A Review of Common Late Roman Coin Types

as commonly found in A.C.E. uncleaned coin lots

#2 Two Soldiers with Standard(s)

On the left, our example shows Constantine II as Caesar during the lifetime of his fater Constantine I (the Great). The oddity here is that Constantine I allowed his sons as Caesars to be shown wearing the laurel wreath ordinarily reserved for the Augustus. The reverse shows two soldiers each holding a spear and shield with two standards between them.

CONSTANTINVS IVN NOB C / GLOR - IA EXERC - ITVS and in exergue CONSI

The reverse legend honors the "Glory of the Army". To attribute this series correctly we must be careful to read every letter. Constantine's three sons had very similar names and are easily confused. In this case, our task is made easier by the inclusion of IVN (Junior) indicating this is a coin of the younger Constantine. Constantine II is the only one of the boys issuing this type to use IVN so these few letters can be very helpful in attributing his coins. The letters, however, were not used on all of his coins so their lack is meaningless. The title Noble Caesar is abbreviated here as NOB C but some issues used NC. The mintmark CONS places the coin at Constantinople followed by the workshop numeral I (Greek for 10). Specialists will note that this shop ID places this coin earlier in the series (330-334 AD) since shop ten was given to Delmatius when he became Caesar in 335 AD.

Any coin of the two standard variety that has a legend ending in AVG will belong to Constantine I since he was the only Augustus during this period. Things get a bit more complicated when we move to the other example showing only one standard between the two soldiers.

Our second example (right) shows a coin issued after the weight reduction that occurred near the end of the life of Constantine I. This example, obviously smaller, actually was issued after the death of Constantine I and shows his son Constans at the full rank of Augustus. Coins of the reduced weight standard are designated by the loss of one standard from the reverse. This late example shows that one standard decorated on the top with the Christian symbol Chi-Rho. Christian symbols become much more common on the coins of the sons. All three were Christian but it may be incorrect to attribute these symbols to their extreme piety. The period between the death of Constantine I and the start of the sole ruler of Constantius II was filled with wars and murders between the family members. Cousin Delmatius was first to go making his coins most scarce of the two soldiers varieties.

CONSTAN - S PF AVG / GLOR - IA EXERC - ITVS and in exergue GSIS(crescent symbol)

The legend breaks around his head (I have no idea why this was considered a sign of increased status) and he wears the Imperial diadem. The portrait is elongated unnaturally compared to the rounder faced portraits used for Constans before the death of his father. It appears that 'thin' was 'in' for rulers of the day. As we have seen elsewhere, PF AVG expands to Pius Felix Augustus (pious, blessed Emperor). The mintmark under the ground line on the reverse ("in exergue") begins with the Greek numeral for workshop 3 (G) followed by the city abbreviation for the mint at Siscia. This mint often used additional symbols like this crescent following the mintmark to separate coins issued over a period of time or to indicate some other (not understood) element of mint organization.

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