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Constantius Gallus Phoenix

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Kelly:
Hello All,
I acquired a Constantius Gallus phoenix the other day in a small lot of coins.  The lot arrived and I started to attribute the coins and came across two challenges with this coin.   

•   The obverse legend is unrecorded.
•   Only the very tops of the mintmark letters exist, I do not want to speculate (guess).

This is what I know:

351-354 AD. AE3, 17 mm and 2.6 grams. Obv: DN FL CL CONSTANTIVS NOB CAES, bust right. Rev: FEL TEMP REPARATIO, Phoenix with radiate nimbus, standing right on pyre. Ex: Unknown, Sirmium.  351-354 AD. PXZ15.  RIC VIII.  Unlisted in RIC with this obverse legend.  The recorded obverse legend in RIC is DN CONSTANTIVS IVN NOB C.

Sirmium’s mint was reopened in 351 AD after being closed for 26 years and remained in operation until 364 AD.  RIC also indicates that a workshop was transferred from Siscia to reopen Sirmium.  The other locations that minted coins with a phoenix reverse did so from approximately 348 AD to 350/351 AD.  This is the only location to mint a phoenix reverse from 351 AD to 354 AD.  Constantius Gallus was Caesar from 351 AD to 354 AD.  RIC VIII, 27, Sirmium is the only other coin with a Constantius Gallus and a phoenix. 

The style of the bust I feel is distinctly Sirmium.  I base this on the wisps of curls at the base of the neck, which is on my coin and a few other Gallus issues (There are probably other emperors with this feature; I have personally not seen it though).  The phoenix itself is well proportioned, unlike the typical examples seen from Siscia, which look like a squatty duck or from Constantinople, that look like a stork!  The layers on the pyres on the coins from Siscia are somewhat elongated, whilst on this coin more round.  And Constantinople only produced phoenix on globe. So I feel that Siscia and Constantinople are eliminated as a potential mints.  That still leaves 11 other mints that produced coins with a phoenix reverse.

Now to the point, based on the above facts and some speculation, this coin in all likelihood was minted in Sirmium. However, I have yet to see an image of a Gallus coin with a phoenix reverse from Sirmium.  So if anyone has images of such a coin(s) please post.  I know this topic is extremely narrow; however, I would appreciate anyone that could bring to this discussion evidence to support or refute my position.

Bottom line I am trying to figure, with a reasonable degree of certainty, what mint produced this coin.

Thanks in advance for reading this and for any help,
Kelly

black-prophet:
I see that the obv. inscription while not listed for this type or any of the non- fallen horseman types is somewhat common for fallen horsemn types.Could this maybe be a mule then?.Could this mint be Lyon? as I agree the style is different than Siscia or Constantinople and might be something rarer and less seen like Lyon.I'll keep looking for examples to post.O.K. here are some pics.

Kelly:
Hello All,
Black Prophet certainly has provided food for thought with the coin being a mule.  Does anyone out there know how common (or uncommon) a mule was during the mid fourth century?

So the criterion for a mule is the original coin (die) would have to be in the neighborhood of 17 to 19 mm to match my coin.  Using Dane’s Fel Temp chart the following mints produced a coin of that diameter with an obverse legend of: DN FL CL CONSTANTIVS NOB CAES (RIC G5).  The following mints produced coins (Billon) that met the above conditions:

•   Rome
•   Constantinople
•   Cyzicus

The obverse legend was also used for the minting of gold in Siscia and Constantinople.  For silver we look at Constantinople, Nicomedia and Cyzicus.  Unfortunately RIC does not provide diameters for these issues.

So the waters did not become any clearer, but a mule is a viable option.  Any other opinions about the coin?
Thanks,
Kelly

Jeff Clark:
Kelly,
It is very difficult to deal with coins such as this since not all of the information needed is there.  However, when I first looked at the coin and the partial mintmark, I thought Rome immediately.  The obverse legend is key to helping decide where it is from and, as you pointed out, Rome did use this legend for FEL TEMP coins with the fallen horseman.  Rome also issued phoenix on rock pile style reverses.  I didn't really know either of these facts before I considered Rome.  The style of the phoenix is distinctive and I have seen it before, but can't really remember what mint it was from.  Again, it isn't quite my area of expertise.  My best guess is that this is an RIC unlisted coin of Rome based on what I can see of the mintmark and the obverse legend.
That is about all I can say without a few more examples running around for comparison.

Rupert:
Very interesting, especially because the dies were normally not used simultaneously.

The rev. (Phoenix type) is one used for Constantius II and Constans, before 350.

The obv. is Constantius Gallus, Caesar 351-354, after the death of Constans.

In the Western mints (the coin looks Western in style), the rev. was used before and the obv. after the rebellion of Magnentius and Decentius.

Rupert

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