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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;thejewk, post: 4399105, member: 100136&quot;]That is the question.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1105921[/ATTACH] </p><p>9.05.013 (cuirassed) or 9.05.015 (trabea) - RIC VII 271</p><p>CONSTANTINVS AG - Laureate and cuirassed or trabeate bust right, holding eagle tipped sceptre in right hand</p><p>BEAT TRANQLITAS - Globe on altar inscribed VOT/IS/XX in three lines; above, three stars</p><p>-/-//PLON</p><p>19mm, 3.71g, 321 AD</p><p>ex Alan Cherry, London Coin Fair 2019, purchased from MostlyBronze on ebay 2020</p><p><br /></p><p>I couldn&#039;t resist having a bid on this one, and happily won it.&nbsp; Although it is slightly off centre on both the obverse and reverse, it is an excellent strike and the picture doesn&#039;t do the surfaces of the coin justice.&nbsp; It is wonderfully smooth and glossy in hand.</p><p><br /></p><p>Although coins of this type show up fairly frequently with the more common legend of CONSTANTINVS AVG, they are a lot more scarce with AG.&nbsp; They are listed in RIC as being trabeate, but Cloke and Toone distinguish between cuirassed and trabeate examples.&nbsp; In reality, however, it seems to me that there is a good deal of artistic licence used by the die engravers at London during the whole time that the mint was open, and that describing bust types is far less precise as a result.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Here we have a right shoulder piece that extends about half way up Constantine&#039;s neck, higher than the usual B2 cuirassed bust of the time.&nbsp; However the parallel lines coming down from the dotted band look more like a cuirass than other coins of this issue showing a trabea, where the lines bend downwards to give the appearance of cloth.&nbsp; But then a close look at the chest of the bust shows irregular, cloth like folds or a cloth like pattern which is again rarely present on the B2 cuirassed and laureate busts.</p><p><br /></p><p>Anyone have any insight?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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