I recently added the Crispus shown below to my collection. Two questions: 1. The portrait style makes me suspect that it *may* not be from an official mint. The face/profile seems a little amateurish for the period. Thoughts? 2. Could that be an intentional Cross on the helmet? The equilateral Cross (+) appears on other coinage of Constantine's family. Crispus' coins are known to include Christian symbols, (one type has a very clear, undeniable Chi-Rho on a shield). Thanks for any input!
Since it's clearly barbarous and issued after the edict of toleration, there's no reason that the cross can't be an intentionally Christian symbol, but, in this case, one can never know for sure. Interesting coin, though, and in pretty nice shape.
Definitely barbarous, but quite an interesting coin - perhaps more interesting than many of the official issues. I'm sure that if your coin could talk it would tell a very captivating story.
Rather than an equilateral cross, I would say the engraver was copying a star, which frequently appear on this issue from Trier. Below are two coins of Licinius with captives and standard, with a star near the base of the helmet. one example- this example looks like an equilateral cross with dots in each corner you sometimes see these four pointed stars on other issues, like on the helmets of VLPP from Siscia
I'm very appreciative for ALL the input! Thanks, Victor, for the time spent to post the detailed response with multiple examples!
