Crumbling Campgate - What a shame

I bought a small group lot which contained many campgates, in part because I had no campgates and in part because love group lots . The campgates had a lot of silvering. Speaking of, it seems that people speak of silvering in reverential tones... "and it still has some silvering [oooooh ahhhh]". After seeing my first "silvered" coins I think I prefer no trace of silver whatsoever, at least for these LRBs. Unless the silvering is absolutely perfect, it just makes the coin look splotchy.

I've given many of them away but here's my favorite of that bunch:

Constantine I, RIC VII Antioch 84, SMANTE



Some time after that I bought another LRB which has no silvering whatsoever. While the coin itself may not be quite as nice in terms of the flan and preservation, I think the non-silvered surfaces are much more attractive. They're certainly easier to photography! The main attraction to this coin was the vintage Sear certificate, although as others pointed out there's no way to really know if the stapled flip contained the original coin. I have no reason to believe otherwise though.


Constantine I follis, /campgate; RIC VII Trier 449



...

Since we're talking about campgates, I'm in the camp that believes the structures depicted on the reverse are signaling stations rather than camp/city gates.

There's a good article about this in an old Celator (Vol 18, No. 1, January 2004), Campgate Bronzes and Roman Fire Signalling, Murray K. Dahm.

 

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Both are beautiful @TIF . The only coin with silvering I have, is like you said, "splotchy". It is still sitting in some DW in hope that some of the other crust will come off. If not, it will be quite a nasty looking coin

 

There are well over 2000 types unless you go overboard with tiny details. To quote Dane:

"the countless differences to things like position of soldiers foot, knee, elbow, position of horseman's arm and hand, position of shield on ground etc etc. made by the various celators over the years would result in literally millions of lines"

Forgot about mine

 

Thanks @randygeki ....The last batch of uncleaned coins that I bought are seeming to have quite a few fallen horsemen in them. Each one is different just base on mintmarks or officinas. It is pretty cool that even though it may be a "common" coin, each one is unique. I totally understand why you like them

 

I have one with a less ancient Sear COA that arrived recently. I’ll try and get and some pictures to post later.

In the meantime, here’s one of my favourite campgates.


MAGNUS MAXIMUS
AE4. 0.9g, 14mm. Arles (Arelate) mint, AD 383-388. RIC IX Arelate 29a1. O: D N MAG MAXI-MVS P F AVG, diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right. R: SPES RO-MA-NORVM, campgate with star between two turrets; SCON in exergue.

 

Do you work in consulting?

Spreadsheets are life.

 

I work for the government. All spreadsheets. All day. Every day.

 

I remember seeing that frequently @furryfrog02 when I did uncleaned lots, the patina coming off in patches...sometimes it would come off altogether.

Here an old uncleaned lot campgate, weakly struck but lots of silvering.

 

Here's a couple of variants:
This one has an unusual reverse inscription for the type:

Ticinum mint, A.D. 326
RIC 198
Obv: CONSTAN-TINVS AVG
Rev: D N CONSTANTINI MAX AVG - Campgate with two turrets; star above
Q[crescent]T in exergue
20 mm, 3.4 g.

Four turrets, open doors:

Arles mint, A.D. 327
RIC 314
Obv: CONSTAN-TINVS AVG
Rev: VIRTV-SAVGG - Campgate with open doors, four turrets; star above
ARLP in exergue; S in left field, F in right
19 mm, 3.0 g.

And finally, one in really rough shape from Flavius Victor (387-388 A.D.):

Rome mint, A.D. 387-388
Obv: D N FL VIC-TOR P F AVG
Rev: SPES RO-MA-NORVM - Campgate with star between two turrets
[RB?] in exergue
RIC 59
13mm, 0.9g.

 

Here’s my awesome camp gate, courtesy of TIF!



Erin

 

I don't have any Campgates(yet) but I do enjoy looking at these pictures. I especially love @Cucumbor example. It is causing me to drool at the screen! Great coins guys!

 

@furryfrog02 I'm not sure that what is ailing your OP coin is entirely corrosion. There is some of that, which cuts down into the original surface. But I also see some accretions which rest on the surface and obscure details beneath them. Often these can be removed (with some effort) improving the appearance.

This is something about the gates that also fascinates me. I have been studying them off and on for the past 15 years. Provincial gates as well as the imperial varieties in silver and bronze. I collect the small imperial bronzes by mint, officina, turrets, and layer count, and have several hundred. Lots of unpublished stuff there, but they are not the whole story.

Cucumbor showed us an argenteus from Antioch. Here are a couple from Nicomedia with a different style, showing doors.

Diocletian
RIC VI Nicomedia 22a


Galerius
RIC VI Nicomedia 26


Notice that the coin for Galerius has a star centered above the door of the gate. The Diocletian does not, but it has something else in the "turrets." The lines there have been called "eagle beaks," and some seek them out.

I have to be away for a while now but when I return I will post a couple of Tetrarchic bronze gates you might find interesting.

 

In 308 AD Imperial production of folles for the senior Augusti (Diocletian and Maximan) was suspended, as was the coinage for Severus, hence also the coinage for Constantine was arrested. This left the coinage for Galerius and Maximinus, to which was added the first coinage for Galeria Valeria. This reduction in output reduced the number of active officinae to four.

It is at this time the first campgate reverses in bronze are introduced, on a large, albeit reduced, follis of 6 1/4 to 7 1/2 grams. Three officinae were devoted to Galerius, and his are the ones most familiar to collectors.

Galerius// VIRTVS MILITVM
RIC VI Cyzicus 39


In this example the entrance through the gate has no door or other obstruction.


Next is a much nicer example of the gate reverse on a coin of Maximinus II. All these were produce from a single officina, and are not as frequently seen.

Maximinus II // VIRTVS MILITVM
RIC VI Cyzicus 40

In this example the gate opening is partly obscured by a portcullis. This feature also appears on the same coin type for Galerius (but my example of that variety is so beatup I didn't want to show it).

So these are the big brother precursors to the gates of reduced follis fame, which start with the Virtus gate reverses, but are overtaken by the Providentiae gate reverses.

 

Nice! It's a real treat to see some of these early ones.