A late Roman surprise

[Valentinian]

As you may know, I have been interested in late Roman coins from RIC IX (Valentinian and later, AD 364 and later) for many years. One of my first major websites was on the reverse types of all the AE of the period:

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ricix/

I recently got one that surprised me. 

17.7 - 17.1 mm. 2.50grams.
Valens, with the very common SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE reverse, from Antioch. Coins of that basic description could hardly be more common. However, when it came and I worked it up, I found out two remarkable things about it.

The obverse legend is listed in RIC: DN VALENS PER F AVG.  However, that legend is only on gold and silver and not on AE (It took me some time scouring RIC IX Antioch to confirm that).  So that is one unusual feature.

Antioch is known for its complicated field marks, this coin has
Φ   K
Θ
over the mintmark ANTA.
But RIC has those fieldmarks only after the death of Valens (none for Valens), in the next issue when SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE was not used (except one coin--exactly one coin--for Gratian, RIC Antioch 49 "r5"). So this coin attests those fieldmarks for Valens. (I cannot say "for the first time" because RIC IX was published in 1933 and much has been discovered since then, not all of which I know). So that is a second odd feature: this coin has fieldmarks that are well-known, but not in RIC for Valens. 

The issue with those fieldmarks has CONCORDIA AVGGG (Types 15 and 16:
http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ricix/type15.html )
as its AE3 and the slightly smaller size appropriate for this issue after the slightly larger previous  SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE and GLORIA ROMANORVM issue. That suggests it really was issued in that later period. 

Research is fun, and that coin (very inexpensive) prompted a lot of research. 
 

[Victor_Clark]

I know of three other examples, including this one I sold in 2018.

 

 

 

 

 

 

here is one of the others

 

https://www.cen-numismatique.com/a-new-bronze-of-valens-for-antioch-to-378-apr-j-c-by-renato-campo/

Edited February 25 by Victor_Clark
added link

[Valentinian]

2 hours ago, Victor_Clark said:

I know of three other examples, including this one I sold in 2018.

 

Thank you! The page you cite is very interesting. I think its "Hypothesis 3" has some merit.

[seth77]

Interesting article, although a bit hard to read. I wish the author would have just written it in Italian rather than translating it in English and using terms that seem Google translated.

[seth77]

Another one: https://www.nummus-bible-database.com/monnaie-78047.htm

[Heliodromus]

4 hours ago, seth77 said:

Interesting article, although a bit hard to read. I wish the author would have just written it in Italian rather than translating it in English and using terms that seem Google translated.

There's also a French version of it here. Perhaps that's the original language?

https://www.cen-numismatique.com/un-bronze-inedit-de-valens-pour-antioche-vers-378-apr-j-c-par-renato-campo/

Whenever you see a numismatic article full of nonsense about "setbacks" and "corners", you know you're looking at a Google translation! ☹️

 

[seth77]

49 minutes ago, Heliodromus said:

There's also a French version of it here. Perhaps that's the original language?

https://www.cen-numismatique.com/un-bronze-inedit-de-valens-pour-antioche-vers-378-apr-j-c-par-renato-campo/

Whenever you see a numismatic article full of nonsense about "setbacks" and "corners", you know you're looking at a Google translation! ☹️

 

Way better thank you.