Late Roman Bronze Coins
Coin talk => Late Roman Bronze coins => Topic started by: Victor on July 03, 2021, 10:45:40 AM
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I recently got these two example. Definitely same engraver, I thought that the obverses were a die match for a bit. What is really neat is that on the RIC 196 example (R ✶ Q) the acroteria (knobs on edge of roof and top of pediment) are almost half way up the roof. It almost looks like the engraver moved them to accomodate the legend; which would be unusual as the legend was engraved last. Even the top acroteria looks off, it is actually lower than normal, moving into the pediment rather than on top. I had aother example with the acroteria about a third of the way up the roof (third coin below); though on that example the legend is crowded around the acroteria.
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Interesting.
There are definitely times when the engravers demonstrate that they really don't know what they are depicting.
I recently re-read Andreas Alfoldi's "A Festival of Isis in Rome" (you can find it online as a PDF if you search), and this definitely applies to the later anonymous FoI pieces which followed the imperial reverse ones (ending with Valentinian II). Many of the designs are considerably botched. It's an amazing paper - written in 1937 and demonstrating an understanding of the series that's really way ahead of it's time.
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Yes, it is a great read, I have a link to it on my site-- http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/articles/Alfoldi_A_Festival_of_Isis_in_Rome.pdf
I even downloaded it and had it spiral bound at Staples for a couple of bucks...I hate looking at .pdfs and prefer books.
Though it is hard to see in the photo, the picture shows one reason I like paper books-- several pages are marked with post-it flags...I don't even read a book without a pack at hand.