Unlisted officina?, Campgate, Constantine I

[tjaart]

Dear board,

I have eventually gotten around to filing and cataloguing my coins from this year. I believe one of the campgates I bought is featuring an unlisted officina/bust type combination.

Constantine I
CONSTAN-TINVS AVG
Helmeted, cuirassed,
VIRTV-S AVGG, campgate, four turrents, 6 layers, no door, no star, P in left, R in right,
RT
RIC VII Rome 184   (officina var)
20mm, 3.2g

I have found this page from Not in RIC: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/notinric/7rom186_t.html although I am not sure the busts are the same. What do you think?

Tjaart

[Victor]

Yes, yours is the same as the example you linked to.

[tjaart]

Thanks, Victor. These busts are always confusing to me. I will have to start to learn it a bit better.

[Gavin]

Cool looking helmet!

[Lech Stępniewski]

Helmets/busts from this issue could be a real pain...

Dear Tjaart, your initial attribution was correct. Your coin is ROME 184 (unlisted officina T), bust type D2 (not D7). Helmet on your coin apparently has a visor. Bowl-shaped helmets from this issue usually have "a narrow stripe along the lower edge decorated with dots".

Nice coin! I would be happy if you could make a better (sharper) picture. Your coin deserve it!

[Victor]

Maybe I am confused about the Rome helmets (Bruun does not have any plate coins) but I always thought that D7 looked more like the example below.

Now I understand my confusion...I agree that the original coin is D2 ( helmeted and cuirassed) but the example linked to (which I thought D2) is described as a D7 bust...I did not notice the bust description; but merely agreed that it looked like the original coin.

Lech is 100% correct ...I looked at the corrigenda again and now see the distinction between the Rome D2 and D7 busts.

Bruun also says in his corrigenda that coins with visors (usually employed by Licinius) are D2 busts, so that was the big clue...which I failed to notice.

so basically 3 types-

D2  helmeted (with visor...sometimes Athene type helmet with sharp protrusion)

D6  laureate helmet

D7  bowl shape with crest

[tjaart]

Thanks for the clarification, Lech. I attach a sharper picture that you can use.

Tjaart

[Lech Stępniewski]

Many thanks, Tjaart!