I really have a soft spot for nice grade late Roman bonzes. I can't seem to walk past despite having told myself not to buy any more of them. These two arrived this morning. I think they are quite pleasing. Constantine the Great - Ae3 Obv:- IMP CONSTANTINVS AVG, Laureate, cuirassed bust right Rev:- SOLI INVICTO COMITI, Sol standing left, holding right hand high in salute and globe, chlamys spread over both shoulders. Minted in Trier (T | F / BTR) Reference:- RIC VII Trier 132 Constantine the Great - Ae3 Obv:- CONSTANTINVS P F AVG, Laureate, cuirassed bust right Rev:- SOLI INVICTO COMITI, Sol standing left, holding right hand high in salute and globe,. Minted in Trier (F | T / .ATR) Reference:- RIC VII Trier 162 (R4). Martin
Wow => super sweet looking new coins, Martin!! ... sadly, my Constantine I is a very average campgate (I must try and find one as pretty as either of these two show-ponies!!) => congrats!! (very eye-appealing)
Great coins! Of course now someone (me, actually) will ask you to explain TF and FT, the double and single capes, the dots or not in the mintmarks, obverse legends and which let Sol rests his weight upon. Some people will ask why you might want two coins that are alike. Some of us will wonder at how different they are. I'll show two different from yours in the assortment of minor points. Yours are nicer!
Doug, Some tough questions. The T F and the F T are used to differentiate the issues by field marks. The T F issue however is used in two consecutive issues. The first T F issues has ATR and BTR in exe and with both officina the cape is draped over a single shoulder. The mint re-uses the T F for a second issue and here officine 1 has a dot before the ATR and officina 2 has the drapes over both shoulders. The F T issue follows and the dot is maintained for issue 1 but the drapes return to a single shoulder for officina B. Now the big question for me is WHY? This seems overly complex but they must have had reasons for shoosing such a complex system rather than using more letters etc. There has been much speculation on the use of T F and F T with theories such as T F standing for TEMPORVM FELICITAS and F T standing for FELICITAS TEMPOR. These discussions are for from reaching any solid conclusion. Martin
It seems to me that the ancients knew the world was round not flat. They loved to depict the emperor holding a globe.
Oh yes, they certainly did. They even calculated the circumference of the globe with reasonable accuracy. This information was only really lost to non-scholars during the medieval time, Christopher Columbus knew the earth was not flat as did the Crown that paid for his trip.
Well... globe may not mean 'round ball with pictures of continents', it may just mean 'a spherical or rounded object'.
