Another RIC-unlisted Liberator Orbis for Constantine

[marandnumiz]

This is one of my recent acquisitions - the so called ''Holy Grail of LRB''. A decent albeit a bit worn example, Constantine the Great, reverse variant without shield. The officina number is hard to tell, in hand it seems to be P(rima).

Mihail

[Victor]

that's a nice addition.

It's interesting that Maurice included this type in Numismatique constantinienne (even illustrating an example in the plates) but Bruun missed it for RIC VII.

when people talk about their "holy grail" of collecting, it can be very subjective. Ancient Imports used the term when they were selling Failmezger's example of this coin mainly because they were trying to sell it...they wanted to generate a sense of urgency. This type might be a grail for some but not for all, for me the grail might be Constantine's SPES PVBLICA.

[marandnumiz]

I agree with you Victor. The Spes type is spectacular. But in terms of extant specimens, I think Liberator is still rarer, despite the recent additions to the market? This does not mean much of course, because there are even more rare LRB types.