I was sorting through some coins and noticed that I had a few rarer Constantine coins from the London mint. Most have some tie to the war with Maxentius. Constantine I A.D. 311- 312 22x23mm 4.4gm CONSTANTINVS P F AVG; laureate and cuirassed bust right. SPES REIPVBL; Prince riding left, r. raised, l. holding up spear, on horse pawing seated captive to left, ✶ in right field. in ex. PLN RIC VI London 241 Constantine I A.D. 310-312 22x23mm 5.0gm CONSTANTI-NVS AV[G]; laureate and cuirassed bust left, holding eagle tipped scepter. COMITI-AVGG NN; Sol standing left, chlamys across left shoulder, right hand holding up globe, whip in left, in right field star. In ex. PLN RIC VI London –- This bust type (Q) is not in RIC or Huvelin with this obverse legend (1g), it should come after RIC VI London 181 Constantine I A.D. 312- 313 22x23mm 4.3gm CONSTANTINVS P F AVG; laureate & cuirassed bust right. FELICITAS AVGG NN; Roma, helmeted, seated left, holding branch in right hand and globe in left; ✶ in left field. In ex. PLN RIC VI London 246 Constantine I A.D. 312- 313 21x24mm 3.5gm CONSTANTINVS P F AVG; laureate & cuirassed bust right. ROMAE AETER AVGG; Roma, helmeted, seated left, holding branch in right hand and globe in left; star in left field. In ex. PLN RIC VI London 269 Constantine I A.D. 312- 313 23x24mm 4.1gm CONSTANTINVS P F AVG; laureate and cuirassed bust right. SECVRITAS AVGG; Securitas standing facing, head left, legs crossed, right hand on head, left arm leaning on column; * in left field. In exergue PLN RIC VI London 277
What an excellent selection of rare types, and from a most interesting era. Here are the three coins in my collection from the same period: I hope to add examples of the types you show to my collection at some point as well.
Here's another coin from London with Constantine really hoping that his army lives up to the implications of the reverse legend...spoiler alert -- it did. Constantine I A.D. 310-12 21x23mm 3.6gm CONSTANTINVS P F AVG; laureate helmet and cuirassed bust left with spear pointing forward and shield on left arm. CONCORD MILIT; Concordia standing left, holding standard in each hand; ✶ in right field In ex. PLN RIC VI London –- This coin is not listed in RIC with this bust type (CC). It should be listed after London 197. It is in Huvelin as #81. It is in the new London mint book (Lee & Toone) as either 7.04.012 or 7.04.013, the difference being 12 is cuirassed and 13 is draped and cuirassed, with the question being “are all examples actually draped and cuirassed”. On this coin it is too worn to speculate. It came with the old holder above. I have another from the same collection dated 1867. It's amazing that someone wrote on it in red and then crossed it out-- philistine!
The old collection that the holder belongs to was probably from the Low Countries and the coin might have been a local find from somewhere on the coast of Flanders. For good measure, although not as rare as the types already posted, an old British find:
Really cool coins, don't think I have any from the ancient London mint. What does the "P" in the mint mark signify? John
I have a few in my collection from the same emission. Here's a couple of obv/rev combinations that haven't been posted yet. (Some of these may have come from you, Victor): London mint, A.D. 310-312 RIC 177 Obv: CONSTANTINVS P A-VG Rev: COMITI AVGG NN - Sol, with whip and globe PLN in exergue; star in right field 24 mm, 4.1 g. (Unrecorded obverse inscription break.) London mint, A.D. 310-312 RIC 195 Obv: CONSTANTINVS P F AVG Rev: CONCOR-D MILIT - Concordia holding standard in each hand PLN in exergue; star in right field 23 mm, 4.2 g. London mint, A.D. 310-312 RIC 222 Obv: CONSTANTINVS P F AVG Rev: PRINCIPI IV-VENTVTIS - Prince, head left, with globe and inverted spear PLN in exergue; star in right field 24 mm, 4.3 g.
here are two Mars issues for Constantine an earlier type-- Constantine I A.D. 307- 310 25x26mm 6.8g IMP CONSTANTINVS P F AVG; Laureate and cuirassed bust right. MARTI PATRI PROPVG; Mars, naked but for chlamys, advancing right, holding transverse spear, shield on left arm. In ex. PLN RIC VI London 108 and a left star Mars issued post Maxentian defeat Constantine I A.D. 312- 313 22mm 4.7gm CONSTANTINVS P F AVG; laureate and cuirassed bust right. MARTI CONSERVATORI; Mars in military dress, stg. r., reversed spear in r. hand, l. on shield set on the ground, cloak across r. shoulder, ✶ in left field. in ex. PLN RIC VI London 254
I ordered a MARTI CONSERVATORI type for Constantine at London yesterday, but it's from the following issue of left star coins after the weight was reduced. Looking forward to seeing it in hand.
Oh. So we've moved on to left sided stars, have we? Unfortunately, these are in rougher shape: London mint, A.D. 312-313 RIC 246 Obv: CONSTANTINVS P F AVG Rev: FELICIT-A-S AVGG NN - Roma, helmeted, seated left, holding globe in left hand, raising branch with right PLN in exergue; star in left field 23 mm, 4.2 g. London mint, A.D. 312-313 RIC 265 Obv: CONSTANTINVS P F AVG Rev: PRINCIPI IV-VENTVTIS - Prince, standing, in military dress and cloak, holding globe and transverse spear PLN in exergue; star in left field 24 mm, 4.0 g. London mint, A.D. 312-313 RIC 277 Obv: CONSTANTINVS P F AVG Rev: SECVRI-TAS AVGG - Securitas, standing, head turned left, with legs crossed; holding right hand on head and leaning left arm on column PLN in exergue; star in left field 23 mm, 4.5 g.
@gsimonel You have an admirable collection of hard to find types. Have you been actively collecting London mint coins for a long time?
Thank you, Jewk. I started collecting ancients about 15-20 years ago. I bought small lots of uncleaned coins, cleaned them up and tried to ID them. One day I found this coin in a batch of uncleaned LRBs. Turns out its pretty scarce. That's what got me interested in coins of CtG, so for the past 12 years or so I've been on the lookout for different reverses of his bronze coins. I've put together of collection of his bronzes, but it doesn't compare to what Victor has.
I've spent some of the morning looking through your collection after following the link in your signature, lots of interesting things I didn't know existed for sure. Coins of Constantine cover a large temporal and geographic spread for sure, and it's interesting to compare the contemporaneous output from the different mints. I've stuck to London so far, but I can see myself branching out a little more at some point into other LRB areas.
One of the more interesting aspects is the comparison of west, with mints under Constantine's control, with east, where the mints were controlled by Galerius and later, Licinius. That's where you see the Mars/Hercules, Sol/Jupiter divides. Once Constantine defeated Licinius, you no longer see different deities depicted from different locations. For the most part, that is.
