Some LRB Oddities

[John Anthony]

I have a few oddities to share.

The first is this hybrid, obverse of Constantine II, reverse of Constantine I. During the run of this series, the princes Constantine II and Crispus received reverse legends CAESARVM NOSTRORVM, or abbreviations thereof, with VOT X. Constantine I got DN CONSTANTINI MAX AVG with VOT XX.

So this is a mule of RIC VII Trier 459 and RIC VII Trier 324. Since both types were minted in AD 324, it's easy to see how the dies could have gotten mixed up.

To compound matters, the engraver (or engravers) of the dies ran out of room and shortened both inscriptions to make them irregular. The B is missing on the obverse: CONSTANTINVS IVN NO(B) C, and AVG on the reverse is abbreviated simply as A. This sort of thing isn't particularly uncommon, but it adds a layer of fluff to an already erroneous cake.

[curtislclay]

The omitted letters would seem to me to indicate unofficial manufacture (ancient counterfeit), despite the good style.

[Victor C]

Yes, definitely unofficial. I made a post on this one and several others when they were first listed two years ago.

http://www.lateromanbronzecoinforum.com/index.php/topic,300.msg681.html#msg681

[John Anthony]

Thank you gentlemen. Well, I suppose it's redundant to continue since the coins are known, but perhaps some members of FORVM haven't had a chance to see them, so I'll post anyway. I acquired three of them from the seller in question.

This one has obverse of Constantine I, AVG abbreviated AV, reverse of Constantine II/Crispus with the completely botched inscription CAEMSARVM NOSTRVM. But Ticinium mint only used DOMINORVM NOSTRORVM CAESS on this series, so this coin is a real hodge-podge of mistakes.

[John Anthony]

The third doesn't need any analysis beyond its crude style to deem it unofficial, not to mention that it's significantly underweight at 2.1g.

What I do find interesting about this coin is that no such bust is recorded in RIC VII. It's obvious that the engraver used as a model, a coin with bust G2 (right, laureate, cuirassed, with spear over right shoulder), but engraved the die in the same orientation as the coin, giving us a horizontally-flipped version of G2.

I also find it comical that he ran out of room in exergue for the mint mark and stuck the L of TARL to the right, next to the inscription. You wouldn't want to leave out a letter - that would make the coin just plain wrong!

[Vincent]

These look like from the fine collection of Rick Morton. He has (had) a wonderful website of his collection named Capitoline Coins.
Seems I am no longer able to pull it up.

[John Anthony]

These look like from the fine collection of Rick Morton. He has (had) a wonderful website of his collection named Capitoline Coins.
Seems I am no longer able to pull it up.

Yes, they are ex-Rick Morton. It would seem his website is down all of a sudden. It was working fine just a few days ago.

[Vincent]

He's been 'disposing' his collection for some time now. I obtained three coins, one of which is an irregular Trier issue of Constantine II from Trier. Will post a picture when I able. Too bad the site is no longer on the web, because it was one of the better productions.
BTW, He is a real nice fellow and had a grand time building his collection in an email he sent me.
As we say, we are only caretakers of these gems for  a short time and they eventually (hopefully) find other homes.

Here is the one in my collection that is posted in "Not In RIC"
http://www.notinric.lechstepniewski.info/7tri434-x.html