Fallen Horseman - Constantius Gallus from Rome

[maridvnvm]

I thought this recent purchase worthy of sharing.

Constantius Gallus - AE2

Obv:– DN FL CL CONSTANTIVS NOB CAES, Bare, bust draped and cuirassed right (D behind bust)
Rev:– FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Soldier spearing fallen horseman, who is wearing a Phrygian cap, falling forward clutching his horse.
Minted in Rome (Gamma _ // RE), 26th September A.D. 352 - 6th November A.D. 355. Third Series
Reference:– RIC VIII Rome 265 var (Listed for P and S both of which are R, Dane Kueth has a matching coin with E from different dies)



Martin

[Sam]

   Right to the BOT 
Amazing rich coin.
Congratulations.

[quadrans]

Successful hunting...

Q.

[Vincent]

Now I know where the term " back stabbing" comes from....or is the poor fellow getting it in the toosh?🐎
Excellent find with super detail and nice style. Always nice to discovery another unlisted variant. Rome mint was very interesting during this period.

[lawrence c]

Great coin.  At times, I'm not sure that any two fallen horsemen are the same.

[dougsmit]

The count is something around 2200 variations last I heard but there are people working on other details like the attire of the horseman (hat, beard, pigtails etc.) so that number will grow as students look at more coins.  The coin here is a rather rare one and many times nicer than most of the mint and time.  With a little looking you can get a set of one from each mint that produced them (15 official and you might want a barbarous one for good measure).  Going for a full set seems a bit overkill but a well organized group of about a hundred coins would do well to represent the series.

Traditionally we separate the coins into four groups according to the pose of the horseman but there is a variation of the 'seated' ones that I believe should be given separate listing.  The image below is from my Forvm hosted website.
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/fh.html


FH1   Kneeling   Horseman kneeling on ground before horse
FH2   Sitting   Horseman sitting on ground before horse
FH3   Reaching   Horseman on horse turning and reaching back toward the soldier
FH4   Clutching   Horseman on horse slumping forward clutching horse's neck

[SC]

Your coin was the last of the third series struck at Rome.  The next issues, the first of the fourth series, dropped the  on the obverse and replaced the  on the reverse with an S.

Your flan is already ragged as was usual with the fourth series.

What is its weight and the diameter of the pearl ring on obv and red?

Shawn

[maridvnvm]

Shawn,
Weight is 4.32 gms.
Max flan size 23.65 mm.
Outer diameter of pearl ring is 22.65 mm.
Regards,
Martin

[quadrans]

Some interesting examples in my Fallen Horseman Gallerie:

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=5358

Regards

  Q.

[dougsmit]

I have quite a few Falling Horsemen but few would expect this Constantius Gallus would be the largest I have at 25mm diameter.  I suspect it may be overstruck on an earlier flan flattened out but I see no undertype detail.

[SC]

Thanks Martin. 

The weight is low for the third series, and is more like what is expected of the fourth.  But at 22.5 mm the PRD is on the large end for a third series and outside the norm for the fourth series. 


Doug,  If it was re-struck on an earlier flan it would be a much earlier one.  This large module of 348 to 352 was the largest coin struck since AD 309.


Shawn