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Some time ago on Numism-L, the e-mail list for numismatists specializing in Ancient and Medieval coinage, Mr. Oliver Hoover posted an inquiry about a marking on a Centenionalis of Constantius II which he could neither identify nor interpret. |
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The feature in question is visible on the reverse to the right. It appears as a pair of rounded dashes in the right field just below the shield the soldier is carrying. His question was, "Is this a part of the mint mark, and if so, what kind of letter, numeral, or other figure is it?" I reported that the feature in question is not a letter at all, but a part of the soldier's armaments. This was met with some surprise and scepticism, so I decided that some comparisons with other similar pieces would be instructive. The coin is most like RIC 81 for the Constantinople mint, and although from a different officina has similarities to the work of officina S. |
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In the course of my efforts to explain the nature of this figure, it seemed that this might provide an opportunity to discuss certain other features of the Falling Horseman reverse type on the centenionales of Constantinople. It is useful to note some of the distinctions and similarities on these pieces, since these details often aid in attribution when the mint mark is absent or obscured. I have chosen to highlight three key features on seven exemplars of this coinage by means of a special online interactive viewer which will give the user complete control over how comparisons may be made between pairs of coins and selected details of their designs. |
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In order to use the Comparison Viewer, your browser must be able to support frames. Because of the complexity of the viewer page it may take an extra minute or so for the button bars which control it to appear. Please be patient since they are the key to viewing the images here displayed. Except for the original comparison piece all the images are color scans taken directly from the coins. |
Though presently limited to coins of Constantinople, eventually I will broaden the range of comparisons to include coins of other mints as well. It is hoped that in this way the general collecting public will become more aware of the variety available in a specialized collection of the fascinating coin type known as the "falling horseman." |
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