Licinius I ROMAE AETERNAE

[Victor]

Licinius I
A.D. 320
20mm 3.2gm
IMP LI-CINIVS AVG; helmeted and cuirassed bust right.
ROMAE AETERNAE; Roma std. r., shield in lap inscribed X/V
in ex. R eros (in Greek) S
RIC VII Rome 196


“Part of this mint mark is a cryptogram, and is Greek for eros, which in Latin is amor. Amor and Roma are palindromes-- they read the same backward or forward. Amor was the secret name of Rome. This may have been an attempt by the pagan aristocracy of Rome to use the old religion of mystery and romance to confront the pro-Christian policies of Constantine. The first letter in this mintmark is the Latin letter “R”, for Rome. The next symbol is a ligature, which consists of two Greek letters epsilon and rho, and then an upward sweep which transforms the ligature into the Greek letter omega. What looks like a “C’ is actually the Greek letter sigma. The last letter is the officina. The Greek cryptogram section reads epsilon rho omega sigma or Eros.”

[seth]

I had a feeling it was you I was competing against for it
Congrats, a beautiful coin.

[dougsmit]

Perhaps it should be mentioned that this mintmark comes both with the Roma reverse and a Vota wreath reverse for Constantine I and II, Crispus and Licinius II (although I have not actually seen the last in person).   Both reverses also come with more normal mintmarks but these are not particularly common for the Roma type.

[six2ten]

Perhaps it should be mentioned that this mintmark comes both with the Roma reverse and a Vota wreath reverse for Constantine I and II, Crispus and Licinius II (although I have not actually seen the last in person)

While we are sharing, here's a Licinius II 

Regards

Allan