Decided to buy some unclean ancients, gave them several weeks in olive oil and some are clean enough for me to try my hand at identifying them. They are tiny, smaller than dimes, so I guess this classifies them as Ae4. The first appears to be Arcadius (395-408AD), obverse bust facing right (--ARCADIVS PF AVG), reverse design is Victory dragging a captive (SALVS REIPUBLICAE). Mint mark not visible. The second appears to be Constans (337-350AD), obverse bust facing right(DN CONSTA ------), reverse is VOT/XX/MULT/XXX surrounded by wreath, mint mark not visible. Though I would never expect to find something rare in an uncleaned lot, I've found it an interesting little adventure in discovery. Wanted to post this in case someone can tell me that I am clearly incorrect in my ID's. Thanks.
You are correct in both ID's...why am I not surprised?..Of course the second one could possibly be one of the other members of the Constantine family. Every Arcadius I've ever seen for sale or been offered has been one of these little mini-coins,same thing for Theodosius,Honorius and Marcian.I guess these were the most common denominations during their respective reigns. I am a bit surprised to see the mini Constans though. Don't think I've ever seen one in person.
Nice finds, I have some happily soaking away and would be pleased to find any in the same condition as yours De Orc
I like these tiny coins...One in about 10 have real nice little portaits... here are 2 I cleaned...came out real nice..tiny cons are what I call them...I ID'd them but I cant remember...think both are constantine...I have quite a few more, I have several tiny arcadius, just havent photographed them yet:
Thanks for the replies. Cleaning and doing ID's was as fun as I was hoping. Next time I will try larger coins. I have one that looks like what Drusus is showing above, and another that I did photograph. I figured it was another one of the Constantines, reverse of two soldiers flanking a standard:
