I apologize (not) for the click-baity subject, although it's technically true! What's different about this coin is that there appears to have been a hole that was repaired in antiquity, using a rather interesting technique. The type itself is also unlisted and interesting ... I found this coin among the closed sales on the Violity site. It went unsold from 2-2021 due to not having met reserve. Weight was shown, via picture of coin on scale, to be 6.68g. First the hole, as evidenced by the "patch" applied at top of Mars' head: I'm assuming such crude (yet neat) work has to be ancient. It seems small flattened pieces of gold have been put on each side of the coin, then "riveted" together by putting three pieces of gold wire through holes that must have been made in the patch pieces. It's interesting the "double life" of the coin as evidenced by the patch. First it was holed and presumably worn that way, then later patched and the suspension loop added and worn in that form. The contemporary appeal of the coin, as evidenced by the holing and suspension loop, may have been partly due to the unusual nature of the type, as also suggested by holing of other specimens in this rare series. So, what is the type?! It appears to be an unlisted (in RIC, at least) part of an interesting series of heavy "Festmunzen" (see footnote, RIC VI p.615) issued from Antioch c.298 AD. RIC only lists two types from the series, a SOLI INVICTO type for Galerius CAES (RIC 26), and a FORTVNAE REDVCI type (RIC 23) for both Galerius and Constantius CAES. The members of this series are distinguished by their heavy weight of ~6.5g, reverses bearing busts of the respective deities, and obverse legends of the form name CAESAR|AVGVSTVS. The Not In RIC web site draws attention to another member of the series for Diocletian in the BM collection with an IOVI reverse (and misattributed to Alexandria). Adding this new Violity coin for Constantius CAES, we now have the following known coins: DIOCLETIAN AVGVSTVS, IOVI CONSEVATORI MAXIMIANVS CAESAR, SOLI INVICTO CONSTANTIVS CAESAR, MARTI PROPVGNATORI + MAXIMIANVS CAESAR, FORTVNAE REDVCI CONSTANTIVS CAESAR, FORTVNAE REDVCI At this point it's possible to see the pattern and predict a "MAXIMIANVS AVGVSTVS, HERCVLI CONSERVATORI" type for Maximianus, with reverse featuring bust of Hercules. A reverse of "HERCVLI CONSERVATORI", not "HERCVLI VICTORI", may be expected for Maximianus since a similar complete set of bust-of-tutelatory-deity aureii were also issued from Trier (nomimally c.302 AD). Here are the members of this series: Image sources: Diocletian Iovi (unlisted) - BM Galerius Soli (RIC 26) - Rollin & Feuardent 1887 (via BnF Gallica) Constantius Marti (unlisted) - Violity Galerius Fortvnae (RIC 23b) - Vienna The FORTVNAE type may also exist for the augusti, since the recent returns from campaign for all tetrarchs were simultaneously recognized on the similarly dated bronze coins from Trier, and that date supports the one given for these Antioch pieces. A final point of interest of this series is that it's another attestation to the tutelatory deities of Soli Invicto for Galerius and Mars for Constantius, supported from relatively few other series, which is less well known than the more obvious Iove/Hercules ones for Diocletian and Maximianus. These heavy aureii / medallion "Festmunzen" must have been a limited issue given to selected honorees, and apparently were prized back in the day given that three of these known specimens were holed and worn. Please post any holed coins, or anything else related!
Very late to this party. I find this holed coin very interesting - why would anybody hold and proudly wear a...limes?? It's a cool coin, but not gold or silver, so why go to the effort to wear a rather base metal coin?
That makes sense. Lots of holed aurei are not centered over the head, as if the wearer didnt' care about orientation but rather about concept, or principle. This was obviously holed with care of the portrait.
