The FEL TEMP REPARATIO soldier-spearing-fallen-horseman type is extremely common, but almost never in excellent condition for Julian II. When I bought this ancient imitation of it I decided to look for an original in good shape. Here is the imitation: Small. 15 mm. 1.78 grams. Bare-headed bust right, possibly "IANVS" to right Soldier spearing horseman, horse falling but rider upright, reaching back possibly "FEL TE..." from 10:00. TCON for Constantina = Arelate = Arles mint. Prototype: RIC VIII Arles 273, page 224, "diameter 16-17 mm, 2.26 grams." The reform which created the FTR SSFH type was in 348. The original issues were large AE2s of c. 23 mm, but rapidly declined in size. By 355, when Julian II became Caesar, they were closer to 16-17 mm. He became Augustus in 360 and died in 363. So, there was no beautiful large one for Julian II to be had, but I got this small one: 16 mm. 2.25 grams. DN CL IVLIANVS NOB CAES Bust right, bare head, draped and cuirassed FEL TEMP REPARATIO soldier-spearing-fallen-horseman N is left field, SMTSE for Thessalonica RIC VIII Thessalonica 212. "6 Nov. 355 - summer 361." The reverse type is extremely common. The reverse type is much less common for Julian II, and quite uncommon for him in good shape. Excellent examples of coins of Julian II as Augustus (e.g. the "bull" type) are common, but as Caesar they are not. Show us a Julian II as Caesar. I wonder is someone has one full flan in EF.
Not as nice as yours, but still the reverse type for him. Julian II, The Apostate (355 - 363 A.D.) Æ3 O: D N CL IVLIANVS NOB CAES, Bare head, draped and cuirassed right. R: FEL TEMP REPARATIO. Helmeted soldier to l., shield on l. arm, spearing falling horseman; shield on ground r. Horseman turns head to soldier and extends l. arm. M in l. field, BSIRM star in exergue. Sirmium Mint, 355-61 A.D. 19mm 2.24g RIC 78 Scarce
I am not known for having EF coins but I do value coins with legible legend. I believe my 'finest' Julian Caesar is the type that ended his time as Caesar after the Falling Horsemen where finished. This Cyzicus /SPES REI PVBLICE is what I consider 'not bad for these'. I also have a decent one of these for Constantius II but his last FH coins are similarly hard to find really nice. When Julian became Augustus, things really got better fast! I have not seen a JII Augustus coin that looked nearly as bad as the average Caesar coin. Will Fine+ but well centered do? Aquileia This Alexandria coin has little wear and retains most of the die detail it ever had --- and that is not much! Look at the fully unstruck areas obverse bottom and reverse top that retain the surface of the unstruck blank. I sold and gave away 3 or 4 Julians in the last year or two. They did not survive my 'condition snob' phase.
Hi All, My Alexandrian was listed as a coin of Constantius Gallus but it's actually RIC VIII, Alexandria, 86 (OFF Δ) - "Scarce". I love the hair. - Broucheion
@Valentinian, your barbarous one is breaking the sound barrier. With sincere regret that there aren't pictures, I got one really great, tiny barbarous AE of the FEL TEMP REPARATIO type, from someone on UK ebay who does a lot with detector finds. (Located in the north, which is kind of the semi-rural equivalent of Rome: dig Anywhere, heck, replace part of a water main, and this might happen.) Then, like you, I had to find an appropriately solid example of the prototype. ...In my much more modest case, it was Contantinus Gallus, but the arc was the same.
