Help Id a Constantius Gallus

[Grizz]

I have been trying to Id this coin on wildwinds here http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/ric/constantius_gallus/i.html and have been through every picture and cannot find an exact match. Here are some details, size 18-19mm, weight 4.4gm, has what looks like a triangle delta symbol behind the head, has very fine hair that is cupped upwards, can read DN FL CL CONSTANTIV and then the rest of the word is kind of cut off after that.  On the reverse in the upper left field it doesn't seem to have any symbol, just blank. Also the soldiers "kilt" has the lines coming from about a 45 degree angle, I notice a lot of other coins show the lines going up and down on the right side of the kilt and sideways on the left side of it.

I have seen a few that looked close but did not have everything the same as this coin. I know it's from about 351-354 AD but that is all I know. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!

[shanxi]

Try Tesorillo

http://www.tesorillo.com/aes/_rev/index1i.htm

[Jschulze]

Hello,
It's either Cyzikus RIC 99 or Nicomedia RIC 90 depending on mint mark. This is based on the following:

Obverse legend beginning in DN FL CL CONSTAN...
Delta behind bust on obverse
Nothing in left reverse field

I used a spreadsheet on the following page to narrow it down. Go to the Fel Temp spreadsheet. https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dane/

Josh

[Grizz]

Thanks, I took a look over at http://www.tesorillo.com/aes/_rev/index1i.htm but could not find the exact coin, there was  a note that there are over 2000 variations of the fallen horseman, geez this may take a while.  Also I took a look at the  Cyzikus RIC 99 and Nicomedia RIC 90 coins and they didn't really look like my coin. I'm very new to all this so it could just be me not knowing what I'm doing. I do appreciate the help guys!

[Jschulze]

It's ok. These are all obviously hand made. Each die that struck these is different so there is always some variation. These are grouped into types by size, weight, legends, mint, bust style, reverse type and other features but even the same RIC # coins can look a bit different in style sometimes.

Can you read any of the mint mark at the bottom of the reverse?

[Jschulze]

Here are two picture of ric 99 Cyzicus, I haven't been able to find a quick pic of the other coin I mentioned.

[Grizz]

It does look like there might be two N's in the center of mint mark, the one on the right looks a bit bigger and sort of like a W or possibly an A
So in the center is possibly NN, NW or NA. The more I look at it I'm thinking NW.   I can't read any of the other characters or even tell how many there might have been.

[Jschulze]

Well, I can narrow it down a bit. If it's one of the two coins I mentioned, below is a short list of the combinations it could be:

Cyzicus RIC 99
SMKA
SMKB
SMK gamma
SMK delta
SMK epsilon
SMKS

Nicomedia RIC 90
SMNA
SMNB
SMN gamma
SMN delta
SMN epsilon
SMNS

That third letter K or N will tell you which mint

[Grizz]

Oh Ok I see, even through the coin has minor differences in the art we can still identify it according to the features. I was thinking there are going to be some differences since the dies probably had to be remade every now and then.

Nice, I'm probably seeing MN in the center. I'll try to narrow it down. Thanks so much for your help!

[Jschulze]

PS: The "SM" is short for "Sacra Moneta" or "sacred money" of "K" or "N" which is an abbreviation for the city... And the final letter is for the officina or workshop that produced the coin. These in this era at these mints used the Greek alphabet to letter them... A, B, Gamma, Delta...

Anyway, good luck!

[Claudiu P]

PS: The "SM" is short for "Sacra Moneta" or "sacred money" of "K" or "N" which is an abbreviation for the city... And the final letter is for the officina or workshop that produced the coin. These in this era at these mints used the Greek alphabet to letter them... A, B, Gamma, Delta...

Anyway, good luck!

Hi,
Noob question: what does the "S" stand for in "SMNS": sacra moneta Nicomedia ?

[Jschulze]

Ah... nothing is ever as easy as it should be. While many mints used Greek letters to identify workshops, there were also some (I think just Rome and a few others) who used the Latin:

P - PRIMA - 1
S - SECVNDA - 2
T - TERTIA - 3
Q - QVARTA - 4

There’s some great information on this page about it all: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/RomeOfficina/Officina.html

[Claudiu P]

Ah... nothing is ever as easy as it should be. While many mints used Greek letters to identify workshops, there were also some (I think just Rome and a few others) who used the Latin:

P - PRIMA - 1
S - SECVNDA - 2
T - TERTIA - 3
Q - QVARTA - 4

There’s some greasy information on this page about it all: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/RomeOfficina/Officina.html

Thank you, J!

[Jschulze]

And... it looks like I also misread the question...

To make things more confusing in the case of SMNS. The “s” = stigma an archaic Greek letter resembling S for the sixth officina.

So for those mintmarks using Greek letters for officina S=6. While for those following the Latin labeling “S” = SECVNDA or 2.

[JamesC11]

    The letter (number) is actually "hex" as in hexagon for example.  It is (or ought to be) distinguishable from an S by the small serif pointing off the top of the letter, as well as a squashed lower half of the letter (or number).  This is, in Classical Greek, called a rough breathing ("huhhh") which allowed the ancients (but not our contemporaries) to distinguish a Greek hex from Latin sex. 

[Claudiu P]

@ J and James

Fascinating stuff! Thanks for sharing!