Read the Coin Before You Buy the Coin

The following coin was sold to me as a Barbarous Imitative of an Emesa - COS II issue of Septimius Severus. This was one of the first eastern Septimius Severus coins I bought and with standard shipping from the USA to Europe costing more than the coin itself I considered it worth a punt and would stimulate me to do some research and reading around the topic.

The obverse legend reads "IMP CA L SE SEV PER AG COS II" which is part of a range of certainly official coins with a variety of obverse spelling errors that are quite perplexing and a subject I am attempting to do some research on.



It was though this coin that I first encountered Curtis Clay and got to hear about Doug Smith who has a coin from the same obverse die.

I now have 4 coins from this obverse die and a sub collection of dozens of these oddities.

Both the seller and I had read the coin but neither of us understood it. It became the stimulus of a whole new collection for me. Doug probably regrets the day I stumbled across this one as I have become ravenous in my collecting of these eastern issues ever since.

Martin

 

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I bet you're wrong. Doug is probably glad to have a playmate

 

That would not be very friendly now would it? In fact, Martin came into the specialty about the time Barry Murphy stopped his 'ravenous' period and before that we had Michael Kelly who dropped out and sold a huge pile in 1997. Before that we had Roger Bickford-Smith who was the only serious numismatist specializing in these. His death hit me hard and turned me into a general collector realizing I did not have the resources to compete for these coins. There is something about them that is addictive.

Victor beat me to the real problem coins for Constantine II who became Augustus and 'Max' after his father died. There are many styles. Victor's is the most bull necked one I have seen. Below are examples from Antioch, Siscia and Alexandria. The problem here is reading carefully won't tip these off as simply as the ones with Caesar.

There are several other examples of the need to read across the range of Roman coins. My website has pages on some. Each would make a good thread here if there is any interest.

Constantine did not make things easy on us but it could have been worse. Boxer George Foreman had five sons and named each of them George. At least Constantine changed a letter or two here and there.

 

Constantine II. AE4. 337-348 AD. CONSTANTI-NVS MAX AVG, laureate, rosette-diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right / GLOR-IA EXERC-ITVS, two soldiers holding spears and shields with one standard between them, chi-rho on banner. Epsilon SIS in ex.

 

Constantine II From the Nicomedia mint:

 

Easy mistake to make if you don't specialize in the Constantine clan. Here's a lovely Constantine with a "Mars the Preserver" reverse, purchased from our very own @Victor_Clark . If you collect Constantines, you will want to follow his VCoins store and eBay auctions.

 

here's my last coin of constantine ii, and one of the last coins that i cleaned from an uncleaned lot that actually came out nice.

i can't tell constantine i and ii apart by legend on most of the LRB unless i look them up.


Constantine II, 337-348 AD

O: CONSTANTI-NVS MAX AVG, R: GLOR-IA EXERC-ITVS, dot ASIS star in ex. Siscia mint, RIC VIII Siscia 79, 17 mm, 2.0 g

 

Constantine-II ...



whoa ... there's a whole lotta bricks in that wall, eh?

 

Hey Victor,
Is it safe to assume that the Chi-Rho in the standard is the give-away on this coin? Were all the GEs with Chi-Rhos minted after Constantine's death?

 

While it is true that Siscia did not mint one standard Chi-Rho's for Constantine I, you first have to figure that out by looking at coins from Constantine II's brothers in conjunction with his to verify that it is indeed Constantine II. This particular issue is struck by the three brothers all using AVG, so there is no confusion who is on the coin; since the use of AVG for all mean that Constantine I was dead.

There is another potentially problematic issue though. Siscia used the mintmark ASIS star for the GE reverse once during Constantine I's life and once after his death.

The problem is differentiating coins of Constantine I from Constantine II. After the death of his father, Constantine II used the same legend of CONSTANTINVS MAX AVG.

The first issue is demonstrated by an abundance of coins with the Caesars as NOB C, so Constantine I must also have coins as MAX AVG. The second issue of this series has the brothers Constans and Constantius II depicted as Augustii, so coins must also have been struck for Constantine II as AVG.

LRBC says that there are different diadems, but adds that it is unconfirmed. Constantine I and Constantine II as Augustus both wore rosette diadems. In RIC VII, Bruun suggests that workshop A is usually Constantine I, but then states that the “distribution of officinae tends to be blurred.”

RIC VIII probably gives the best answer- “A satisfactory means of distinguishing these pieces from those of Constantine I with the same mint-mark has not yet been established.”

 

Nice mule !!! In my database from long date with an original picture (don't knox where it come from?!?) :
http://www.siliques.fr/SILIQUAE_WEB/fichemonnaie/01744.htm