Hello Brad,
Your coin corresponds to
RIC temp 1514 and has been struck by the
Milan mint (2nd phase - large busts - of emission 5).
The coinage of Aurelianus is especially difficult to classify as the same
type (same description + same marks) may be common to several mints. Difficulties arise for
Milan,
Rome and
Serdica : this last
mint has been particularly misunderstood.
This
type has not been struck by
Siscia : one of the numerous errors of
RIC V.1. The classification between mints and then between issues relies on stylistical considerations, which are in turn based on the observation of thousands of coins, most of them from great cabinets (
Paris,
Vienna,
Berlin,
Budapest, etc.) and from
hoards (La
Venèra
hoard for example for Aurelianus' reign). This coin cannot, as far as my experience allows me to tell, be attributed to
Rome. Maybe you should stroll the many illustrated coins of our website to get your eyes accustomed to the differences between mints, which can hardly be described in words. Best regards,
S.
Estiot