My Favorite Victory

Today is a nice sunny day so I have been trying to take some better pictures of my coins. This one has my favorite Victory (Nike in this case) reverse. I only have 3 coins from Egypt including this. A Licinius II and a Constans. I really like the Ptolemaic coins and would like to eventually add one to my collection.

Unfortunately, the obverse legend on this coin is all but obliterated. But it still has a nice portrait.
The one question I do have about this coin is on the reverse. It has what looks to be a star above the "L" in the left field but all the examples I can find only have the star in the right field. What do you think it is? Am I wrong?

Maximianus
Tetradrachm of Alexandria.
Obverse: Legend unreadable, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
Reverse: Nike walking right, holding palm branch and wreath, L-Γ across fields


Thanks for looking! Post your favorite Victory/Nikes, Maximianus, Egyptian coins, or whatever you want!

 

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Nice Victory coin FF - here are three of my Brits:


Septimius Severus, Denarius, RIC Vol. IV, No. 335
Obverse: Septimius Severus,, Laureate head facing right
Inscription clockwise from bottom: SEVERVS PIVS AVG BRIT
Reverse: Victory (Britannia?) seated left writing on shield
Inscription: VICTORIAE BRIT


Caracalla, Denarius, RIC Vol. IV, No. 231a
Obverse: Caracalla, Laureate head facing right
Inscription clockwise from bottom: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG BRIT
Reverse: winged Victory advancing right holding trophy
Inscription: VICTORIAE BRIT


Geta, Denarius, RIC Vol. IV, No. 91
Obverse: Geta, Laureate head facing right
Inscription clockwise from bottom: P SEPT GETA PIVS AVG BRIT
Reverse: Victory standing left holding wreath and palm branch
Inscription: VICTORIAE BRIT

 

What led you to Maximianus rather than Diocletian?

 

………………………… and, of course, an old Neronian type:


RIC Vol. I, NERO, As, Lugdunum, No. 543 (AD 66)
Obverse: Nero, bare headed facing right
Inscription clockwise from bottom: IMP NERO CAESAR AVG P MAX TRP P P
Reverse: Winged Victory, walking left, holding shield inscribed SPQR
Inscription: S -------- C (left and right)

 

my first ever ancient

Struck under Constantine the Great
334-335AD
Siscia mint - BSIS
OBV: CONSTANTINOPOLIS
REV: Victory standing on prow of ship with a sceptre and shield
18.5mm
2,1g

 

Trajan, AR Denarius (18 mm, 3.23g), Rome, 107-111. Laureate head of Trajan to right./ Victory standing left, holding wreath and palm frond. RIC 128.


KINGS OF CAPPADOCIA. Ariarathes V Eusebes Philopator (AR Drachm, 17 mm, 3.99g), circa 131 B.C. Diademed head of Ariarathes to right./ Rev. Athena standing left, holding Nike, spear and shield set on ground.

 

Honestly, that is how it was sold to me and I was able to find a close match on wildwinds and acsearch. Is there a way to differentiate between the two when there is no legend to help? Their portraits look dang close and they have similar reverses as well.

 

Not that I've found.

I tried to discern some of the obverse legend. Sometimes you can nail it or narrow it down just based on general shape of the characters but I can't pin this one down with any certainty. Maybe in hand you can tell more. Sometimes a pencil rubbing (tracing paper atop the coin, rub with a pencil or charcoal) can bring to light some letters.

I'll list the candidates with their obverse legends below (courtesy of Emmett's handy book).

As for the star, Emmett doesn't flyspeck the designs so that detail may not help. All of my coin books except Emmett are packed and in a shipping container so I can't access them for another month or so but if you remind me in late January I'll see if Milne or others can help narrow down your coin.

Portraits became rather generic around the time of Claudius II or shortly after. Based on the known issuers of "Nike flying right" for RY 3, and the generic portrait, here are the possibilities for your coin:

Aurelian AVTKΛΔAVPHΛIANOCCEB or AKΛΔOMAVPHΛIANOCCEB

Carinus AKMAKAPINOCCEB

Numerian AKMANOVMEPIANOCCEB

Diocletian AKΓOVAΛΔΙΟΚΛΗΤΙΑΝΟCCEB or AKΓOVAΔΙΟΚΛΗΤΙΑΝΟCCEB

Maximianus AKMAOVAMAΞIMIANOCCEB or AKMOVAMAΞIMIANOCCEB

Constantius ΦΛΑΚωCTANTIOCK or ΦΛΑΚωNCTANTIOCK

Galerius ΓAΛMAΞIMIANOCK

I think I see an M in the second or third position of your coin's obverse legend.

 

Thanks @TIF! I will try the pencil rubbing idea and see how it turns out!

 

Sometimes you can count the number of letters (indecipherable blobs) and use that to narrow it down. For instance, although I can't reliably count the legend blobs on your coin, there seem to be a lot of them so it's probably not Carinus, Constantius, or Galerius.

 

I just took a couple of quick shots trying to get some contrast on the letters and it looks like after where the "AK" would go, is a "M"


EDIT: This is what I believe it says based on the first few letters I can "Maybe" make out: AKMAOVAMAΞIMIANOCCEB. The rest of the legend is just a mushed up mess.

 

@jamesicus Those Britts are great! I love how the Britannia design on older British coins copies the old Roman style.
@ancient coin hunter I like the style of Victory on your 2nd coin. I am having a hard time reading the legend though. Who is the Emperor? All I can make out is IMP CAES. Whoever he is, solid beard
@Yorkshire that is a solid first ancient coin!
@Shea19 That Trajan is beautiful! I'm a huge fan of Trajan coins so this one is a double whammy for me. Trajan AND Victory

Thanks everyone for sharing so far!

 

I've said it once and I will say it again. I love this coin.

 

I have a similar coin to the OP - but with a shorter obverse legend than the two posted by TIF - MAΞIMIANOC CEB. I think these shorties were from later in his reign - there was a post about this recently, as I recall.



Egypt Potin Tetradrachm
Maximianus
Year 7 (291-292 A.D.)?
Alexandria Mint
MAΞIMI−ANOC CEB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Nike flying right, raising wreath right hand, palm over left shoulder, L [Z]? across fields, star right.
Milne 5031; Curtis 2101.
(8.32 grams / 18 mm)

 

Pupienus...

 

Ah ok, now I see it. Great stuff. Pretty cool considering he was only emperor for a few months. I don’t think I have ever seen a coin of him before. Thanks again for sharing

 

Such beautiful coloration on your coin.

 

Nike of Titus as.


Nike of Decius sestertius.



Nike of Nero dupondius

Nike of Romani currentis.