Constantinople commemorative, Alexandria mint

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PetesPockets55
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Constantinople commemorative, Alexandria mint

#1 Unread post by PetesPockets55 »

I'm not knowledgeable at all on the ancient coins. But I got a couple in a recent e-Bay purchase. From what I could find online, this appears to be a late Roman coin, Constantinople Commemorative from 330-331 ad.
Bronze
1.4 G
16 mm
Obverse- Constantinople around the perimeter, Bust facing left, wearing an imperial cloak, scepter over the left shoulder.
Reverse-winged Liberty standing facing left, right foot on the prow, right hand on a spear or staff, left hand on the shield on the ground.
Left field is the letter S
Right field is the letter A
Exergu: S II AL (N?) -Alexandria mint I believe.

Any idea about rarity on mine (Again, probably common since it is bronze) or a more accurate attribution or details/info?

I have to chuckle at myself because when I bid on it I thought maybe this was a gladiator coin. On the reverse- I saw a chariot wheel (the shield) and thought I could see a Roman version of a bola with weights hanging down or net under the winged individual (Liberty). Details were obscured by all the sand that was on it before conserving lightly. lol:
Obverse closeup
Obverse closeup
Reverse closeup
Reverse closeup
Reverse #2
Reverse #2
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Reverse (Ignore notes on label)
Reverse (Ignore notes on label)
IMG_20180413_042514234.jpg

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mhonzell
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Re: Constantinople commemorative, Alexandria mint

#2 Unread post by mhonzell »

Nice coin!!

An amazingly complex process to find "the right one":

The feathers on the wings are all flowing downward instead of in the direction of the wing. That's unusual for this coin's design. This makes it an AE3.
This puts the coin at 337-April 340AD as RIC VII, Alexandria 27.

That's an S and R in the reverse fields.
The mint mark is SMALA•. The last A indicating that it was made in the first officina of the Alexandria, Egypt mint.

The coin is considered common.
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Re: Constantinople commemorative, Alexandria mint

#3 Unread post by PetesPockets55 »

Oh M..... G......! You rock Mark. :yourock:
There are so many small deviations on these ancients. Coupled with corrosion and other damage you really have a numismatic crossword puzzle going on trying to attribute.
Do you have spread sheet to keep track of the details?

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Re: Constantinople commemorative, Alexandria mint

#4 Unread post by mhonzell »

I have a lot of books. For instance, this coin is a line entry in a 750 page book that is volume 7 of a 13 volume set. It took so long to write these books that the method of indexing the coins completely changes several times from first to last volume.
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Re: Constantinople commemorative, Alexandria mint

#5 Unread post by PetesPockets55 »


The process sounds as intense as breaking down living organisms into genis and species.

I just got real lucky with my descriptions on my internet search. The first one, I only had to scroll down one page to see examples of similar ones.
Second one came up quickly also.

(A simple thanks isn't enough for sharing your knowledge with us. And thank you Daniel for having the site available to help people. I'm happy to help keep it available by being a contributing member. So much value!)

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Re: Constantinople commemorative, Alexandria mint

#6 Unread post by mhonzell »

I've probably made it sound a lot harder than it is. I use the internet a lot in my searches. The books are well organized once you have a feel for when different rulers held office. And, with a little practice any crossword puzzle's clues become easy.

I cannot imagine the effort expended writing those books. But, I did help in some small areas of Daniel's site and recognize the effort he has put into collecting the vast amount of knowledge he has collected here.
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