Hey i am posting because I acquired this coin for a good price on eBay and know nearly nothing about other than who the emperor is and that it is from the Ticium mint. I purchased the coin for around 40 bucks with shipping and it is in very good condition. Could you all please provide any information you have on this coin including relative value, composition and date? It appears much darker in person and seems like bronze but cant be certain. I appreciate the help. Thanks for looking larry
Bronze AE 3 RIC VII 127 Ticinum mint, 319 - 320 A.D.; obverse: CONSTANTINVS AVG, helmeted and cuirassed bust right; reverse: VIRTVS EXERCIT, standard inscribed VOT / XX, two barbarian captives at sides, PT in exergue
heres a few sites http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/ http://www.tesorillo.com/aes/home.htm http://www.catbikes.ch/coinstuff/coinstuff.htm http://www.wildwinds.com/ http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp http://www.acsearch.info/ http://andrewmccabe.ancients.info/Catalogues.html http://www.numismall.com/ http://www-scf.usc.edu/~ciccone/html/production.htm http://ancientcoinsforeducation.org/ https://www.google.com/
Awesome thanks. It could take hours searching the information that took you a few mins to give me so thank you. I'm new so I don't know all the resources available yet. That last one looks familiar though.
Always be careful with online guides and try to cross check them. A danger is repeating bad information. Some of these sites simply repeat what the seller labeled a coin as, and THAT attribution could have been wrong. As for the Contantine, its a more interesting obverse with the helmet, and a little more interesting reverse than typically seen. Personally I think $40 is high for a Constantine bronze unless its truly a rarer issue or an AE2 or 1. What size is it? Is it an AE1, 2, or 3?
Well from what mat said its an ae3 I'm not sure what the designation means but its about 18mm. Thanks for the advice. That's why I always post here to get the right info
AE 1, 2, 3 or 4 is simply the term for the size of the coin. No denominations are on the coins, we don't not know what they were called, so we simply label them based on sizes. The AE 3 and 4 are the smaller sizes and most common of these coins. An AE1 or 2 usually commands a premium, so it pays to know what it is or its size before bidding. I might have paid $40 for that coin if it were an AE1 or 2, but not a 3 or 4 unless its a rare issue. Btw, no offense ever intended in my posts sir. I know I am cheap and quick to point out defects, but its only done to try to educate you, never to criticize. I hope you take it that way. Chris
That is why I appreciate your posts sir. I never take it as bad criticism unless its intended as so. It's pretty easy to tell when someone intends to make a fool out of you or if they are just trying to educate you. I prefer the latter. I did not know that about the sizes so once again your post has been useful to me. Thanks.
Looks perfectly ok to me. It will look different than a lot of other Romans due to the "war helmet" he is wearing. That makes the coin look a lot different than most Romans. I am pretty darn sure I own a coin just like this, (type at least).
Yea the helmet is what made me go for it. It might be the lighting that makes it look brighter because in person it's blackened
Thats a nice looking ancient. Looks very well preserved. And Randy, thanks for those links. I'm going to be on those sites for the next few days.
It's probably just the picture, but it looks a bit overcleaned IMO. Otherwise a nice coins, most certainly genuine and in good shape $40 is not cheap, as stated above, for such a coin, but it's still OK, and what is 40 bucks for a two thousand years old item ? Q
