Copper coins of Valentinian I (AD 364-375) are some of the most common ancient coins of all. It is easy to find inexpensive AE3's in excellent condition. I just created a web page "type set" for him: http://esty.ancients.info/ricix/ValentinianI.html as part of my large educational site on late Roman AE coins: http://esty.ancients.info/ricix/ Here is his first type: Valentinian I 20 mm. 12:00. 2.76 grams. RIC Sirmium 8. This type was struck only for Valentinian, so it must be dated before the the news of the elevation of Valens reached the mint. RIC p. 156. Some call it "rare" but there are really enough of them to only be "scarce" and demand is not high, so it does not bring much of a premium.
It should also be noted that these are a Sirmium-only issue. I agree that they are not rare, but scarce. Finding one in a nice grade like the OP coin, however, takes a bit of patience. Here is mine... RIC's analysis of these seemingly ordinary vota types is quite interesting. Such types may have been ordinary during the Constantinian Dynasty, but they become something special during the relentless repetition of the Victory and Gloria Romanorum types of the Valentinian Dynasty. Historical context is everything... “At first sight, it might seem that the coinage of our period can offer little help to the historian. It is no longer, as in earlier days, a continuous record of important events at home or in the field, touching every side of Roman life, or of the emperor’s manifold activities for the well-being of his subjects. Instead, the traditional glory of Roman arms is recalled on the coinage with monotonous persistence. Yet this very monotony reflects the change that had come over the empire in its passage from ‘Principate’ to ‘Oriental Monarchy’. The common man, crushed under an overwhelming burden of taxation and cramped in every impulse to better his condition by the harsh system of hereditary servitude, had little to live for except the mere preservation of life itself. Ammianus tells us that when Valentinian came to the throne the empire was threatened on every frontier by inroads of savage enemies. We find the coinage adapted to the times in its almost unvarying message that in the valour of its army the State had a sure defense. The bronze was the chief medium employed for this message. “ (RIC IX, p. xv)
i have a few of the gloria romanorum types, the first was a gift from a coin buddy...the second and uncleaned lot coin.
