Here a Constantine II coin from Ticinum, T crescent T. year 326 obv : constantinusiunnobc, rev : virtu-savss. 17.86 mm, 2.46 gr. 6 layers on plint , top layer with decorations. Doors half closed with decorations. 2 turrets and star in the middle. Buste B4, RIC VII : nr 200 Probably unofficial contempory mint. Please show your Ticinum campgate coins.
Neat coin, but I'd agree with Sky that it's unofficial. - VIRTVS CAESS rev legend was only used at Arles - Turret style is wrong for Ticinum - Seems like it may have a third turret - Star looks like it's on a globe background - Too few rows for Ticinum - Top row "inverted half moon" detail not Ticinum - Open doors not Ticinum
Good points, but the bust and the lettering are very good plus the overall style seems consistent enough to be the work of a skilled die cutter who understood the whole concept of how a roman coin should look (including the mintmark) and was likely literate, or at the very least understood the need to be careful in carving a literate legend.
I also agree that it is unofficial. I have had some good style unofficial coins copying Ticinum, like the two below.
@Heliodromus : Thanks for your input, the star is on a globe and standing on a tripod. @seth77 : One of the reasons for me is the fact that the text on the back ends in avss and not caess. @Victor_Clark : Thanks for your input and pictures.
I for one did not see that legend as AVSS, but CAESS but with some corrosion obscuring some letter parts. Perhaps in hand it's easier to see the legend as it really is.
If you enlarge and rotate the photo, it does seem to clearly be VIRTV-S AVSS, which just adds to the list of reasons: Ticinum never issued VIRTVS AVGG, let alone VIRTVS AVSS, and with C2 CAES on the obverse it would anyways have been VIRTVS CAESS. AVSS as a "mispelling" of AVGG is an eastern thing, perhaps a reflection of the person who engraved it.
