Let's march through time with Roman Imperials!

Looks like there isn't anyone here to show off these 2 rare boys. Both are borrowed from the wildest of Windies:

Alexander, AE follis, 23 mm, Carthage mint, AD 308-311. IMP ALEXANDER PF AVG, laureate head right / AFRI-C-A AVG N, Africa standing facing, looking left, wearing elephant-skin headdress, holding standard and elephant's tusk, lion with captured bull at feet. Mintmark PK. RIC VI Carthage 64; Sear 15080.

Martinian AE Follis. AD 324. IM C S MAR MARTINIANVS P F AVS, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right / IOVI CONSERVATORI, Jupiter standing left, holding Victory on globe and sceptre, eagle at foot left with wreath in beak; bound captive at foot right, X over IIμ in right field. Mintmark SMKB. RIC Cyzicus 16; Cohen 2; Sear -. [Unlisted officina]

 

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And that opens the doors (Edit: "opens up the camp gates!" how did I miss such an obvious and excellent pun?)for us to post the original Con-man himself!

CONSTANTINE I
307-337 AD. Æ Follis
Cyzicus mint. Struck 328-
329 AD. CONSTAN-TINVS
AVG, diademed head right,
eye's raised to heaven /
PROVIDEN-TIAE AVGG,
camp-gate with no doors
and two turrets, star above;
SMKA•. RIC VII 57 var.
(unlisted officina)

Constantine I

Died AD 337. Æ Follis
Constantinople mint. Struck
AD 337-340. Veiled bust
right / Constantine I driving
quadriga right being
crowned from above by the
hand of God; CONS. RIC
VIII 37; LRBC 1041.

Constantine I
Æ Follis. Ticinum, AD 318-
319. Laureate, helmeted and
cuirassed bust right / Two
Victories standing facing,
together holding shield
inscribed VOT/PR in two
lines on altar; PT in exergue.
RIC 87

 

I had posted a coin (wildwinds) of Domitius Domitianus (pretender in Alexandria) however, upon his death he was succeeded by Achilleus, who ruled Egypt for about 6 months apparently striking no coins with his likeness, however it is possible that one may be found eventually. He was defeated and executed by Diocletian after the siege of Alexandria. However the revolt continued in Upper Egypt and had to be suppressed by force. When I was in Egypt in 2011 a German team of archaeologists had just discovered the ruins of a legionary fortress built adjacent to Luxor temple by Diocletian. (End of digression)

 

Constantine I, follis with campgate:

 

Constantine campgate from TIF.



Erin

 

Two less common types of CtG, both from Ticinum:

Ticinum mint, A.D. 306
RIC 75
Obv: CONSTANTINVS NOB CAES
Rev: VIRTVS AV-GG ET CAESS NN - Helmeted Mars, advancing right, with transverse spear and holding trophy over shoulder
ST in exergue; [dot] in left field
27mm, 10.6 g.


Ticinum mint, A.D. 307-308
RIC 99
Obv: CONSTANTINVS P F AGV[sic]
Rev: VIRTVS PER-PETVA AVG - Hercules, strangling Nemean lion; club behind left leg
ST in exergue
26 mm, 7.1 g.

 

I was going to post Constantine II but lets see if any more Constantine I's show up (or Licinius)...still a long way to go til Romulus Augustulus.

 

CONSTANTINE I


RI Constantine I AVG Follis Votive XX seated captives 2.69g 18mm RIC VII 191 London

 

LICINIUS


RI Licinius I 308-324 CE AE3 Jupiter w Eagle


LICINIUS - ROMAN REPUBLIC break!


RR L Licinius Crassus Cn Domitius Ahenobarbus 118 BCE NARBO Serrated Attic Helmet Gallic Biga Sear 158 Craw 282-3


RR AR Denarius A Licinius Nerva 47 BCE 3.58g Rome Fides One-armed horseman gllpng drggng naked warrior hair Cr 454-1 Syd 954


Aaannd, back to our regularly scheduled thread...!

LICINIUS II

See above post

 

If you are jumping to Martinian, why skip Valens?
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=256741

 

Dazzling Valens (wish mine looked like that).
Per LordM's request, I am posting in order of Wild winds list. Here's the gap they have between the two:


Which is exciting! Per the list, all those awesome commemoratives Coni made when he moved the capital from Rome to Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) are up next!! Though I am not the best when it comes to some of the usurpers and super short lived fellas...did I skip ahead?

 

Now that is pretty cool!

 

So his general Valens certainly isn't Valentinian's brother. Is this fella so rare that wild winds hasn't heard of him?
Wow Doug! You are at another level my man. Thanks for the education @dougsmit!

 

For the commemoratives I have 2 types lll and 1 IV:





Constantine I
Æ Nummus. Lugdunum, AD
332-333. Commemorative
Series.
CONSTANTINOPOLIS,
laureate and helmeted bust
of Constantinopolis left /
Victory standing left on
prow, holding spear and
resting on shield; •PLC in
exergue. RIC 246

CONSTANTINE I THE
GREAT(306-337).
Commemorative series.
Follis. Kyzikos.
Obv: VRBS ROMA.
Helmeted and cuirassed
bust of Roma left.
Rev: SMKE.
She-wolf standing left,
suckling the twins Romulus
and Remus; two stars
above.
RIC 91

Any other commemoratives folks??

 

Roma AE Commemorative
VRBS ROMA
bust of Roma left, wearing helmet with plume, and imperial mantle

She-wold standing left, suckling twins Romulus and Remus, mintmark gamma SIS in ex.
RIC VII Siscia 222.
Siscia mint
330-333 AD

 

COMMEMS:

Roma:


Rome VRBS ROMA commem 330-331 CE Æ reduced centenionalis, 16mm, 2.5g, 12h; Trier mint, CE 330-331 She-wolf RIC VII 529



RI commem AE Follis Urbs ROMA She-wolf Rom Rem Stars RIC VII Lyons 242



RI Commem Urbs Roma AE Follis Thessalonika 330-333 CE She-Wolf Rom-Rem stars S 16516R


Constantinople:


RI commem AE Follis CONSTAN-TINOPOLIS Victory Prow Shield RIC VII Trier 543



RI Commem Urbs Constantinopolis Victory Commem




RI Commem AE 17 Constantinopolis 227-340 Victory Alexandria RIC VIII 17

 

Since you failed to read the link provided, you missed the fact that there was Valerus Valens who was appointed Augustus by Licinius I during a period when he was fighting Constantine I. When they made peace, Valens was executed and it is thought that his coins were recalled (a very rare occurrence in Roman times) so a decent looking AE of his would be in the $10,000+ bracket. CNG has sold half a dozen genuine ones over the years including one in Triton X for $37,500 +fluff. There are many fakes not to mention disagreement as to which coins are good and which are bad. I would want to be very certain a late Roman bronze was good before I paid that kind of money. Very, very certain.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=97191

My Licinius here is RIC 18 of Alexandria from that same issue. I paid $14. Valens was RIC 19. I don't have that one. A few obverse letters make this only a spacefiller for a coin I will never have.


The Valens you have was the brother of Valentinian I and fifty years later. His coins are extremely common but use the reverses of his day rather than this Jupiter. Why history has not called him Valens II is beyond me. Since Valens 'the Usurper' was made Augustus by a legitimate Augustus (Licinius) it seems wrong to consider him a usurper. He was a general who did what his Augustus told him to do and was executed when Licinius Augustus was ordered by Constantine to get rid of him. This is a fine example of what comes from being loyal to the wrong ruler. It seems pretty obvious that being married to Constantine's half sister was the only reason Licinius survived that event which he later repeated when he named Martinian Augustus a few years later.

 

I caught that after the fact. Hence the 2nd post. Good to know there is one more emperor I will never own...

 

Even though Crispus is next on the list... his coins were actually earlier than the commemoratives by a decade or nearly a decade. Here's a few Crispus coins but since they are earlier, commemoratives are still on the table too!

Notice the obverse legend... CRISPO!

Lyons RIC 116

and here notice the sweet spear, shield and looks on the captive's faces...

Siscia RIC 130v

 

One more Crispy.