https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=49616 https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=280807 Is it a rare and interesting coin?
The first example says rare 1. The portrait of Soli Invicto is certainly rarer than the standing type.
Nice!! I grabbed an example of the type not too long ago.... AE Follis of Constantine I; Trier, 4.54 grams, 23 mm: circa 310- 313 AD Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right IMP CONSTANTINVS AVG Radiate and draped bust of Sol right SOL INVICTO COMITI (Claiming the Unconquered Sun as a companion to the Emperor) RIC 890 (no mintmark)
I just scanned this coin tonight. It's rated R4 and belongs to Constantine I. Sol figures there on reverse. RIC VII - Arles - 138. Follis- MM TARL.
Actually, the coin is not particularly rare. It is known from only one mint--Treveri (Trier) --and is certainly less common than the typical Sol standing reverse (http://feltemp.com/50_Trev_47.html). The coin does command a bit of a premium over the more common types, but many affordable specimens are readily available. But it's an interesting coin, and it raises several questions. Why was it minted only at Trier, and why is there no mint mark on this type? (Perhaps the first question answers the second?) Most of the examples I've seen do not have a lot of wear, so it seems that they did not circulate very much. Yet the size and weight is similar to other issues from other mints, so there's no reason to assume that it's a special denomination, which is also a head-scratcher. Most donatives, if that's what these were, tend to be half the typical value of circulating coinage.
Would you like some half-wild speculation? Constantine's famous vision before the battle at the Milvian bridge wasn't his first. There is a surviving pangeryic after a victory against Maximian in 310...in southern Gaul...where he had a vision of Apollo or himself as Apollo. The pangyric went "Constantine, you saw your Apollo, I believe, accompanied by Victory, offering you wreaths of laurel..." Maybe this coin has something to do with that vision?
I have had a few of the Mars variety... I have never bothered with the Sol one. All the examples here are Trier but both types also come from Ticinum which can be identified purely by style. Like this one:-
Since this thread is titled Help ID Constantine, I kindly allow myself to post this newly-acquired coin of Constantine II which is rated R3. RIC VII-ANT-73. MM is SMANTB. But mine has 8 layers instead of 7. So what would be the exact attribution and rate of this coin ? Thank you.
RIC doesn't distinguish between the number of layers, so the attribution that you gave, I assume, is still correct.
