Licinius unlisted variant RIC#155

Hi guys ! New here and my first thread...thought I'd start with my very first Roman coin I bought a few years back.
It's an unlisted variant (as far as I know) of RIC#155 ...As the emperors name is misspelled LICINVS...Any thoughts on why this might happen?Apart from the celetor being illiterate?And whats the significance of the C and S in the left and right fields?Saludos Paul

 

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All ancient coin dies were hand made, and errors are not uncommon. It's similar to the way, errors would often creep into ancient texts because of scribe mistakes.

The C and S are control marks on many bronze coins from this time period. Volumes VI --IX of Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC), the main catalog of ancient Roman coins, divides coins into different series based on them, sort of, and uses them to determine the approximate mint date. I'm not sure what their significance was back when they were minted. At some mints they would use a pair of letters in the field for a year or so and then change one or both of them. My guess is that they had some sort of administrative purpose.

 

Welcome to the board

 

Welcome Paul!

That is a nice looking coin.

John

 

Hello, Paul, welcome to the party! That's a very attractive Licinius, misspelling and all. The guys working at the mints were human just like us and made the occasional little mistakes. Maybe it's surprising that we don't find even more than we do. My Vetranio below spells his name VERTANIO.

 

Welcome to the Ancients Forum, Paul @Spaniard ! Beautiful Licinius! I don't have one but here are my ancient Spanish imitation semisis.

 

Welcome @Spaniard !! Cool coin!!

 

Welcome @Spaniard

 

Nice one, @Spaniard ! Interesting misspelling, too.

Here's my latest Licinius I:


Licinius I, AD 308-324
Roman billon follis Antioch, AD 321-323
Obv: IMP C VAL LICIN LICINIVS P F AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust, right
Rev: IOVI CONSERVATORI, Jupiter standing left, holding Victory on globe and eagle-tipped scepter, another eagle to feet to left, captive seated on ground to right; X/IIΓ in field, right; SMANTS in exergue.
Refs: RIC vii, p. 682, 35; Cohen 74; RCV 15225.

 

And while the spelling of his name in the OP coin is obviously a mistake, it was apparently okay to call him LICINNIVS at Antioch...


LICINIUS I
AE Follis. 5.8g, 20.6mm. Antioch mint, AD 311-312. RIC VI Antioch 162 corr. (no eagle). O: IMP C LIC LICINNIVS P F AVG, laureate head right. R: GENIO AV-GVSTI, Genius standing left, modius on head, naked except for chlamys over left shoulder, holding Victoriola and cornucopiae; star in left field, H in right field, ANT in exergue.

 

Neat coin! And must be pretty rare with that spelling. RIC 155 (Arles, issued 317-18) is listed as R4 in the first place, and while those ratings are out of date, I couldn't find any on acsearch, right spelling or not!

Here's my latest Licinius (Antioch mint, not in RIC). I like the wreath.



Welcome to CoinTalk!!!

 

Nice to see you on this board too, Paul. Welcome!!

The double "N" spelling isn't particularly rare, but I don't recall having ever seen a Licinius vota like yours before. Unlisted no less. Now THAT'S an interesting item, to be sure.

 

Thanks! It certainly jumped out at me, and I had to have it. (Also ex Dattari.) At the time I wondered if it was the earliest 4th century Vota/wreath (313 AD), but now I know there are a few earlier examples among the original tetrarchs' post-reform radiates. Still, it is a cool no-nonsense wreath, eh?

There are a few other examples listed on acsearch, referenced to "Failmezger 264LI" which means nothing to me as yet.

 

The Failmezger coin was a bit different in style and rated RR.

 

Victor "Tory" Failmezger. Roman Bronze Coins: from paganism to Christianity 294-364 A.D. Ross & Perry: Washington, 2002. Photos by Doug Smith. Tory owned most of the coins in his book, and that collection was liquidated a few years later. Hence material that is sometimes referenced to a plate in the book. But he created his own numbering system for the varieties and details he wished to show.

Doug is showing you the actual 264L1 from plate 15 (and he ought to know).

 

Welcome to CT @Spaniard and great coin!

I will pile on with my budget example of Licinius I

 

Licinius I
Coin: Bronze Follis
IMP LIC LICINNIVS P F AVG - Laureate head right
GENIO AVGVSTI - Genius standing left, holding head of Serapis and cornucopia; palm branch-N-* in left field, wreath-gamma in right field
Mint: Alexandria (AD 313)
Wt./Size/Axis: 4.10g / 21mm / -
References:

• RIC VI Alexandria 162a

 

Wow, thanks guys!! CoinTalk never ceases to amaze me. Mine appears to have roughly double the number of rows of leaves, I wonder if it is from the same mint. I'd be curious to know the reasoning behind the mint assignment.

 

Technically speaking the number is 264LI not L1. LI stands for Licinius I. 264 was a single ruler type but if it had been issued for Licinius Junior the number would have been 264LII. Tory was not consistent in his name codes. Constantine the great was CI using the Roman numeral as did Licinius but Maximinus II was M2 and Maxentius was M3. If you are not confused yet Maximianus was just M, Constantius was C and Galerius was G with no numbers. Constantius II was CS. Tory marched to his own drummer.

 

Welcome @Spaniard !

Great coin, no worries on the mis-spelling, all of us do that!

LICINIUS

RI Licinius I 308-324 CE AE3 Jupiter w Eagle