I found this at my local coin shop, I think it will make a great gift for the grandson of my Bank Teller that retires on the 31st. I was hoping some of you guys could enlighten me as to when it was struck and possibly the mint, I can't quite read the mint mark, it looks like the last two letters in exergue are 'T T'. I got the best pics I could right now. Any info is helpful, since the boy is 12 or so, I want to put all the information I can about the coin with it, it came with a little card describing the Emperor, but little else. *Some photos a bit off color, you can tell because the piece of white paper I took the photos on looks a bit yellow in some.
Ostia, the port city of Rome used M for Moneta OST for Ostia and T is the sign of the Tertius 3rd workshop. 312-313 AD RIC 90a
Ostia was the port city for ancient Rome -- far enough away on the coast to be a city separate from the capital it served (today, the port for Rome is in Civitavecchia, farther to the north). It was home to an active mint during the Tetrarchy period when coins had to be struck in the name of two Augusti and two Caesars due to the way the empire was divided. With so many rulers, all the mints were working overtime producing plenty of bronzes. The pace never really let up until the fall of the western half of the empire. As mentioned, M stands for Moneta, and OST for Ostia, but there are two possible translations -- "Money of Ostia" or "Mint of Ostia." Different people interpret the M that shows up in mintmark exergues as one or the other, with no definitive answer.
So this would be a fairly common coin then? willieboyd, indeed, I recall from a thread, I believe it was yours....
RIC lists the coin as Scarce with the version where the globe is held closer to the body as Common. Ostia was only an operating mint for a short period but struck a lot while open. It is not too hard to find a coin from there but they are rare compared to branch mints like Siscia or Thessalonica that operated for over a century.
Another Sol Invicto - CONSTANTINE I Thanks doug, I think I may keep the Maximinus from Ostia, I decided to buy this one today for the teller's grandson... I hate to sound selfish, but I do like the sound of having a coin of Ostia. Can you tell me if the info I have on this one is correct? and when it was minted possibly? or what the letters in the field stand for? here is the info I was given: ------------------------------ CONSTANTINE I - 307-337 A.D. AE Follis - Arelate Mint obv. IMP-CONSTANTINVS-P-F-AVG. Laureleate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Seen from the front. rev. SOL-INVICTO-COMITI. Sol standing left, holding globe. In ex., AR. -----------------------------
That's probably a better choice, anyway. There's a decent chance that he's actually heard of this emperor, and Constantine is more historically significant.
I agree totally there. A coin of Constantine was what I originally hoped to find for him. I think this one looks great to me, not my area of Roman coinage really, but a nice portrait.
One of my favorite gifts to get people interested in ancients is the Constantine commemorative with the hand of God. Nothing like a giant hand of God reaching down on a coin to drive interest. I pick them up anytime I can, there is always SOMEONE to give them to.
314-315 AD Rome mint RIC 27 page 299 - The mintmark is RP but could come with S, Q or T in place of the P for the four workshops that made the coin. The letters in the fields are R/X and F All four shops are listed as c3 or very common. It also comes in a version for Licinius I. I failed to find an explanation for the field letters but similar coins exist for RF without the X, SF and CS. There are also coins with a star between the R and the P. Failmezger listed RXF as "Rome 10 times happy" (felicitas) but I have absolutely no idea where he got that one. Rome mint often used an R form that is more of a blob than we would like. They rarely have strong legs during this period. I'd call this a decent looking coin. Rome was not the best when it came to strong strikes so this one is not so bad even though it has some weak letters.
Very interesting stuff doug. And exactly the info I was lookin for. Yeah the 'R' on the reverse does look a bit like an 'A'. So this coin was minted at Rome, and note Arles, like the description said? I thought it looked a bit like a Rome mint issue, but wasn't sure. Rome mint, that is even cooler since this is a gift for my bank teller's grandson.... I mean, I doubt he ever heard of the Arles mint, or any of the other many Roman Mints of the time.... but Rome, that is cool. Thanks so much doug.
Gift Given Well, I went to the bank today and saw the teller I have seen for many years, and I gave her the Constantine The Great Bronze Follis for her to give to her grandson.... and she was so overcome by the gesture I could see tears in her eyes, it truly was a real nice Christmas moment.... she was so very thankful and thought it was so amazing...... a coin so old and of Constantine! The Constantine! heh... she said she was going to hold onto it herself untill her grandsons get older and as she said 'give it to the one who deserves it most' heh, so I wonder how that will go.... I figured I would take some pictures before I said goodbye to this nice coin that came into my care briefly.... Here is one with it next to my Constantine II - camp gate reverse - PTR Trier, 1st officina... that and the ones of it by itself came out good, some of the ones with Maximinus had the greenish tinge, but no biggie, coming up next...
Here are some with the Maximinus II Follis, both SOLI INVICTO COMITI reverses.... the Constantine seems to be one of the ones where Sol has that really disproportionately large hand that he is holding raised. The Maximinus II coin from Ostia has a much nicer raised hand and face of sol, it is of course in better condition on the reverse too... I only add these off-color photos because some show great detail on Sol's face with the way the lighting is, and I did not want to retake them with the proper lighting. But the Constantine I Bronze... it was a great Christmas present, and I really think I made her day.... I was sad to see such a pretty coin go, plus I have none of Constantine the Great, but for such a good cause, and it was totally worth it. Giving is good stuff.
