Late Roman bronzes don't get much better than this

Got a really small lot of 3 AE3 late 4th to early 5th century bronzes with a nice sandy look that are rather common but are such a pleasure to look at:


Gratian (367-383)
AE3 18mm 2.43g reduced centenionalis, minted at Antioch, cca. 380(?)
DN GRATIA - NVS PF AVG; pearl-diademed draped cuirassed bust r.
Roma seated front, head left, holding globe in her right hand, and holding partly-seen reversed spear with he left hand; θ in left field, φ over K in right field.
ANTA in exergue
cf. RIC IX Antioch 45a, S -- officina A is not listed in RIC for entry 45a.



Valentinian II (375-392)
AE3 18mm 2.33g reduced centenionalis, minted at Antioch, cca. 380(?)
DN VALENTINIANVS PF AVG; pearl-diademed, draped cuirassed bust r.
Roma seated front, head left, holding globe in her right hand, and partly-seen reversed spear with her left hand, left leg bare; θ in left field, φ over K in right field.
ANTB in exergue
RIC IX Antioch 45b, C

Besides the obvious eye appeal, there is also another aspect that is particularly pleasing about these two specs: they are both 1) struck during the same issue, possibly if not that same day maybe days from each other and 2) they were spent and kept afterwards together up to this day. The Gratian spec seems to be scarcer and unlisted, I haven't seen another example in Nummus Bible.

 

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Nice coins @seth77

 

I love me some nice looking LRBs. Yours have a really nice sandy patina!

 

Those are great!

18mm. 2.6g

 

And a Theodosius I to compliment the series, this time with the personification of Constantinopolis rather than Roma, RIC IX 47d with rosette-diademed bust. Unfortunately most of the desert filling was stripped away.

 

I like this Arcadius that I picked up. I'm kind of a sucker for AE2's when I can find good examples.

Arcadius, A.D. 395-408
AE22, 5.7 grams, Antioch mint

Obverse: D N ARCADI-VS P F AVG
Rosette-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right

Reverse: GLORIA ROMANORVM
Emperor standing facing, head right, holding standard and globe

Mintmark: ANT

Reference: RIC IX Antioch 68C, pg. 294







Nice sand-patina coins @seth77 1

 

This is one of a few LRBs that I own, but a nice one.

Fausta, AE 18 of Thessalonica, 326-328 AD.

 

Does anyone recall a couple years ago when the large lots section of some CNG electronic sales included groups of up to a hundred very high grade LRB's? I always wondered where all those coins ended up.

My favorite sandy coin is this Maximianus post reform radiate.

 

So many coins of that period are poorly struck, so it’s really nice to see some fine
examples.

 

There are two similar types with the same legend, as @seth77 noted. One has Roma seated helmeted head left, holding globe to our left
(Type 15, http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ricix/type15.html )
Common for Gratian, Valentinian II, and Theodosius.
Here is one for Gratian:

and
the other has Constantinopolis helmeted seated head right, right foot on tiny prow, with globe to our right.
(Type 16: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ricix/type16.html )
Common for Gratian, Valentinian II, and Theodosius. Very rare for Arcadius. Here is one for Theodosius:



They are from 12 and 11 mints respectively, but, as noted above, the ones from Antioch often have nice light cover which makes the surfaces especially nice.

For an illustrated list of all AE types from Valentinian through Theodosius II, see the page:
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ricix/

 

Here's one of my favorite LRBs from the same era:

Theodosius I ("the Great")
Augustus, A,D, 379-395
(Bronze) AE II
Constantinople mint, A.D. 383-388
Obv: D N THEODO-SIVS P F AVG
Rev: GLORIA RO-MANORVM - Emperor, standing on galley, facing right, holding globe; Victory at helm
CONA in exergue; T in left field
RIC 79(b)
21mm, 5.3g

 

Look at all that beading!

 

The sandy look suit some of these really well. This one's my favorite Late Late Roman Bronze.

THEODOSIUS II
AE4. 2.18g, 16.5mm. Constantinople mint, AD 406-408. RIC X Constantinople 144 (R4). O: DN THEODO-SIVS PF AVG, pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right, star behind. R: GLORI-A ROMA-NORVM, Honorius and Arcadius standing vis-a-vis holding spears and shields; between them, young Theodosius II standing holding a globe and spear with his head turned to the right; CONSB in exergue.

 

Here is one of my Gratian's @seth77 and it appears to be the same as yours, though my research had led me to RIC IX Antioch, 46b.....It`s my best looking Gratian of the three I own, though my favourite LRB by far is a Julian II which I have posted elsewhere in the past.

 

Some collectors like to work on sets, defined to be some list of types meeting some criterion, such as "the twelve Caesars." If the definition is too encompassing, the set may be too large and then it lacks interest. Collecting all types of Antoninus Pius would be daunting, with over 1400 RIC numbers during his reign.

That is one thing to like about late Roman AE from Valentinian and later. Each emperor has a limited number of types and you can hope to get most of them, although most rulers have a few rarities to keep you from easily completing his type set. To give you a feeling for how complicated it would be to collect the AE types of any late Roman ruler, Valentinian through Theodosius II, you can look here:
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ricix/typesets.html
You could print a copy of the table of types and check them off as you got them.
Here is one of Gratian's types:

Gratian
GLORIA ROMANORVM, galley
AE2. 23-22 mm. 4.49 grams.
RIC Nicomedia 25a2

That whole site:
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ricix/index.html
has many resources for collectors. Look around and you will find lots of helpful pages. For example:

How are the coins assigned dates? See here:
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ricix/timeline.html

I love late Roman AE!

 

I'm very glad that you are showing your examples of this type and similar contemporary types, they are all superior specimens that show why, despite some snobbery, late Romans are still a popular domain to research and study.

@JulesUK I think your coin is the same variation of RIC 45a -- the differences between 45a and 46b are the head gear: 45a has pearl diadem instead of the rosette diadem of 46b and the bare leg of Roma: 45 has the left leg bare while 46 has the right leg bare. Although the details are a bit fuzzy on the bust of your specimen, I think it's probably a pearl diadem.

 

Two examples from Siscia
Gratian, Siscia, RIC 27a

Theodosius, Siscia RIC27d

Theodosius, Constantinople, RIC 57d

 

Heres my favorite Theodosius from Siscia

i really like the crouching figure on the rev with the radiate crown!

 

And even some extant AE4 examples with desert patina are appealing to the eyes. This one is a mere 13mm -- a full 1/3rd smaller than AE3's.

Valentinian II (375-392)
Antioch, (ca. 383-392), AE4 Nummus
Obv: D N VALEN]TINIANVS P F AVG, diademed, draped and cuirassed bust r.,
Rev: SALVS REI - PVBLICAE, Victory advancing l., holding trophy and dragging captive; in l. field, Tau-Rho; ex.: ANTA.
Weight: 1.4 gr.
Diam.: 13 mm.
Attrib.: RIC 67a

 

I find one of the things about late Roman coins is the way they allow individual interpretation of what to collect. Compared to earlier coins there are relatively few major types so you can get one Falling Horseman, one Hut, one galley etc. and cover 90% of the types (yes, there are some great rarities that you will never see but we are talking about a good overview rather than a complete set). On the other hand, you can replace that single Falling Horseman with over 2200 variations of mint and legend details not to mention as many minor variations of devices if you look closely at things like theshields or attire of the figures. I know much less about RIC IX than about RIC VIII but one early impression is how the authors avoided having a book as thick as VIII by lumping many variation in field letters together under a single number explained with charts. We can choose if the coin below is a one and only coin of Valentinian or we can consider the hair dragging reverse or we can notice the mint and officina. A few of us will want to look at the three letter/symbols in the field and decipher the or assemble a collection of them all. All specialties allow a similar variation of how we define same and different. Late Romans have many variations to offer the person who looks closely. I do not find Late Romans as interesting today as I did a few years ago. That is not a problem with the coins but merely a choice I have had to make. You can't collect them all ----- or can you?