Constantine R5

Struck in Siscia, this bronze coin of Constantine the Great is rated R5. The Emperor is helmeted with head left on the obverse. Reverse shows 2 Victories standing and facing each other. They hold a shield marked VOT PR over an altar inscribed with the letter S.
The exergue reads Delta SIS star. The coin weighs 2.81 g. The legend on reverse is something like Victorae Princ per. The nearest attribution is RIC VII- 49 D. Please post any similar coin or just a comment. Thanks..

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

your coin is actually RIC VII Siscia 84, the mintmark is •∆SIS•

I have several examples for comparison here- http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/sis3/

 

Thanks VC. I was wondering if the letters inscribed on the altar have any religious symbol since the altar is a sacred place for sacrifices.

 

The question here is what is it about the coin that makes it special. R5 means the editors of RIC found only one museum that had the exact combination of minor points that make up this number. There are quite a number of variations on these of which I have very few since I am not a specialist in these. What about the coin makes it special? Siscia? S on column? Special bust type?

A non CT coin friend pointed out to me today that there is one mint that made the Campgate type coins that is most rare. In fact, only one issue of gates was done at that mint and, according to RIC, only for one ruler. I did find a listing for a second ruler with slightly odd style and an opinion that it was not official. The single RIC is listed as R1 which means several museums had one but it is still not common. Still, if you are trying to complete a mint set (one coin per mint) you need this one. The question is how many people care to make a mint set of campgates? I'd guess more than those who are trying to get a complete set of Siscia mint 2 Victory variations so I'd expect this R1 to draw a lot more bidders than an R5 based on a smaller point. I'm not telling which mint is the "rare'' gatemaker. I bet Victor knows. I'd buy one if I saw it in a junk box but I have no desire to fill out that set. Those who want to research this are reminded that we have recommended the Bruck book several times and one of his charts makes it pretty obvious. I have not looked but I suspect you might find a real beast of a site online of a serious student of these coins who might have mentioned it. In any event, there are easier ways than reading RIC cover to cover. Far be it from me to suggest anyone actually read a set of books that cost over $1000. If you have this gate, please do post it while forgiving this blatant thread theft.

 

Lots of interesting variant symbols on the altar. I'd like to think that this is a Christian cross on mine, but we know that the Chi-Rho was the Christian symbol of choice at this time, so it's probably a cross design that has nothing to do with crucifixion crosses. I'd love to hear a plausible argument that this is a Christian symbol. I guess now *I'm* stealing the OP thread.

 

I have this one, I have it as ASIS star, it might be Delta SIS star, either way it is RIC 95.


Constantine I
Coin: Bronze Follis
CONSTANTINVS AVG - cuirassed bust left, wearing high-crested helmet and holding spear & shield
VICT dot LAETAE PRINC PERP - two Victories holding shield inscribed VOT/PR, decorated with the letter I.
Exergue:
Mint: Siscia (319-320 AD)
Wt./Size/Axis: 2.58g / 18mm / -
References:

• RIC VII Siscia 95

 

I have this type , not sure of the officina.Constantine I, AE3, 319 A.D.,20mm,2.9 g.,Siscia, ric VII 59

 

You can narrow the workshop down by the letter on the altar- I on altar for off. A and B; and an S on altar for off. gamma,delta, and epsilon.

 

Wow, Pish => that's a very interesting type you've got there (winna-winna)

Great helmet and super cool spear ... I'm totally jealous of that baby!!

 

So many interesting reverses. Must resist from buying even more LRBs.

 

@GR. I think it could be conceived either way. The fact that Constantine the Great struck this "rare" coin, makes it more likely to be a Christian symbol. That would almost be a discovery in the realm of ancient LRBs, also reminiscent of the " star of Bethlehem". The letter "I" could for instance represent " Iesus "in Latin ( Jesus). Anyway, that matter is too far beyond my scientific capabilities. It would be wise to consult a CT member who owns a site on Christian Symbols.

 

A neat addition

 

And, just to throw a monkey wrench into the conversation, here's mine:

Unknown mint, 4th century A.D.
Barbarous imitation of Constantine the Great, VICTORIAE LAETAE PRINC PERP reverse type.
Obv: Gibberish - Bust, left, in high-crested helmet, spear over right shoulder, shield over left.
Rev: Gibberish - Two Victories, facing each other, holding inscribed shield over altar.
17 mm, 2.1 g.

Interesting how clear the "SIS" is in the exergue.

 

That's an interesting barb, Glenn. Perhaps it's stating the obvious to guess that the coin really isn't from Siscia, but the SIS is part of the copying. It's seems S and I were the letters of choice for the barbarian die engravers, according to my barb below. So SIS might be a lot easier that, say, CONSE!

On a related note, if you were to tell me that you had a LRB barbaric imitation, I'd lay 10 to 1 odds that it would be of the "two victories inscribing a VOT PR shield" variety. I'm no barb specialist, but anecdotally it seems that I see several times as many barbs of this type as of any other. I wonder why this type was so often imitated? If I were going to imitate a coin, I'd imitate a campgate. Those straight criss-crossed lines would be a lot easier for me to carve than the curves of shield and victories. One might say the reverse is unobjectionable to a "barbaric" or non-Roman population, but we also have barbaric "soldier spearing barbarian" coins, in a bit of numismatic irony. I wonder what made this "two victories inscribing a VOT PR shield" so attractive to barbaric imitators.

 

unofficial VLPP were struck after the monetary reforms of 318 that introduced the official VLPP that had circa 4 percent silver. For some regions, the VLPP was the only coin struck in bronze (like Siscia) for a few years, so no surprise it was copied. I have a page on this topic- http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/barb2/

 

I agree with your observations. The two Victories reverse type seems by far the most common imitation of a Constantine bronze, just as the fallen horseman type is the most common of his sons. Although I have no proof of this, I suspect that there is an important difference between the two imitations, however. The two Victories imitations are for the most part similar in size and texture to the official issues, suggesting that they are probably contemporaneous with the official coins, most of which were minted, more or less, between 318-320. In theory, they could have traded along side official issues at and beyond the frontiers. Many of the fallen horseman imitations that I've seen, however, are much smaller than the official ones, similar in size to 5th-century and Vandalic-era bronzes. I can't see how these could have been confused with or accepted as equivalent to the official bronzes of the mid 4th century. My guess is that they appeared much later. So why was this reverse imitated rather than a 5th-century type, such as a cross reverse of Theodosius II, which more closely matches the imitations in size?

 

Thanks fellas; both of these posts are plausible and helpful. As for Glenn's second question about fallen horseman imitations, I'll have to defer to wiser heads.

 

a good work on this topic- R. J. Brickstock,"Copies of the FEL TEMP REPARATIO Coinage in Britain" British Archeaological Reports (1987).

 

Is it Constantius II Sirmium mint? This has been bugging me for a month now but I finally got a copy of the Bruck book.