Last of the Laureates

Not surprised at all that it comes from Victor's inventory.

 

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Speaking of the last laureates, does anybody have an example of the last denarius, which I believe is an Aurelian issue?

 

Aurelian. 270-275 AD. Denarius (19mm). Rome mint, 5th officina, 11th emission, January-December 275 AD. Obv: IMP AVRELIANVS AVG, laureate and cuirassed bust right. Rev: VICT-O-RI-A AVG, Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm; to left below, captive seated left. Є in ex. RIC V 73; MIR 47, 139f5; BN 283.

 

Well THAT is cool!

 

ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE! Awesome. Thanks so much. I always though it interesting that Aurelian continued to issue denarii even though their value was all but evaporated by that time.

 

How much is a silver coin of Constantine who is looking upward to the sky? That coin has always been my dream coin to own but seems it's so expensive.

 

You can get a silvered version with campgate reverse for $15-20

 

Beautiful coins, all!

It is true that the laurel doesn't last very long after Constantine began using the diadem - I can imagine that wearing a jeweled headband was a lot more fun than a sticky tree branch, anyway.

Here's some of my late laureates

Constantine - Laureate *and* helmeted (always thought this was an odd combo)


Crispus


Constantine II, as Augustus (I think that's laureate? A bit hard to tell on such a small coin)


Constantius II as Caesar


Constans, "Blessed Caesar"


Delmatius


Two that we didn't cover already - Probably after Constantine's death, Helena and Theodora were posthumously honored, and some of their headgear can be argued to be laureate

Theodora, laureate


And Vetranio


On the subject of Aurelian, he not only minted the last circulating denarii, but the last sestertii, too

Denarius


AE laureate, variously claimed to be an as or a reduced sestertius


Interestingly, he was far from the last to issue denarii - in fact, the Leu auction has denarii of both Diocletian and Maximian! Nearly every emperor between Aurelian and Diocletian minted them on at least a small scale for ceremonial purposes.

 

There are rare (non-circulating, ceremonial?) denarii which are later. Here's a Carinus (18mm, 2.10g):


And some say this is the last denarius, the Diocletian VTILITAS PVBLICA issue (mine is 1.42g and 17mm):


But my absolute latest laureate denarius is this one :

 

This last Augustus denarius looks modern to me the style of characters is modern. Also there is something written below the bust which should not be there I believe.
Oops sorry I just realized that was a napolean coin

 

Yeah don't think the narrative/timing stacks up with these being mass produced 337-347:




Constantius II, Antioch Mint, 337-347 CE

Obverse: CONSTAN-TIVS AVG; Constantius II, laureate, draped, cuirassed, right

Reverse: GLOR-IA EXERC-ITVS; Two soldiers, blah blah blah, between them, a standard; SMANH in ex.

Reference: RIC VIII Antioch 44

Shout out whoever came up with and shared the CD spindle trick, can now snap AE4s in half decent focus with a humble phone

 

I have that coronation medal in bronze.

 

I doubt that any mint kept striking these after around 341. Around 342 the death commemoratives start appearing, around 343 the VOT / XX / MVLT / XXX began being minted for Constantius II's vicennalia and then the twin victories up until around 348, when the FEL TEMP REPARATIO types began being introduced. Usually soldiers and standard types for the 3 sons of Constantine I as Augusti stop with or soon after the death of Constantine II.

 

Not sure re: other mints, but for Antioch, RIC VIII has the votive wreath types 347-348 and over 20 Gloria Exercitis types with own numbers for the period 337-347, each with between 1 and 15 officina marks. I highly doubt this abundance of variety was struck in a 4 year period at a single mint, the date range given by the authors seems much more likely.

 

You are right about the distribution in RIC, but I think there is a mistake. On p. 503 there is mention of a solidus reissue with the vicennalia - tricennalia vows for Constantius II, not of the entire AE coinage, which I think got misplaced in full to the "347-355" part of the catalog (347-348). A copper coinage for the vicennalia starting 3 years after the vicennalia does not really make sense. There is also the issue of the mintmarks: the "347-348" part of the catalog has the first entries marked SMANA (like the previous part of "337-347," the fifteen officinae part at p. 515) and then the next marked ANTA. Likely this change happened around 347, but the SMANA types, including the vota for the vicennalia of Constantius II should go to the "337-347" part of the catalog (p. 515), to around 342 or 343, when the anticipation issues for this occasion started in other places. The series was afterwards continued to 347 (or reintroduced along with the gold of 346-7), with the new ANTA mintmark.

The GLORIA EXERCITVS coinage was vast and likely (with the very few rare exceptions of Constantinopolis commemoratives) the only coinage being struck in copper for the 4 years between 337 and 341. And about half or at least a third of the entries include issues in the name of Constantine II, so prior to the spring of 340. I don't think it's so hard to imagine a vast coinage of the same type but just for Constantius II and Constans being minted in vast quantities in 340 and 341, followed by commemoratives and a minor type VICT AVG then again the full 15 officinae minting the new vota coinage starting with 342-3 marked SMANA.

Mistakes can happen and do happen, the Antioch section of the catalog begins with "Constantine II deified" for instance.

 

Carson, Hill and Kent in Late Roman Bronze Coinage have the GE issues from 337- 341

 

Well can't argue with any of that @seth77 @Victor_Clark

Here's a slightly earlier laureate bust and votive wreath and also my first crack at cleaning with lye. Came out with skin and eyes in tact thanks to some tips from @hotwheelsearl

This was a truly horrible coin - the before photos really don't do it justice - it was very rough in the hand, anything mildly attractive you see here is pure photographic illusion:




After overnight soak in lye:



Constantine I the Great, Rome Mint, 321

Obverse: CONSTAN-TINVS AVG; Head of Constantine I, laureate, right
Reverse: D N CONSTANTINI MAX AVG; VOT/•/XX within a laurel wreath; RP in ex.

References: RIC VII Rome 232, 237

Not sure whether the marks left around his jawline/eye socket are from too long in the solution or not quite long enough.

 

Wow, tremendous improvement! Glad my patented Lye Tips (TM) (C) (patent pending) (just kidding) helped!

To my eye, the marks on the jawline and eye socket are encrustations that didn't come off. However, I do not recommend any further treatment, as you're right on the brink of potentially ruining it. Some distilled water soaking and a toothpick might remove it, but honestly, I think it looks GREAT!

If you have some Renaissance Wax, some of that plus some studious buffing should be able to even out those areas too!

 

Looks awesome, how diluted was the solution?

 

6 parts DW to 1 part sodium hydroxide granules. This is apparrently Helvetica's secret sauce

http://clean.ancients.info/joe/Lye.htm