Antioch Mint

[Arnulf]

Hi...I was looking at the barbaric Roman issues in the FORVM catalog and saw a Julian II with the following tag line:  "The style of this coin is a bit too exotic, even for the Antioch mint."  I have been collecting/cleaning Romans for almost a year now and I guess I never thought about each mint having their own distinctive styles.  I just assumed (incorrectly?) that coins from different mints differed only in exergical marks.  Is the style of coin produced by the Antioch mint typically different...i.e., exotic...perhaps because of its distance from the capital?

Thanks,
Chris

ADMIN NOTE: See the Roman Mints Style Examples Gallery - https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=391

[AncientCoins]

Yes, mints can differentiate greatly in style.  I'm sure some people will be able to post pictures of coins showing the differences, but I am on my way out right now

Andrew

P.S.  As to your question of why: I think it's just because of different celators with different styles.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Look at these two Constantine I's; the first was struck in London in late 312 or early 313, the second in Antioch in 312. The portrait styles are completely different, and the second is in distinctly higher relief than the first. The first was struck by Constantine himself, proclaiming himself as 'Prince of Youth', the second by Max Daia, with his typical Genius reverse.

[Jochen]

You often can differentiate between a Western style and an Eastern style. Its not only the feature of a particular die cutter!

Best regards

[basemetal]

Mint styles differ so much from the Western and Eastern mints that as most know here, it's often a bit difficult to identify a coin just from the bust.  Some of the 12 emperors and many of the later bear little or no resemblance to the Rome mints heads or busts.

[Arnulf]

Thanks for all the info.  I suppose I thought that portraiture, at least with the later imperators, was as neat and tidy as some of the earlier ones.  It's hard to mistake coins of people like Augustus, Vespasian, Gordian III, and Otho (as long as he's wearing his wig!).  I appreciate the site and coin photos of Constantine I.  I guess die cutters had to guess at an imperator's likeness and each die bore the unique artistic influences of the region.

I suppose some amount of communication as to portraiture took place...die cutters from different parts of the empire seem to do certain things with uniformity...like portraying whether or not an imperator wore a beard...or was heavy or thin.  Certain, more specific traits seem to be well known throughout the entire empire.  That hallmark nose of the Gordians (I always likened it to Richard Nixon's) shows up in both Rome and provincial mints.  Gallienus and Aurelian, at least to me, have the most easily recognizable portraits of the antoniniani coinage.  I'm guessing that in certain cases, die cutters of far away mints get a gander of a coin or portrait made directly from someone familiar with the imperator's likeness?

I can just envision the imperial legate arriving at Cyzicus with a sealed document marked "FOR THE DIE-CUTTER'S EYES ONLY!"  Inside...the updated circumference of Licinius' neck.   

Thanks again,
Chris

[maridvnvm]

One of my specialist areas is Probus and I thought I would share a little montage that I have put together. We must remeber that stylistic changes occur within a mint over the time of a single emperor as well as between mints and it is often necessary to become as familiar as we can with these style differences to be able to determine the correct mint placement for some coins.

Here are some Bust Type Cs (Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right (seen from the rear)) for arange of mints under Probus including some examples from different periods of output from these mints where I have examples to show. I hope it is evident that there are marked differences to be seen between the mints but also withiin a single mint just for this short period of production. I have taken a random sample of coins and there are different styles notable between dies from the same period but they are all generally evident that they come from a particular mint at a particulr period.

The output of Antioch and Tripolis are notably more crude and eccentric than the output of the other mints,

Similar stylistic differences can be seen for the other

Regards,
Martin