Early Alexandrian Follis of Galerius as Caesar

I seem to have developed a strong liking for the Folles of Alexandria. Whilst browsing through loads of coins from a dealer I saw a portrait that I thought was quite striking. It comes from the first issue of folles and is dated to A.D. 294 before the eagle issue which includes the coinage of Domitius Domitianus which is dated to c. A.D. 296. This first issue is identified by the curved, parallel wreath ties rather than the divergent wreath ties that appear after this issue.

Follis
Obv:– GAL VAL MAXIMIANVS NOB CAES, Laureate head right (parallel ties)
Rev:– GENIO POPV-L-I ROMANI, Genius standing left holding patera
Minted in Alexandria (_ | B // ALE). A.D. 294
Reference:– RIC VI Alexandria 15b

9.52 gms. 25.32 mm. 0 degrees.

I think that the endience of the engraver's marks inside the letters etc. indicate that this coin was made quite early in the life of the die. Some residual silvering.



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Very nice, I like the surfaces.

My Alexandrian.


Galerius (305 - 311 A.D.)
Egypt, Alexandria
Potin Tetradrachm
O: GAL MAXIMIANOC K; Laureate and cuirassed bust right.
R: Nike advancing right, holding wreath and palm. L - Γ across fields.
Alexandria mint, AD 294/295
22mm
8.15g
Emmett 4230(3)a, Dattari 6150

Scarce

Published on Wildwinds

 

I understand the attraction! And that is a fantastic example. I've noticed Galerius is a bit tougher to get than the others.

Here's the issue under Domitianus:

 

That's a lovely looking example of the eagle issue which is always sought after.

 

maridvnvm, Here is my only example of a follis from Alexandria. AD 305-307.

 

A nice example @maridvnvm

 

My first coin of 2019. Notice something odd about this one?

 

The reverse legend looks blundered .

 

That can be attributed to a double strike. There's another interesting error in the obverse legend. The engraver added an extra 'A' between the 'F' and the 'L' for 'FL'.

 

Nice catch ! The poor fellow who did the die work must have been hired from a Temp Agency .

 

Interesting error and OP coins.

 

What a good find and a classic portrait of Constantius too..

 

I have been envisaging the engraver having just completed GAL VAL...... and starting this one and starts with the F and then gets distracted and comes back and finishes off ...AL VAL and then catches focus again and hopes nobody notices. Until now...

 

I can see how the name Flavius Valerius Constantius could be hard to remember especially if the cutter was Latin as a second language. It is an interesting coin. Thanks for sharing.

 

I'm thinking it is more likely to be of the earliest issues of Folles from Alexandria (294 A.D.?), which is RIC VI Alexandria 15a, because of the engraver error, meaning maybe it was struck during the engraver's learning curve. The other possibility is RIC VI Alexandria 27a, which is thought to be from around 297 A.D. I'm not sure which one it is.

 

The divergent wreath ties are apparently the clue.

 

I thought the dimpled beard looked unusual. Maybe I just haven’t seen enough of these.

 

There's a thread where the beard curls are talked about: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/which-tetrarch.328161/

@maridvnvm: I notice you posted the following coin in that thread. It seems to also be a "FAL" engravor error, and the obverse seems very similar to mine. Die match?

 

Definitely an obverse die match:

 

And a coin I had forgotten I had. It is one that didn't survive one of my enforced coin purges a few years back.... Ho hum.