Two Contrasting Folles of Constantine I, from the Trier Mint

I don't have any coins of Constantine as Caesar from Treveri, and I likely will never have one. I'd rather have one from Londinium. What I do have is this coin as Augustus with a Mars reverse. Has a T-F in the fields of the reverse. I do know that T comes after S in the alphabet, so perhaps the T does denote a later issue, but no idea about the F.

Constantine the Great
AE Follis

313 - 315 A.D., Treveri Mint, 1st Officina
4.83g, 22.0mm, 6H

Obverse: CONSTANTINVS P F AVG,
Bust of Constantine I, laureate, cuirassed, right

Reverse: MARTI CON-SERVATORI,
Mars, helmeted, draped, cuirassed, cloak spread, standing right, holding reversed vertical spear in right hand and resting left hand on shield

Exergue: T/F//PTR

Provenance: Ex. Ancient & Medieval Coins Canada Auction 2, Lot 239, Ex. TheRed Collection

Reference: RIC VII Treveri 53

Another one with T-F, minted around the same time as the one above. This time with a Sol reverse. The engraver did a poorer job on this one.

Constantine the Great
AE Follis

310 - 313 A.D., Treveri Mint, 1st Officina
3.88g, 23.0mm, 6H

Obverse: CONSTANTINVS P F AVG,
Bust of Constantine I, laureate, cuirassed, right

Reverse: SOLI INVICTO COMITI,
Sol, chlamys draped over left shoulder, standing left (or standing front, head left), raising right hand and holding globe in left hand

Exergue: T/F//PTR

Provenance: Ex. Frank S. Robinson, Auction 101 Lot 410

Reference: RIC VI Treveri 873

 

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I always assumed the P before the mintmark as in my coins meant Prima or 1st officina. See the link below from CNG Archives.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=163116
CNG clearly identifies this coin as 1st officina. Did they pull this info out of a hat ? Sometimes the letter P can also mean Pecunia (money) or Percussa (struck).

 

C.A. Those are interesting coins . After Constantine was acclaimed AVGVTUS by troops in the Western Empire, Genius is rarely seen on his coins, instead we see his favorite pagan gods Mars & Sol.

 

The lack of any coins with STR or TTR mint marks during this time leads me to believe that the P stands for pecunia.

 

Al Kowskey I was thinking that your Constantine Follis RIC 666a rather looks like a product of the mint of Lugdunum. This was one of mine. I do not own it anymore but one can see the similarity in portrait style.

 

Here is a Constantine I picked up. It is the plate coin for LMCC.

Constantine the Great
(20.97mm 3.32g)
312-313
London mint PLN Mintmark
RIC VI London 282
Obv: Bust of Constantine I, laureate, draped, cuirassed, right; IMP CONSTANTNVS P AVG
Rev: Sol, chlamys draped over left shoulder, standing left, raising right hand and holding up globe with left hand; SOLI INVIC-TO COMITI
Purchased from Lee Toone July 30th
Published in Cloke, H.J, & Toone, L. The London Mint of Contantius & Constantine. This coin is plate coin 8.01.009

 

Terence, Thanks for posting your photo . Indeed there's a similarity in portraits, but that's where the similarity ends .


It appears your coin was struck on a smaller-lighter flan, but that's only a guess without seeing the dimensions. The obverse inscription on your coin had to be shortened (no OB) to accommodate the flan size, which is interesting. I like the flaming altar on your coin that is seen on so many coins from the Lugdunum Mint, like the coin pictured below.

 

@seth77, YOW! RIC! Too cool! I've never so much as seen a whole set.

 

Orfew, Thanks for posting your Constantine follis . I did some editing on your photo just to make it easier to visualize .

You couldn't get a better provenance on that coin . If I had more coins from the London Mint I'd buy a copy of Cloke & Toone's book.

 

@Al Kowsky, sorry to walllow in the obvious (bad habit, hard to break), but now it's looking almost like some kind of a vaguely transitional turreted - radiate rendering of Sol.

 

VGO.DVCKS, Agreed, it's not the greatest photo & there is striking flatness on Sol's head & body . There are endless engraving variations depicting Sol in this series from the London Mint .

 

Excellent coins!

 

Nice folles. Here’s mine. Genius seems to be wearing pasties for modesty.

 

Of course, Cybele was portrayed with a turreted crown long before Trajan, including on Republican coins.

 

Randy, Despite the wear your coin is an excellent from the London Mint, & similar in style to my RIC 719b example . I'm still waiting for the right example from the London Mint as they're getting more expensive .

 

Gavin, That's a lovely example from the Trier Mint, especially the reverse side ! Judging from the weight of your coin it appears to be slightly later than my RIC 666a example.

 

Donna, You're right on about Cybele or Tyche . The Greek examples are the best I've seen, like the example pictured below.

Ionia - Smyrna, 150-145 BC, AR Tetradrachm: 16.7 gm, 39 mm, Bonhams, NYC 2012.
This breath taking beauty sold for $4,446.00

 

Thanks! It was a wonderful gift from @jamesicus

 

Thanks for that, @DonnaML. I was blithely assuming it was an exclusively eastern Mediterranean thing.