ID Help - Constantine Camp Gate and Celtic, Maybe, Something-or-Other?

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Marsyas Mike, Jan 1, 2019.

  1. Marsyas Mike

    Marsyas Mike Well-Known Member

    Happy New Year, everybody. Yesterday the mailman closed out the year for me with a batch of 17 oddball ancients that I had a lot of fun figuring out (including a modern fake RR denarius -oops). I am pretty shaky when it comes to LRB and stuff out of the normal run of common ancients, which is why I need help here.

    The first one is a grubby Constantine the Great with a camp gate reverse. Wildwinds made this easy to find, but the description has me puzzled:

    "Heraclea RIC VII 28 var Constantine AE follis. 318-320 AD. CONSTANTINVS AVG, laureate head right / PROVIDENTIAE AVGG, campgate with three turrets and no door, dot right, dot above doorway. Mintmark SMHB. (bust type not in RIC for this series)."

    It is that portrait that puzzles me - most of these have a radically different one - left facing holding scepter and mappa. This left-facing type is the only type shown on OCRE (6 examples). This right-facing laureate portrait seems radically different for being a mere "variation" as noted in Wildwinds. Is this correct? Or am I utterly wrong about attribution? My photo is poor, but that is a SMHB mintmark and definitely a camp gate. 18 mm and 2.95 grams.

    Constantine Campgate from lot Dec 18 (2).JPG

    Here is the other one. A "barbaric" bust obverse (looking a bit like Tiberius) with an S over a C. The reverse shows Nike (Victoria) walking right, and a partial inscription (N?)ICINI. It is a dumpy fabric - 13 mm and 3.80 grams. I spent a lot of time looking at images of Celtic coins that somewhat resemble it - British ones in particular - but no matches. Am I even on the right track here? Or is this a Provincial?

    Celtic maybe unknown Dec 18 (2).JPG


    Many thanks in advance.
     
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  3. TIF

    TIF Always learning.

    I'm no LRB expert but most of the ones I've seen have a rather plain bust.

    I can't discern the mint mark on yours but consider that it could be something other than SMHB.

    The place to investigate campgates, with excruciating detail, is the spreadsheet by Dane Kurth. Scroll down this page and download the campgates spreadsheet. Get a magnifying glass :D.
     
  4. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

    The Constantine bust looks a bit different than the usual types...the nose is a bit longer.
     
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  5. Victor_Clark

    Victor_Clark all my best friends are dead Romans Dealer

    Constantine has a pearl diadem on your campgate coin and the mintmark is SMNB-- Nicomedia

    RIC VII Nicomedia 153


    Nicomedia153b.JPG
     
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  6. Marsyas Mike

    Marsyas Mike Well-Known Member

    Thank you so much for all your help - I re-examined it and indeed - Victor and TIF were right - I got the mintmark wrong. That is not an H, but rather an N as Victor suggests - sorry about my poor photos. So it is SMNB from Nicomedia and now everything makes more sense to me.

    Thanks too for the ID link, TIF. It looks very informative, if somewhat intimidating - LRBs still make me flinch a bit - so many tiny figures doing tiny stuff to other tiny figures surrounded by tiny lettering. My New Year's Resolution - overcome LRB trepidation? I'll try.
     
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