Here are three recent Constantinopolis coins pickups from the Nether Compton hoard. from CNG-- “This massive hoard of 22,670 Roman coins was found by Mike Pittard while metal detecting in a field near Nether Compton on 19 February 1989. The field is by the side of a trackway, the other side of which is a known Roman building. The actual finding of the hoard was photographed and the report was published in The Searcher magazine (Issue 44, April 1989). The hoard was deposited with the Yeovil Museum by the finder in 1989. It was subsequently returned to the finder, sold, and dispersed through the trade in 1994. No detailed record was made of the contents of the hoard. The pottery vessel and some 33 additional coins that had remained stuck to the pot were donated to the museum and remain there. Although the Nether Compton Hoard was never recorded or published, a limited amount of information has been gleaned from people who have handled it or part of it. It was a very large mid-Constantinian hoard and typical in composition, with all but about 7% consisting of the very common bronze issues of the AD 330s (the Urbs Roma and Constantinopolis commemoratives and the Gloria Exercitus type in the names of Constantine I and his sons). There were no coins of the two Victories type, suggesting that the hoard was deposited around AD 339.” the first one is uniface 18mm, 2.51 g Treveri (Trier) mint, 1st officina. Struck under Constantine I, AD 332-333. Blank / Victory standing left, foot on prow, holding spear and shield; TRP* RIC VII Trier 548. the second is a brockage and also looks like Trier mint 15mm, 1.75 g and the third is an unofficial issue 16mm, 2.21 g
Very interesting coins. That hoard seems to have produced some great stuff (out of 22,670!). I have a couple, covering "the Urbs Roma commemorative and the Gloria Exercitus type in the names of Constantine I and his sons": Commemorative Series, Imitation of Urbs Roma Type, 335-339 East Anglia. Bronze, 14mm, 1.2g. VRBS ROMA. She-wolf, suckling the twins Romulus and Remus; PLG (A Marsden, “Contemporary Imitations of Constantine’s Wolf & Twins Coinage” in Treasure Hunting, June-July 2001, p. 29, style 2/b. For prototype, cf. RIC VII 242). From the Nether Compton (Dorset) Hoard, 1989. Delmatius Follis, 335-337 Trier. Bronze, 15mm, 1.64g. FL DELMATI-VS NOB CAES. GLOR-IA EXERC-ITVS (RIC VII 594). From the Nether Compton (Dorset) Hoard, 1989.
Beautiful coins with a great history I've wanted a uniface type for a while. Really like yours I certainly didn't know that Easy and the boys were making coins while making records! Oh, oh. Nether Compton
Always interesting to taste a drop of the well of Victors knowledge of LRBs. Thanks for sharing and coingrats!
I forgot to add that the Constantinopolis barb is likely copying RIC VII Trier 554, because you can just make out a bit of a wreath in the left field. Arles also has an issue with a wreath, but it is much more scarce, while the Trier type is very common, so more likely to be the prototype.
Great barb, and I love the uniface as well! Here's a uniface Constantine II (Trier), with a weird rectangle on the reverse. Not sure how to explain it...
I should also add, that as far as hoards go, this one was fairly boring. Of the 22,670 coins almost 20,000 of the coins were the GLORIA EXERCITVS types. About 1,000 were VRBS ROMA and Constantinopolis.
As I’ve understood, the reverse die was usually the one attached to the long hammer used for striking. Perhaps the die fell off the hammer, and the mark on the reverse is from the device used to attach the die to the hammer?
How the uniface coins were made - forgot to put the obverse image, the obverse image were destroyed after many strikes,...? Here my examples from Siscia and Arles:
