Constantine II - unusual headgear?

I found this Constantine II follis on Ebay. The coin is common and nothing special. However, the ribbon on Constantine's head struck me as somewhat unusual. On all my other coins of Constantine and his family the ruler is wearing a laurel wreath or a kind of diadem (studded ribbon) (or of course a helmet). However, I could not find a second exemplar showing this plain ribbon on the caesar's head. Is this a standard headgear, which I just missed or failed to find other examples of, or is it a scarce variety?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I have no idea but a quick look on acsearch specifying Nicomedia turned it up on silver coins. AE? The style strikes me as well done so I have to wonder if this was the work of a cutter that usually worked on silver??? I would seem worth researching.

 

Thanks a lot for your reply. This is an interesting idea. I will research this further.

 

It seems that between the later part of the 320s and the 340s there were different types of experiments with head gears, a period that marks the transition from the laurel to the pearl diadem.

Similar head gear from Nvmmvs Bible: https://www.nummus-bible-database.com/monnaie-30641.htm

And another interesting head gear for Constantine I: https://www.nummus-bible-database.com/monnaie-77662.htm

 

Thanks a lot. Yes, the first link shows an example with the plain ribbon. Something I really hadn't noticed before.
The second coin is Constantine I, for whom a large variety of diadems is known. The one in in link is particularly elaborate.

 

Around this time and later there were a few different types tried. The plain "ribbon" is just one of the variations.

 

Cool coin.

 

Would love to have That to be in my Collection!

Thomas,

 

Interesting. Maybe the die engraver was just lazy. It was a Friday afternoon and the thermopolium down the street was calling his name. "Eh, those rosettes take a lot of time to carve. Maybe a simple headband will do...."

 

I wonder how much leeway the die engravers had. I suppose the headgear of the emperor and the caesars had kind of constitutional meaning. It looks like the laurel wreath was the standard head gear for caesars, while the augustus was more likely to be adorned with diadems. I found this coin in my collection, which shows a rather prominent pearl ribbon or diadem for Constantine I. The coin is from the mint of Arelate (Arles). Maybe the diadem design was specific to certain mints.

 

... here is another variety of the diadem, also from my collection (seller's picture).

 

and a third variety

 

and of course the regular laurel wreath (I love the head variety with the eyes turned to heaven).

 

... but even the standard laurel wreath comes in different varieties...