo I, AE4, Constantinople, 457-474 AD. D N LEO, pearl diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right / Leo standing facing, head right, holding long cross in right and placing left hand on head of kneeling captive. Star in left field. RIC X 701.
Oh yeah - very good! LEO I. 457-474 AD. pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right, DN L-EO / Emperor standing, holding a long cross and placing his left hand on captive, star in the left field, CON in exergue. 8mm, 0.8 grams.Mint ofConstantinople, RIC 702. Info and picture found at: http://www.ancientcoins.ca/RIC/RIC10/RIC10_LeoE.htm
Thanks. It's likely to be RIC 703 because of the star to the left field of the reverse. But my coin weighs 1.12 g. and not 0.8 g. Could that make any significant difference.
That's quite a difference in weight. Even back then the coins had to weigh a specific weight to maintain their monetary value as even bronze was an expensive metal in the early years of AD.
Yeah I see what you mean - coin in your pictures seem a little different on reverse than what was pictured in the article - who knows how many variations of BC & early AD coins were struck.
By the time of Leo, quality control at the mint was bad enough that many coins that survive do not have all the details needed to be 100% certain of the RIC number. Experienced collectors (not I) make better guesses on some than guys like me. Sometimes we get lucky and get a letter of the mintmark that gives it away (top); sometimes it is a guess by style or we just have to be happy saying it is Leo from a mint to be named later if we get good at it. Sometimes we get lucky and the mintmark is gone but there is another clue like the one below from Constantinople which used a lambda for the L in Leo on some coins. These are neat coins for people who like to chase mysteries. They are not good for condition oriented collectors.
