Diocletianus - Concordia militum - which mint?

[Helmut S]

Hi all!

I hope you can help me again.

I have an antoninian from diocletianus (see picture) with CONCORDIA MILITUM on the revers, B between the figures and XXI in the exergue. I have found pictures of this coin quite often on the internet, serveral times it was attributed to Siscia, sometimes to Cyzicus. Can someone explain me how this coin can be attributed to a special mint?
XXI proboably means the mixture of materials, B stands proboably for the second officina of this mint.

Any information is welcome, thank you in advance

Helmut

[okidoki]

very nice
sehr schön

[SC]

Yes, XXI refers to the alloy, and therefore, indirectly, to the value.  B likely refers to the officina.

But as to mint, I am as lost as you.  RIC-V part B is rather out of date and I personally don't know of an authoritative source for things like mint attributions from this period.

Maybe someone like Sylvain Estiot, who is a forum member, can enlighten us.

Shawn

[Pekka K]

RIC V lists your coin to Cyzicus as #306, where there
is missing    after second set of mintmarks.

Pekka K

[Ed D]

A coin can be attributed to a special mint by it's style, the portrait should be compared with others.
Not that easy if the emperor is not your specialty.
Compare  your Cyzicus coin with Siscia and Antioch.

[Callimachus]

I would concur with Pekka that the coin was minted in Cyzicus, and is RIC #306.
I have a similar coin, and it took me a while to identify it in RIC because the necessary information is scattered around rather than all in one place.

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-103945

Here is how I did it:

Page 220 of RIC vil. V, part 2, lists 14 obverse legends used by Diocletian. The legend on this coin is legend #3: IMP C C VAL DIOCLETIANVS AVG.  It was used on coins from Lugdunum, Rome, Ticinum, Siscia, Cyzicus, and Tripolis.

The reverse type CONCORDIA MILITVM was used extensively at Siscia, Heraclea, Cyzicus, and Antioch. RIC #256 of Siscia and RIC #306 of Cyzicus both use obverse legend #3.  RIC #284 of Heraclea and RIC #322 of Antioch both use obverse legend #1.

That narrows it down to either Siscia or Cyzicus.  Siscia had 3 officinae, and Cyzicus had 6 officinae.  Officina B (2) could be from either one.

The following statements confirm Cyzicus #306:

The description of RIC #306 on page 253 mention the reverse legend is sometimes followed by a dot (as it is on your coin).

Page 216 says Cyzicus often used dots after XII (as it is on your coin).

Page 211 confirms the break in the reverse legend CONCORDIAMI - LITVM was used at Cyzicus (as it is on your coin). Siscia used only the break after the M:  CONCORDIAM - ILITVM.


 

[maximinvs]

To my eyes the 'Siscia' coin looks like another Cyzicus.
Cheers,
Ian

[Helmut S]

Thank you for all your comments!

I was able to follow Pekka and Callimachus on their way to identify my coin as Cyzicus #306.

It was very interesting to experience that coin identification is not always that easy and reliable as it was with my Probus and Constantine I.

Thank you very much and greetings from Vienna (Austria).

Helmut