Identification Struggles on Late Roman Imperial Coinage. Any advice appreciated...

[Hughie Dwyer]

Hello all, 

Being new to collecting, I often encounter difficulties when trying to research my coins and the Empire itself. Usually, I work around them and everything works out fine.

However, there has been one problem hanging over me for some time:

Back when I first started collecting, I bought a lot of uncleaned/unresearched coins from the Late Roman Empire (not worth it in my opinion) and I have now come to the point that I feel I must properly identify them. I know the basics of each coin (e.g. the emperor, the obverse, the reverse) but finding the mints and the 'RIC value' seems impossible.

At last, after many hours of research, I have come to the FORVM to ask for the assistance from more experienced members.

I have a few questions:

What do you do if you can't properly identify a coin?

Can you always Identify a coin/a coin's mint?

How do I know if I have identified the right emperor? This sounds like a silly question but, to me, most of the portraits look the same and some of the coins don't have a readable legend to go by.

 

I will post pictures of the coins soon

 

Thanks in advance for any help - it is much appreciated!

Many thanks,

Hugh

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by Hughie Dwyer

[Hughie Dwyer]

This is just one of my problems:

(sorry for the BAD photos)

I have this down as a Valens but I am beginning to think that this could be Valentinian I or even Valentinan II.

[Hughie Dwyer]

As our final examples, we have these:

Here, both these coins have been cleaned with harsh chemicals before purchase and so obscuring much of the important writing.

On the first, I have tried to discern the meaning but have had limited luck.

As for the latter, I have almost given up.

 

Many thanks for viewing,

HD

 

P.S.  Please feel free to notify me of any problems/mistakes with what I have put.

[Ancient Coin Hunter]

I think you are mostly right. Good work. It's hard with the "uncleaned" hoards to get much out of them. I started with those when I got back into the hobby in 2013. Lots of culls and coins which were featureless, like 60% of the one kilogram lot I purchased. If I had $2 for every FEL TEMP REPARATIO coin of Constantius II I received I would have made a profit on the purchase!

This one reminds me of your Constans piece but is Constantius II from Antioch....

 

 

[Hughie Dwyer]

Thank you @Ancient Coin Hunter! It's nice to know I'm somewhat 'on the right track'. 

You have quite a neat coin there too!

[Al Kowsky]

2 hours ago, Hughie Dwyer said:

This is just one of my problems:

(sorry for the BAD photos)

I have this down as a Valens but I am beginning to think that this could be Valentinian I or even Valentinan II.

Hughie, One of your coins may be the smaller version of this issue 😉.

[seth77]

12 hours ago, Hughie Dwyer said:

This is just one of my problems:

(sorry for the BAD photos)

I have this down as a Valens but I am beginning to think that this could be Valentinian I or even Valentinan II.

This might be in fact Theodosius I.

[Hughie Dwyer]

Hello again,

Sorry if I'm asking too many questions.

@seth77 Yes, I think that you are right. Looking at the obscured obeverse legend, it does seem to say 'DN THEODO-SIVS PF AVG' which matches up with him. 

@Al Kowsky Your coin indeed looks to be a much nicer version of mine.

@Ancient Coin Hunter Our coins are quite similar!

 

However, it is this coin that I am researching now. :

I have it down as 'FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C' but actually the legend does not match up.

I found this coin on Wildwinds.com and I believe it might have the same obverse legend as my coin: 'FL CONSTANTIVS NOB CAES'

THIS IS NOT MY COIN

However, there is no coin on any database that I have searched that has this obverse with my reverse. Is it possible that this could happen? Do you think that I am worrying over nothing?

 

Many thanks for viewing,

Hugh

 

P.S. I will be researching this coin (as well as others) further and will update you on any progress.

I have similar problems on other coins.

I will hopefully update the BAD photos soon to see if that makes it any easier.

Edited February 16, 2023 by Hughie Dwyer

[seth77]

Consider FL CONSTANTIS BEA C or NOB C, for Constans.

[Hughie Dwyer]

@seth77

Again, I think that you are right.

Here is a coin I found on Wildwinds.

This is not my coin.

 

[Hughie Dwyer]

I seem to be getting a bit better at this. I have solved most of my original problems - but a few.

Thank you all so much for all of the help!

[Hughie Dwyer]

...and maybe not...

 

Sorry to bump this thread again but I have this coin where, once again, the legends fails to match up with what I have it down as.

Again, I have this down as 'FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C' but this coin actually looks more like it says 'CONSTANTINVS ...', which made me think that this was actually a Constantine I. Anyways, as per usual, and help is always much appreciated and thank you for all the help that I have already received.

 

[Hughie Dwyer]

For this coin:

The obverse legend clearly states 'NOB C' at the end. 

It looks to me as if it says: 'DN CONSTANTINVS IVN NOB C' 

There are only two similar legends on Wildwinds and they are 'FL IVL CONSTANTIVS IVN NOB C'

[Kiaora]

The first coin is Constantine II, from Trier

1 hour ago, Hughie Dwyer said:

...and maybe not...

 

Sorry to bump this thread again but I have this coin where, once again, the legends fails to match up with what I have it down as.

Again, I have this down as 'FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C' but this coin actually looks more like it says 'CONSTANTINVS ...', which made me think that this was actually a Constantine I. Anyways, as per usual, and help is always much appreciated and thank you for all the help that I have already received.

 

 

The second coin is Constantius Gallus 

1 hour ago, Hughie Dwyer said:

For this coin:

 

[Hughie Dwyer]

Thank you very much @Kiaora. 

I have updated my info. 

Hope these are as expected:

 

[John Conduitt]

It might help to use Tesorillo for LRBs, as it’s a bit easier to narrow down by reverse type, mint and legend. Once you’ve done that, you can get an ID on Ocre.

[Hughie Dwyer]

Thank you everyone who helped me out. I am very pleased with the outcome. I thought that I should update you all on ow it has turned out. Please see the images below - enjoy!

Thanks again,

Hugh

[Spaniard]

@Hughie Dwyer..Very nice way to display your coin collection Hugh!