I have to agree with comments above : buy the coin, not the slab, and certainly not buy the BS written on tags, even when NGC wrote them Not as nice as Valentinian's by far, but still decent and at 64 € (about the same in $ nowadays) which is not cheap even though I've never regretted buying it Constans, AE2 Rome mint, 1st officina D N CONSTA NS P F AVG, draped and diademed bust left, holding globe in right hand FEL.TEMP.REPARATIO, Virtus walking right dragging captive out of his hut. R*P at exergue 4.2 gr Ref : Cohen # 19, LRBC # 604 Q
Very sweet OP-coin, snewman ... but as most of my wise coin-gang have already stated => ummm, that is a bit steep for a common type ... however, I have definitely walked in your shoes while you're seemingly trapped in that nasty auction war-zone atmosphere!! (everything seems to be happening so quickly ... is that friendly fire, or is that the enemy?!! ... incoming!! ... bid-bid-bid-bid!!!) => but "wow" if that baby has bronze disease, then it should definitely be sent back to the seller!! (for that kind of coin-cash, that baby better be minty fricken fresh!!)
I was pleased to see that the double strike was just an image artifact. The coin was so much nicer in hand, but there were a couple of spots on the reverse that will cause the coin to go back. Thanks for the thoughts, guys!
Here is where we differ a bit. Valentinian's coin is close to perfect but it is Constantinople and your is Rome. Over the years, I have developed a preference for the styles for certain mints over others and finding perfect coins from Rome in this period is harder than most. Yours is a nice coin and I like Rome (and Alexandria but that is a different post). Mine is a different issue and Constantius II. I don't have a Constans from Rome.