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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2564887, member: 19463&quot;]The difference between 352 and 361 is that the first are coins issued for Constantius II while his Caesar was Constantius Gallus and the latter were the same coins issued after Gallus was replaced by Julian II.&nbsp; Ordinarily this would seem an impossible distinction but inflation and rushed production was rampant then and the coins we see for Gallus tend to be rounder and better struck compared to the Julians that often look raggedy.&nbsp; Obviously some coins are going to be more characteristic of their group than others and there would be a lot of overlap.&nbsp; If I had a really nice, round flan coin I&#039;d be likely to call it a 352 but a scrappy one might strike me as a 361 BUT that is just a wild guess that would be meaningless on a single coin.&nbsp; I suppose if you had a hoard of a thousand coins of this type and mint you might sort them into four piles. Gallus and Julian would be obvious but the Constantius group might be divided into those that look like the Gallus coins and those that look like the Julian coins in terms of flan preparation and striking quality.&nbsp; Would that be a certain way of telling the two apart?&nbsp; Certainly not.&nbsp; The authors of RIC did not write their book for the benefit of amateur collectors and felt the need to indicate that the coins were continued from the earlier period. Lo and behold, at the bottom of page 377 is a footnote stating that the coins listed as these two numbers are the same.&nbsp; They do also mention coins 353 and 362 which are the same things with a different head decoration (rosette diadem) also made in both periods or so they claim.&nbsp; These are the little things that drive museum grade numismatists who really might have a thousand coins in a hoard and be able to find patterns like this.&nbsp; Enjoy the coin, don&#039;t let the catalogs diminish that fun.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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