While consulting WildWinds, I found that this tiny coin of Emperor Constantius II is rated C4 on the scale of rarity. Two other coins of the Byzantine Dynasty were rated R3 and R5. What could that all mean in fact ? The coin weighs 1.87 g. Any approximate value, just to have an idea.. Thanks.
Hi 7Charles => here are a bunch of examples for you to sift-through ... https://cngcoins.com/Search.aspx?PAGE_NUM=&PAGE=1&TABS_TYPE=2&CONTAINER_TYPE_ID=1&IS_ADVANCED=1&ITEM_DESC=Constantius II vot&ITEM_IS_SOLD=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_1=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_3=1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_2=1
I skimmed-through for you and discovered only "2" examples with XX and XXX ... https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=102261 https://cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=200172 ... ummm, their prices varied "dramatically"
This type is rare in better grades, but I think you mean Constantinian Dynasty - Byzantine came later. As we all know, however, rarity does not necessarily translate into market value. I paid about $25 for my example. Nevertheless, it is satisfying to come across one in good condition - they are typically quite rough.
It means when the editors of the standard catalogs surveyed large public collections inside their circle of friends, they found that exact type in almost every one (C4). just a few (R3) or only one (R5). It is quite possible that the same coin with a dot extra or missing might be C instead of R and also possible that the only 20 of the coins in existence were shared inside their circle so everyone got one making the coin C even though no one else has ever seen one. It is a guide worshiped only by beginners and dealers who think they can convince someone to pay a higher price for a coin based on the Rarity scale. Most people wish we did not have to answer this question every week but it is important for all to know that rarity is not anything approaching the importance that mintage figures are in modern coins (even those have limits of value). The important feature is how much demand is there for a specific coin compared to how many people would be equally happy with another, similar or more interesting type.
OK, lets get real here. Both of these coins are silver not bronzes and there is a huge difference in price/demand/supply for solid silver of the period and the once silver washed AE coins. The explanation of the 'dramatic' difference here is one is a siliqua (common silver) while the other is a miliarense (rare denomination rather like the difference between US 20 cent pieces and quarters).
Oooops, ahaha => hey man, you taught me everything that I don't know!! ... oh, but for the record (that dude should be able to make his own mistakes!!)
I just realized I contradicted myself saying 'rarity' is not important and that rarity explains the greater price of the miliarense. Rarity when resulting from a minor difference in mintmark or something really minute (dots, letter spacing, headgear) has a much less dramatic influence on price than rarity based on something real like a completely different type or, in this case, denomination. Rome, like the US, sometimes issued the same design in more than one denomination or even metal. I think the example here is more like the difference in demand/price for a US $5 gold piece of 1879 and a $4 'Stella' of that same year.
I'm grateful for all these generous information. Of course JA, I meant Constantinian and not Byzantine Dynasty. I don't know how I committed such a mistake. BTW.. I'm now more encouraged than ever to acquire those " rare " coins of the Constantinian Dynasty. I wish I could come across silver types at modest prices around here.
It is nice to put "Rare" on the label, but it doesn't mean anything any more. The stuff brought up by detectorists, especially in Eastern Europe, must run into the gazzillions.
Here are two other coins with Roman numbers. The first is from Thessalonica and represents Emperor Constantine the Great, with letters TSEpsilonVI on the exergue. The second coin is a reduced type of an Emperor of the same Dynasty, but I can't identify.
