JA's LRB's

This is a coin I bought over the summer - nothing rare, but a nice strike with excellent silvering. I just got around to attributing it as RIC VII Nicomedia 24 (p.604).



In RIC VII this bust is J1 (p. 90), and it's described as laureate, draped, globe, scepter in left hand, mappa in right. The globe and scepter are the parts I find a bit odd. He's clearly holding a globe in his left hand, and there's clearly a scepter protruding over his left shoulder, but where is the bottom of the scepter? Tucked under his collar?

This isn't a mistake either - it was just the style. These two coins of the same issue from different officinae exhibit the same design. These are described on Wildwinds as laureate, mantled bust, which is a bit of a cop-out as it's not very descriptive at all.



Maybe it's a curved scepter? Anyway, no big deal, but I thought it was interesting. Maybe I'll send my coin to Dane and add another officina.

 

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Hmm, curious. The sceptre looks more like an epee, with the "globe" being the bell guard.

 

Except that on my example, you can clearly see that his left hand is cupped around the bottom of a globe, as opposed to grasping the shaft of an sword.

 

Nice coin, JA.

 

Nice new pickup JA.

 

NICE slivering on that on JA!

 

This little bauble arrived today. Not an LRB, but an LRPB - a lead seal with confronted busts of Constantius II and Constantius Gallus. I've kept the image small because it's pretty rough, and it's like one of those pixelated images that only becomes clear the further you move away from it...



Roman lead imperial seal of Constantius II and Constantius Gallus AD 351-354
Laureate bust of Constantius II to r., facing bare-headed bust of Constantius Gallus, 14mm, 2.29g.

I've seen quite a few Roman seals, but never came across this one before. The dealer references it to one other known example, Münzzentrum Rheinland 151 (21 April 2009), lot 875. Granted, it's not much to look at, but for some reason it intrigued me.

 

I believe that I saw this! VERY intrigued! Glad you captured it!

 

Digging a bit deeper into the bust on the follis of Licinius, the drapery is far more ornate than occurs on other portraits, suggesting that the emperor is wearing a ritual paludamentum, in this case fastened on the right shoulder with a fibula from which three tassels hang. The combination of this robe, the mappa, the globe, and the scepter, make this a military bust. But it's not military in the sense of battle, as in the busts with helmets and spears, but a declaration of war, if you will. It was probably what the emperor wore when he went out to address his armies.

RIC dates this issue to AD 317-320, during which time Licinius and Constantine maintained an uneasy truce after the battles of Cibalae and Mardia in 314 and 316. So this bust may reference Licinius' campaign against the Sarmatians, which began in 318, if it references any specific conflicts at all. (The full-out civil war wouldn't begin until 321.) Romans were constantly at war, either with non-Romans or with themselves, so it's probably safer to consider such a bust a generic representation of the emperor as supreme military leader.

But I'm revising RIC's description of the bust in my attribution to the following: laureate bust of emperor left, wearing ornate paludamentum fastened at right shoulder with fibula from which hang three tassels; mappa in right hand, globe in left, scepter over left shoulder.

 

JA, here is a similar one from Antioch, with artistry not as good:

The globe is there but the hand holding (cupping) it is hard to discern. Your tassels are clearer and on this one the lower part of the scepter is even less explicable. This one does have a clear bearded captive with a distinctive hat.

 

Newp, Constantius II, Phoenix standing on globe, Constantinople mint...

 

Good looking coin. I wonder who decided it's a pheonix because it looks like a crane to me...?

 

It's got a halo, which makes it a phoenix. The phoenix types were minted in commemoration of the 1100th anniversary of the founding of Rome. I suppose since the phoenix is a mythological animal, it can look like any bird you want it to.

 

Wow, 1100 years... we weren't even a TWINKLE in Europe's eye 1100 years ago!

 

Well, during Republic times various dates for the founding of Rome were thrown around, but during Imperial times, everyone settled on Varro's date of 753 BC.

 

Yup ! 753 BCE seems the most agreed upon date. I have always been amazed that if you take the fall of Constantinople in 1456 AD, that Rome was an Entity for 2200+ years...pretty amazing that celebrating 1100 was the half-way point!

 

Well, we're talking about the founding of the actual city of Rome, which when I last looked was still kicking, so who knows if it's reached the halfway point?

 

Very true, Bubba! However, I cannot accept that Mussolini as a Roman Emperor... (facetious here...) I meant the Entity of Ancient Rome as Roma / Romanoi of Antiquity, prior to the collapse Europe...

I DO agree about Rome the City from 753 - today!

 

I don't know. Look at portraits of Nero and Vespasian...he fits right in! Bald is beautiful my friend!

 

Here are my own pics of the three unofficial coins I posted on the previous page. I won't discuss them again, but I did post them at FORVM, and Victor Clark noted that he discovered their existence a few years ago when they first appeared on the market. It would seem the seller acquired a hoard of ancient counterfeits. There are more to be had, and I may ask for those as well.