Author Topic: RIC VIII Heraclea 26 or 27? (Read 987 times)

habeas-corpus · « **on:** May 15, 2008, 03:05:50 am »

Hello all. So, this is my first post and i'm sorry for the poor quality of the pictures--they are both with and without flash for detail. (I have yet to setup a nice coin/camera apparatus)

From that i can tell this is most likely a RIC VIII Heraclea 26 or 27 (doubtful 25 or 30)

The coin is 16.5mm width at the widest and about .75 to 1.25mm thick. I can easily make out ONST-?NS?. From this and search tools, it's probably a [C]ONST-ANS A[VG] with 1 standard on reverse.

Since i wasn't able to find it on dirtyoldcoins or wildwinds, i used the RCAT excel files from this lovely website and narrowed it down to the two options.

I've looked at http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/busts/ and am having a hard time telling if it's a 26 (diademed, draped, cuirassed) or 27 (laurel + rosette diademed, draped and cuirassed)

Any help would be spectacular and i thank you in advance.

I am sorry to bother you guys/gals with such a newb question; however, i'm stuck and would appreciate a little help so i can learn from this,
HC

vic9128 · « **Reply #1 on:** May 15, 2008, 09:14:44 am »

Hello and welcome!

Your coin is a laurel and rosette diademed bust.

habeas-corpus · « **Reply #2 on:** May 15, 2008, 08:42:09 pm »

Victor,
Thank you for taking the time to help a novice out. :-)

I am curious though--so i can make this distinction in the future--what made it a dead give away that it was both laurel and diademed? (I've tried to figure it out, but i just can't seem to distinguish the major differences.)

Thanks again,
HC

vic9128 · « **Reply #3 on:** May 15, 2008, 09:25:49 pm »

Quote from: habeas-corpus on May 15, 2008, 08:42:09 pm

what made it a dead give away that it was both laurel and diademed? (

You can tell that yours is laurel + rosette diademed because just a little above the ear is a clear circular rosette. Telling the difference will become much easier with time, it also helps to look at (many) other examples.

habeas-corpus · « **Reply #4 on:** May 15, 2008, 09:47:14 pm »

Thanks again Victor.

HC

habeas-corpus · « **Reply #5 on:** May 16, 2008, 01:34:58 am »

OK.

After some more inspection, i think i've got it figured out specifically why you came to this conclusion.

Please correct me if i am wrong.

What i should have noticed was that plain laurel's never have rosettes because they are only leaves. And, that a rosette diademed never has leaves unless it also has a laurel.

Thus: Leaves and Rosette = laurel + rosette diademed.

Is that how you would approach the combination/distinction?

Thanks to your help, i think i understand the distinction. (That is, if my thought process here is correct.)

HC (aka: the guy who couldn't distinguish the leaves.)