Constantine

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by IMP Shogun, Apr 30, 2022.

  1. IMP Shogun

    IMP Shogun Well-Known Member

    How about a siliqua of Magnus Maximus:

    9.151 Magnus Maximus Siliqua Treveri.jpg
    RIC 84b
    16mm 1.46g
     
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  3. Brian Bucklan

    Brian Bucklan Well-Known Member

    Here's an interesting Trier mint abbreviated reverse variant of a common Constantine type:

    Obv: CONSTANTINVS AVG; Helmeted and cuirassed bust right

    Rev; VICTORIAE LAET P P; Two Victories holding shield inscribed VOT / PR over altar decorated with star within frame; STR in exergue

    Ref: RIC VII Trier 229
    Constantine VICTORIAE LAET P P 6.jpg
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2022
  4. Heliodromus

    Heliodromus Well-Known Member

    Nice coin, and of course classic Trier bust style ...

    Here's a related rather amusing, and informative, type. This example from the ANS collection.

    RIC VI Trier 671 (also similar 672, 674, 675, 677, 678).

    upload_2022-4-30_11-52-3.png

    It's got a Trier mintmark for sure, but the bust style is unmistakably Cyzicus, and there's that KS in field ...

    Q: So what's going on here ?

    A: After the abdication of Diocletian and Maximinus, we've got Constantius in the west, and Galerius in the east being elevated to augusti as part of Tetrarchy 2.0, with Constantius' main mint being Trier, and Galerius' being Cyzicus...

    It would seem that Constantius took the lead here in having his Trier mint create this new type honoring the retirees, and sent a copy to Galerius's Cyzicus mint for them to copy... which they did slavishly, to the extent of leaving the Trier mintmark in exergue, and adding their own in field !!

    It's infomative in showing the is the way the mints sometimes worked - with coins being sent around to be copied.

    It'd be interesting to know *exactly* what happened here... Who communicated with who in agreeing to this jointly issued type, and what exactly were the Cyzicus engravers thinking when leaving the PTR in exergue ... ?

    For that matter, what was (RIC VI author) Sutherland thinking in assigning these to the Trier mint rather than Cyzicus ?
     
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  5. Ocatarinetabellatchitchix

    Ocatarinetabellatchitchix Well-Known Member

    You didn’t say for what period of time… so here are two examples from 262 AD.

    Postumus NEPTVNO REDVCI (Treveri)

    4EFF2212-9CBC-4BB3-BA6B-C8DB1B5A4090.jpeg

    Postumus HERC PACIFERO (Treveri)

    74F3761A-AAE4-406A-B6DA-26A32D49BCD9.jpeg
     
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  6. DonnaML

    DonnaML Well-Known Member

    So many wonderful coins posted in this thread!

    Here's my only Constantine I from the Trier mint, found by metal detection in England:

    Constantine I, Billon reduced Centenionalis, Trier Mint 330-331 AD. Obv. VRBS ROMA, helmeted bust of Roma left/ Rev. She-wolf stg. left suckling twins (Romulus & Remus), 2 stars above; TRP• [Trier, First officina] in exergue. RIC VII 529, Sear RCV IV 16487. 17 mm., 2.4 g. (Found by metal detecting in Wiltshire, England, 2014).

    COMBINED Constantine I VRBS ROMA.jpg

    Here are my other coins from (or possibly from) the Trier mint:

    Postumus, silvered billon Antoninianus, Trier Mint, 262 AD. Obv. Radiate, draped & cuirassed bust right, IMP C POSTVMVS PF AVG / Rv. Mars, naked, standing right holding spear & leaning on shield, VIRTVS AVG. RIC V-1 93, RSC IV 419, Sear RCV III 10998. 23 mm., 3.6 g.

    Postumus COMBINED 1.jpg

    Postumus, silvered billon Antoninianus, Trier [Mairat] or Cologne Mint, 265-268 AD. [Mairat pp. 61, 64: 266-267 AD.] Obv. Radiate & draped bust right, IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG / Rev. Serapis, crowned and draped, standing left, raising right hand and holding transverse sceptre in left hand; in background, prow of galley right, SERAPI COMITI AVG. RIC V-1 329, RSC IV 358, Sear RCV III 10992 (ill. p. 364), Mairat 362 (pp. 532-533) & Pls 143-144 [Jerome Mairat, The Coinage of the Gallic Empire (Trinity, Oxford, 2014), available at https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:5...afe_filename=Volume_1.pdf&type_of_work=Thesis]. 21 mm., 3.80 g.

    Postumus - Serapis jpg.jpg

    Diocletian, billon abdication Follis, 305-307 AD, Trier Mint. Obv. Laureate bust right in imperial mantle (trabea), holding olive branch and mappa, D N DIOCLETIANO BAEATISSIMO SEN AVG / Rev. Providentia standing right, holding [scroll or short scepter?] and drapery with left hand and extending right hand to Quies standing left, holding branch downward with right hand and leaning on scepter with left hand, S - F across fields, PROVIDENTIA DEORVM QVIES AVGG; PTR in exergue. 27x28 mm., 9.6 gm. RIC VI Trier 673a (p. 208), Sear RCV IV 12927. [Die match to example sold by Numismatik Naumann in 2015; see https://www.acsearch.info/image.html?id=2337893.]

    Diocletian abdication follis, Trier mint, jpg image.jpg

    Constantius II Caesar (son of Constantine I), silvered billon centenionalis, Trier Mint (2nd Officina) 326 AD. Obv. laureate, draped and cuirassed bust left, FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C / Rev. Campgate with six rows, two turrets, no door, and star between turrets; PROVIDEN-TIAE CAESS. In exergue: STR followed by pellet in crescent. RIC VII Trier 480S (p. 209), Sear RCV V 17618. 19 mm., 3.09 g.

    Constantius II jpg version.jpg

    Gratian, AR Siliqua, 368-375 AD, Trier Mint. Obv. Pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right, D N GRATIA-NVS P F AVG / Rev. Helmeted Roma seated left on throne, holding Victory on globe in right hand, and scepter in left hand, VRBS ROMA; in exergue, TRPS• (Trier Mint; PS = pvsvlatvm, struck from refined silver). RIC IX 27f(1) at p. 19, RSC V 86a, Sear RCV V 19964. 17 mm., 2.0 g.

    Gratian AR siliqua Trier mint jpg version.jpg
     
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  7. Severus Alexander

    Severus Alexander find me at NumisForums

    Fabulous thread! I remember that second coin, @IMP Shogun, it impressed me a lot!

    Most of my Trier Constantines have already been covered, but here are a couple that haven't shown up yet:

    Sol bust:
    const sol.jpg

    A tiny quarter or eighth follis issued c. 310-311 (14mm, 1.01g):
    constantine quarter or eighth.jpg

    I don't think we've seen a Licinius or a Helena. These have both been in my collection for eons:
    Licinius 313.jpg
    helena trier.jpg

    Something went wrong here, though I'm not sure exactly what!
    trier blank.jpg

    Finally, my favourite Trier coin, the Crispus with the Chi-Rho on the shield, which you've probably all seen a dozen times, issued c. 322-23 and so one of the earliest Christian symbols on a coin, and on the shield as per Eusebius's story of the Milvian Bridge to boot:
    trier chi-rho.jpg
     
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