Hey everyone, I've been trying to figure out what's going on with this Maximian Follis. The obverse appears to read something like MAXIMIANVS NOB... I cannot find any reference with this type of obverse wording. All Maximian's coins seem to end with AVG but this one does not. Can anyone provide any idea of why?
I had thought of this but I could not determine the last three characters after NOB. They can't be C or CAES if there are only three and they do not resemble those letters.
Welcome to the Twilight Zone of coins with a Maximianus legend. There are some types after Galerius became Augustus that just say IMP MAXIMIANVS AVG where the actual issuer was Galerius, not Maximianus Herculis. So a bit difficult.
And, for those of us who don't focus on these but occasionally find a few in group lots, also the Maxentius, Maximinus, Maximinus II, Maximianus varieties... (Luckily I was a Magnus Maximus fan early in my collecting career so I don't have to worry about mistaking those!) Don't even get me started on the Provincials where you have to worry about Greek spellings of many of those!
I have a web page on distinguishing between Maximian and Galerius: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/tetrarchy/distinguishing.html The OP coin is from London. Here is one from Trier with that same OP obverse legend with "NOBIL C". Galerius Trier 28-26 mm. 9.66 grams. MAXIMIANVS NOBIL C S in left field, F in right field PTR in exergue RIC Trier 594b "c. 303- 1 May 305" (i.e. the last issue before becoming Augustus)
