I'm not a big fan of campgates, but this one caught my eye and thought I'd share it. I also thought maybe I'd try and spark up a topic about whats on the reverse. Constantine Constantine AE3. 328-9 AD. CONSTANTINVS AVG, diademed head right / PROVIDENTIAE AVGG, campgate with two turrets & no doors, star above, BSIS(double-crescent) in ex. Siscia RIC VII 214,B (C3)
The interesting part to me is the variation in the number of Weber Barbecue Kettles on top. By selectively uncovering the fires in them, signals could be passed to the next tower. I recall seeing an explanation of how the code might have worked using two or three beacons to spell out rather like Morse code. Certain regions seemed to favor one system and others, the other. More recently it has become fashionable to count rows of bricks.
I'm not a huge ancients collector, but I was intrigued by this topic. I remember touring the Roman city gate at Trier when I lived in Germany as a kid. Apparently there is some debate about whether the fortresses depicted on Roman coins are camp gates, city gates or other forts. Here are some great links to the subject: http://home.eckerd.edu/~oberhot/campgate.htm http://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?vpar=1522
I have to say that's an excellent example Randy. Being able to see the top items are braziers clearly is not common at all. Zack Beasley had an enormous collection of these he has been auctioning off. I think on his Vcoins store he may have a list of what his collection entailed.
Of course, that is the bottom line answer. Rows of bricks is just another way to differentiate dies. I would put no stock in a certain number of stacks being "rare", unless you are talking about a specific die in a specific mint. Other than that, I believe the mints were just given a general design, and whatever the layers required to design the coin, was it.
Thanks Just thought of another question. I know the double-crescent is a control mark, but does anyone know if it has a specific meaning to it?
