Beautiful Fel Temp hut with detailed soldier, what's he wearing?

[Pharsalos]

I recently had the very good luck to pick up this wonderfully engraved, struck and preserved  Fel Temp Reparatio hut coin. The mint mark is SMKA: Cyzicus. The weight is 4.20 grams and the diameter is 21mm.

The details are very clear, and my question is what do you think is the bulbous object/s on the soldier's (or Constan's) abdomen? My first impression was that it looked like a gourd water bottle. Any other ideas?

[Carausius]

The details are very clear, and my question is what do you think is the bulbous object/s on the soldier's (or Constan's) abdomen?

I would say either the hilt of his sword or the indication of a decorative cuirass.  RIC does not specifically describe anything of interest at the soldier's abdomen.

[manpace]

I love the ones where the soldier is smiling.  I don't see the soldier's left hand...could it be he has the spear tucked under his arm and that's his hand grabbing his belt.

Gorgeous coin.

[Jay GT4]

Looks like the hilt of his sword

[Meepzorp]

Looks like the hilt of his sword

Hi folks,

I agree. The thing that looks like a water bottle is actually the middle portion of the sword (the piece at the base of the blade). Above that piece is another (round) piece, which looks like the bottom of the sword. Of course, the sword is upside-down, so that piece is at the top here.

Meepzorp

[John Anthony]

A superbly-detailed example. Nice find!

[quadrans]

I recently had the very good luck to pick up this wonderfully engraved, struck and preserved  Fel Temp Reparatio hut coin. The mint mark is SMKA: Cyzicus. The weight is 4.20 grams and the diameter is 21mm.

The details are very clear, and my question is what do you think is the bulbous object/s on the soldier's (or Constan's) abdomen? My first impression was that it looked like a gourd water bottle. Any other ideas?

 Very nice coin and details..

Congratulation

 Q.

[Jochen]

Beautiful reverse, indeed. But here I have found a coin on Vcoins, Constans Trier RIC 224, with similar structures, which seem to belong to his cuirass.

BTW The position of the spear is actually impossible!

Best regards

[SC]

I think there are two things portrayed on these two coins.  Jochen's coin does seem to show a row of pteruges along the bottom of the cuirass, while Pharsalos' seems to show the hilt of the gladius sword. 

A google search will show that the round pommel can be very large on some gladii -  3" diameter is normal and some even top a ridiculous-looking 4" diameter.  Like having a grapefruit above the belt line.

And the position of the spear is perfectly plausible - assuming he has either thrust it through his waistbelt and under his tunic skirt (the Roman equivalent of the gun down the underpants routine?), or has run himself through the abdomen.   

Shawn

[Pharsalos]

Thank you all for your responses! I have attached a cropped portion of the dealers image; it is a little crisper with better contrast. I can see how the small dot and larger bulb could be the hilt of a sword, but to me the 3 blobs looked connected in a shallow 'V'. Although I will say in the hand the small dot stands out the most.

I had also noticed the spear, yes I think it is an impossible position unless there is a hole in his tunic (or as otlichnik suggests abdomen!). My guess is that the spear was engraved  last. The engraver seems to have realised the problem and has attempted to half-heartedly place the spear in front of the tunic where it crosses the biceps. The problem is this area is in relatively high relief, so the spear above the shoulder would have to be engraved impossibly deep to make any sense.

[SC]

There are certainly weird things going on in the torso area.  Like that cross-line under the arm-pit and the other blobs you noted.  Poor attempt at detailing the cuirass??

It is so hard to be sure what was being portrayed on such coins. We can't be certain whether they were trying to portray contemporary armour - which would be mail (lorica hamata) or scale (lorice squamata) - or more likely earlier items which had been "frozen" in contemporary iconography but were no longer in actual use like lorica segmentata, muscle cuirass or a decorated type imperial cuirass.  And then there are the arm and abdomen pteruges - real, or likely archaic.  Throw in belts, swords, baldrics, capes and fibulae and it can be hard to figure it all out.

Shawn

[Robert_Brenchley]

It looks as though the spear has just fallen from the skies, gone through his tunic, and then through his backside. In which case, why is he looking so cheerful?

[SC]

Because he knows he will not die until the Renaissance artists perfect modern approaches to perspective in about 1000 years and out his little secret.

Shawn

[Merinda]

Perhaps the engraver did get the spear right, and what we are seeing as the impossible part of the spear between his shoulder and waist is actually a depiction of his side? Thus the spear disappears at his shoulder and then reappears below his tunic and is ok ?

[SC]

If that was the case then the spear would have to be leaning balanced on the rear of his left shoulder.  An unlikely and awkward stance.

Shawn