Any Help on these Ancients?

ormandh

I have the hardest time with Ancient coins. What do the letters on the reverse stand for? How do you attribute the pictures on the reverse? What are the denominations and where would I find that? Thanks.

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STLNATS

All considered to be 3rd bronzes, I think since you didn't provide sizes, also called AE 3s. The actual names of the denominations of the bronzes of the 4th century are speculative in general so collectors tend to refer to these by size. An AE 3 is about the size of a US dime or cent. Mintmarks and workshop identification are on the reverse in exergue (at the bottom below the main imagery). At first glance I'd say these are the following:

Honorius, Virtus Exercitus, Victory Crowning Emperor at left, Antioch mint (ANT), 3rd workshop (gamma)

Constantius II, Fel Temp Reparito, Emperor or Soldier spearing fallen horseman, Kyzicus mint, (SMK), not sure of the workshop

Constantius II, Fel Temp Reparito, Emperor or Soldier spearing fallen horseman, Heraclea Mint, (SMH), 1st workshop (A)

Arcadius (best guess from what's left of the legend), Virtus Exerciti, Emperor standing above captive, Nicomedia mint (SMN) 3rd workshop (gamma).

Constantius Gallus, Fel Temp Reparito, Emperor or Soldier spearing fallen horseman, can't read the mintmark but it might be Alexandria

Constantius II, Fel Temp Reparito, Emperor or Soldier spearing fallen horseman, Constantinope , (CONS), 8th workshop (theta)

I don't really specialize in later Roman, so I'm only about 80% sure of the mintmarks since I'm just doing this from memory.

I think that there's enough information here that you should easily be able to verify/tie these down more precisely at Wildwinds.com or other online resource.

ormandh

Thank you for your direction.

ColinCMR

I really like the look of the 2nd one and last one

harasha

Very nice examples!

Type2

They rely loved power in them times. Very cool coins

lordmarcovan

A little background on "FEL TEMP REPARATIO"

Very roughly translated, it would equate to "Happy Days Are Here Again". A little Roman propaganda. Sadly for them, it wasn't true. They were in terminal decline by then.

nicholasz219

Really the only thing that I have found that helps one read Roman coins is to....read Roman coins. I have been slowly adding to my collection of denarii and bronze in the last few months and while a horribly worn or damaged coin is always going to present a suite of problems for identification, most coins can be easily identified as you gain some experience.

There were a lot of coins issued in this time period by Constantius II, Constans, Constantine the Great and what not in the fourth century. I have found that just perusing the cheapie auctions on ebay gives one a much better feel and some needed practice in what to look for when you encounter a coin with missing or problematic legends. Still, with that being said, I encounter some coins where I'm not 100% sure of what I am looking at so I put it down for awhile and come back to Wildwinds later and start afresh. I am still quite the novice in this area but I enjoy learning and I feel very accomplished when I can finally identify a piece after struggling with it for a while. I'm not quite up to buying lots of unidentified coins and starting from scratch yet, but it is a goal.

Speaking of which, anyone here have any experience with buying bulk lots that must be cleaned and identified? Is it worthwhile or are the coins sold in lots like that on ebay mostly crap or not worth the time?

lordmarcovan

<< <i>Speaking of which, anyone here have any experience with buying bulk lots that must be cleaned and identified? Is it worthwhile or are the coins sold in lots like that on ebay mostly crap or not worth the time? >>

Ebay, as you might expect, runs the gamut. There's plenty of crap out there but also plenty of reputable dealers. The one uncleaned lot I bought (can't remember from whom, now) was OK. There were some Byzantine pieces in it, too, as I recall.