I picked this up yesterday at the Baltimore show for a princely sum of $2. I thought it would be an easy one to ID since the obverse was easily readable, as was the reverse. So far today, I've spent more than 2 hours on it and I can't find a match. On the obverse I see: DN CONSTANTINOIVNNC Which leads me to believe that it is Constantine II, as Caesar On the reverse I see (and this is where I'm having issues): VIRTVS EXERCIT Two captives on either side of a trophy, "A" to left and "S" to right. PLC in exergue It doesn't look like a "VOT XX" banner to me at all. Also, the only Constantine II that I can find on wildwinds do not have the "NOIVNNC" on the obverse but instead are "IVNNOBC". The closest match I can find is one for sale on vcoins but it still isn't a complete match since it has a "VOT XX" banner: https://www.vcoins.com/en/stores/ro...pelled_constantino_scarce/986182/Default.aspx Can any one please help me? I'm barely hanging onto my sanity here and I still have 24 more coins to ID!
Excerpt of Dane's spreadsheet for the type: Constantine II, RIC VII Lyons 105. Two captives back-to back against a trophy. The spreadsheet link for this type of coin is near the bottom of the page: http://www.catbikes.ch/coinstuff/coins-ric.htm
You're my hero @TIF. Glad to see that I wasn't exactly crazy...hahaha (maniacal laughter...ok now I've gone crazy!) Too bad wildwinds didn't have an example. Would've saved me so much time.
On that spreadsheet the bust type is listed as "LDCR", which per an explanatory section of the spreadsheet means "laureate, draped, and cuirassed, seen from behind". It's hard to tell on your coin but it doesn't look like a "from behind" bust. It looks like a laureate and cuirassed bust in a regular pose. LRBs are not my strong point though. Maybe someone else will weigh in. Perhaps you have an unlisted variant?
I agree, it doesn't look to be a "from behind" bust. Looks like most others I have seen. Seems that I got my two dollars worth haha. At least for the time spent, if nothing else!
RIC, the real book, only lists this type with the B3 bust type (seen from the back) so I can only assume that the distinction is more clear on the coin they saw, if they saw one rather than copying a listing as was so often done. The coin is coded V or Vienna suggesting they did not have one in England (do I understand that correctly?). At R3, I doubt they saw many and there is no telling in what condition the coins were that led to the listing. This is the sort of question that is not easy to answer but I would not even start to think about a new, unknown variety until I had at least seen photos of some of the others known. Dane's spreadsheets are a wonderful resource for those who do not have the books but they were generated from listings done by copying the standard references which are not always 100% up to date. When we are dealing with coins in less than perfect condition we have to ask if there is any way that a seeming discrepancy could be explained away given the data at hand. In this case, I don't see enough shoulder detail to prove anything one way or another. If you want to chase this bit of knowledge, start looking for other coins of this mint coded to 'from behind' so you can develop a feel for what RIC authors meant by the term. Sometimes it is a matter of where the button on the shoulder falls with relation to the midline. I have not researched this one. I really tried to get interested in late Roman when I did the photos for Victor Failmezger's book but it does not go deeply into flyspecking. The only Failmezger 291 illustrated was the Licinius I. If I had seen the coin AND recognized what it was, I might have bought it. I suggest keeping it until you upgrade it with one that answers the 'from the back' question. If Victor Clark of CT sees this, I hope he has a comment.
There's a lot that's "not in RIC", and a very useful resource in this regard for volumes VI and VII is Lech Stepniewski's Not in RIC website. This page illustrates the plate coin for Bastien Lyon II 46, a B4 (laureate, draped, and cuirassed right) bust type that is a variant of RIC VII Lyons 105.
