I've got a little confused...

[davidschles@gmail.com]

Good evening all...my apologies if this post is seriously naive, but I'm trying to learn and understand mint marks and I've become confused trying to identify the marks on a Roman gold Solidus of Valentinianus. I'm looking in particular at one on Roma Numismatics which is a Valentinianus II AV Solidus (15260). From what I have learnt so far, I understood that the mint mark was on the reverse in the exergue, and therefore the lettering 'com' would indicate Thessalonica. However, the description of the coin states 'Trier', which I assume to be the mint location based on the letters T and R in the body of the reverse. Am I completely misreading the lettering, and if so, what means what?
I would be grateful if someone could point this newby in the right direction.
Thank-you.

[areich]

Here's an explanation of (COM)OB:

http://finds.org.uk/romancoins/articles/page/officina

[justus]

Hi David,

the mintmark of Trier for roman golden coins (solidi) changed completely after the death of the usurpator Magnus Maximus in AD 388. Now the local or mint information "TR" is distributed left and right across the fields, as you have ascertained correctly.

Now, however, the letters "COM" appear in exergue, what stands for "comes aurei", the administrator of gold, who authenticated the assay of the gold. The "COM" substitutes therefore the "OB" (OB = Obryzum = pure gold) of the older gold coinage.

Nevertheless, with Constantinus III (407 – 411) and Jovinus (411 – 413), under which the last golden coinage was minted at Trier, the older "TROBS" was used again.

Literature: Karl-Josef Gilles, Trierer Texte No. 3. Münzprägung im römischen und mittelalterlichen Trier, Trier 1983, p. 8.

http://romanumismatics.com/shop/product/15260/

[davidschles@gmail.com]

Hi Areich and Justus, thank-you both for being so kind as to help.

I spent some time today reading information from a new book I've bought: 'Roman coins and their values' as it seemed to be a pretty thorough 'bible', and I can see how much I have to learn! I think I need to get my dates and Emperors sorted out first before confusing myself with the actual language of Roman coins.

So COMOB means pure gold of the Imperial Court, with the mint marks appearing distributed across the reverse, whilst COM on its own means the same thing on later coinage. Would that be correct as a generalisation? As regards Constantinus III and Jovinus, I presume that TROBS would have appeared in the exergue. Would there also have been any lettering across the reverse in addition?

I would like to have more books which will give me a good basic understanding before I start collecting seriously. If there are any suggestions as to where to start, I would greatly appreciate them.

Thank-you again for your help. I feel myself becoming addicted!!
Kind regards
David