Author Topic: Constantinopolis SMALΓ (gamma)  (Read 2744 times)

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Offline ae22

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Constantinopolis SMALΓ (gamma)
« on: July 24, 2013, 08:49:50 PM »
A Constantinopolis from the 3rd officina of Alexandria has been quite difficult to find. This particular coin is the only one I have seen in 2.5 yrs of searching.

It is 15mm,  1.2g

I believe it is RIC VIII Alexandria 9 with S-R in the fields. It is listed as C2, but still the only I have found for sale. Does anyone have one or a picture of one?

Another question, in Helvetica's list of Constantinopolis' my coin pictured here is listed as 15-16mm and the more rare coin RIC VII 71 is listed as a 'small follis'.  Why do they call it small follis, and what is the size of a small follis?

Any comments are appreciated.


Offline Victor

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Re: Constantinopolis SMALΓ (gamma)
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2013, 09:34:17 PM »

Another question, in Helvetica's list of Constantinopolis' my coin pictured here is listed as 15-16mm and the more rare coin RIC VII 71 is listed as a 'small follis'.  Why do they call it small follis, and what is the size of a small follis?


She is using the word small in reference to RIC VII only, not RIC VIII; which are all small. In A.D. 335, the number of nummi to a pound was raised to 196- so more coins were minted using the same amount of metal, which meant the coins became smaller. This is easily seen by looking at the GLORIA EXERCITVS issue. Alexandria 58 (A.D. 333- 335) has two banners on the reverse, while Alexandria 65 (A.D. 335- 337) has just one banner, since the flans were smaller. In RIC the average weight of 19 pre-reform specimens was 2.7gm and 18 post-reform coins averaged 1.7gm.

Offline ae22

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Re: Constantinopolis SMALΓ (gamma)
« Reply #2 on: July 24, 2013, 11:44:58 PM »
Thank you Victor.

It's becoming clear.

Offline Genio popvli romani

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Re: Constantinopolis SMALΓ (gamma)
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2013, 04:21:07 PM »
... Does anyone have one or a picture of one?
...

Are four enough?  :D
As you suppose, it is probably rarer than RIC rating, only four in the nummus-database which can let suppose that it is not a so common coin.

ROMA CAPVT MVNDI REGIT ORBIS FRENA ROTVNDI