Metal detecting holidays in England

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Romano British gold and bronze coins 150BC to 450 AD

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Roman and Celtic silver coins

Roman and Celtic gold coins

 

In 55 B.C. the Roman general Julius Caesar conquered France (At the time the country was called Gaul, and the Romans called it Gallia). The Gauls fought hard against the Romans and had been helped by their friends in Britain. Caesar was upset by their assistance and decided to teach the Britons a lesson.

Julius Caesar made two attempts to invade Britain, first in 55 B.C. and then again in 54 B.C. Both times the British warriors and the rotten British weather made his army give up and return to Gallia.

Nearly a hundred years later in 43 A.D. the Emperor Claudius sent another army to invade Britain. This time the Romans were successful, Roman Britain had begun!

26th - 31st August 55BC Julius Caesar attempted to invade Britain

Julius Caesar crossed the Channel with a force of around 10,000 soldiers. They landed on the beach at Deal and were met by a force of Britons. The Romans eventually took the beach and waited for cavalry back up to arrive from France. However, a storm prevented the back up force from reaching Britain and Caesar had to withdraw.

July - Sept 54BC Julius Caesar's second invasion of Britain

Julius Caesar crossed the Channel with a force of around 27,000 infantry and cavalry. They landed again at Deal and were unopposed - the Britons had retreated to higher ground. The Romans marched inland and met a large force of Britons led by Cassivellaunus north of the River Thames. After a hard battle the Romans defeated the Britons and some tribal leaders surrendered to the Romans. Cassivellanus ordered crops to be burned and made guerrilla attacks on Roman forces.  But the Romans were too strong and Cassivellanus was forced to surrender. In September Caesar was forced to return to Gaul (France) to deal with problems there and the Romans left Britain.

54BC - 43AD Roman influence increased

Although not present in Britain, the influence of the Romans increased due to trade links

5AD Cymbeline Cymbeline, King of the Catuvellauni tribe, was acknowledged by Rome to be King of Britain
May 43AD Romans Invaded Britain

A Roman force of about 40,000 led by Aulus Plautius landed in Kent. They defeated a force of Britons led by Caratacus and began taking the South-East of Britain. Caratacus escaped and fled to Wales where he set up a resistance base.

Autumn 43AD Claudius arrived with reinforcements

The Roman emperor Claudius arrived in Britain with reinforcements. Colchester (Camulodunum) was taken and eleven tribal Kings surrendered to the Romans. Claudius appointed Aulus Plautius Governor of Britain before returning to Rome.

43 - 47AD Conquest of the South

The Romans continued their conquest and by 47AD had conquered the whole of South Britain and claimed Britain as part of the Roman Empire.

47 - 50AD London Founded

London (Londinium) was founded and a bridge built across the river Thames. A network of roads was built across the south of Britain.

 

Comments and ID's against Roman coins are from our expert Mark Lehman who also lectures on the subject in the USA

Comments and ID's against Celtic coins are from Dr Philip de Jersey who runs the National Celtic Coin Index

Tiberious 14 to 37 AD gold Aureus - tested as 97% ancient gold

 

388 AD Theodosius I gold solidus 4.40g, 20.26mm

This is, as you later suspected, Theodosius I rather than Magnus Maximus.  A solidus of "Mag Max" would be a great item to find - Kipling included him as a character in "Puck of Pook's Hill" with a vividly-drawn, if fairly historically inacurate portrait.  He's a good bit scarcer, in general, than Theodosius I, but the coin we're looking at today carries an "R2" rating in RIC, so it's pretty scarce as well.

 
This is a Solidus - the denomination introduced by Constantine the great which would continue to be struck with very little variation in weight or fineness for nearly another thousand years as it became the flagship coin of the Byzantine empire.
Your specimen was minted at Trier, between 388 and 392 A.D.  The "COM" in the exergue refers to it being pure gold - the mint designation is the T - R to either side of the two characters on the reverse - who are meant to be 2 co-regnal emperors - the basic design goes back to the time of Valentinian I and Valens, but continued until, at this time, it was supposed to be Valentinian II and Theodosius I as the 2 senior Augusti, there was however (throughout the era) a 3rd and even, at times, a 4th emperor. 
The obverse legend is D N THEODOSIVS P F AVG - with the normal diademed draped and cuirassed bust right. 
The reverse is VICTORIA AVGG (the 2 "G's" abbreviating "Augustorum" referring to multiple emperors) and shows the 2 emperors, presumably Valentinian II and Theodosius I seated facing, holding a globe between them, the top half of Victory between and spreading her wings above them.
 
RIC IX Trier 90b.
 
Congratulations to you and the digger - What a great find!
 
Mark

Coin denominations of the Roman Empire

The aureus was the main gold coin of the Early Empire, and its minting was under the direct control of the Emperor. Under Augustus, the currency was such:
1 aureus = 25 denarii
1 quinarius (gold) = 12 1/2 denarii
1 denarius = 16 asses
1 quinarius (silver) = 8 asses
1 sestertius = 4 asses
1 dupondius = 2 asses
1 as = 4 quadrantes
1 semis = 2 quadrantes
1 quadrans = 1/4 as

Roman Gold solidus of Valentinian I or II - Val I, 364-375 A.D. Val II, 375-392 A.D

4.42g 21mm dia found by Ark Gary

Obv: DN VALENTINIANVS PF AVG - would be the same for either.
Rx: VICTORIA AVGG for I, AVGGG for II. Two emperors enthroned facing

Solidus
Constantine introduced a new gold coin in his reign, to replace the aureus, which was called the solidus and was 1/72 of a pound.

Scripulum
This was another gold denomination introduced by Constantine, worth 1 1/2 of a solidus.

Semissis
was a smaller gold coin introduced by Constantine, and was worth 1/2 of a solidus. It was replaced in the reign of Theodosius I.

Tremissis
The tremissis was introduced by Theodosius I to replace Constantine's scripulum, and was worth 1/3 of a solidus.

 

SILVER Coins

Denarius
The denarius was the main silver coin, in fact the main denomination, of the Roman Republic. Under the Empire, Augustus controlled the minting of the gold and silver denominations, and the denarius continued. Under Nero the weight and fineness of the denarius dropped, and this cost-cutting practice was continued under successive emperor. By the reign of Caracalla, the denarius was about 40% silver, and the new antoninianus was introduced. The denarius continued, but was gradually phased out, first becoming bronze, and then disappearing after serving the Romans for almost 400 years.

Quinarius
Silver quinarii, or half denarii, were minted sporadically throughout the Republic. Its minting became more regular under the Early Principate and, under Augustus, it was worth 8 asses.


Antoninianus
This coin was introduced by Caracalla and worth twice that of the Denarius, but it actually only had about 1 1/2 of the denarius's silver content. Both the Antoninianus and the denarius continued for some time until the denarius was phased out. Gradually, over the Third Century, the silver content of the antoninianus dropped, until it was merely silver washed bronze coins. At this time, it is considered to be an AE coin.
Image Not Yet Available Argenteus
This silver coin was first minted by Diocletian as part of his monetary reforms. It lasted until the reign of Constantine and replaced the old denarius, for it was roughly the same fineness and weight of the early denarius.
Image Not Yet Available Miliarense
This silver coin was worth 1/18 of a solidus, and was introduced by Constantine late in his reign to replace the argenteus.
Siliqua
Another silver coin introduced by Constantine, and worth 1/24 of a solidus. Originally it was 1/96 of a pound of silver, but his son, Constantius II reduced it to 1/144 of a pound of silver.


Bronze Coins


Sestertius

The orichalcum sestertius (plural: sestertii) was the largest bronze denomination in the early Roman Empire, and it continued, growing only gradually smaller until the reign of Postumus (usurper in the breakaway Gallic Empire, 259-258 AD) who minted the last sestertius. Because of their larger flan, the sestertii, particularly of the earlier empire, had the potential for exquisite reverses which many moneyers, particualrly under the Adoptive and Antonine dynasties, used to portray their finest works.
Dupondius

As

Semis

Quadrans
The copper quadrans (plural: quadrantes) was worth a quarter of an as under Augustus. It was one of the smallest denominations in the Early Principate.

Follis
The bronze follis, originally silver washed, was a new denomination of Diocletian's monetary reforms. The follis, however, soon began to decline in diameter and weight.

Centenionalis
The bronze centenionalis were the attempts of Constans and Constantius II to reintroduce a large bronze coin, as the follis (above) had by then shrunk dramatically. The centionalis, however, did not last long and by the end of Theodosius the Great only smaller varieties of bronze coins were minted.

AEs
The bronze coinage of the later Roman Empire has too many varieties in diameter and weight. No record is known of the names of these denominations, or their worth. They are broadly categorised as AE1 (27mm or larger in diameter), AE2 (23 to 27mm), AE3 (17 to 23mm) and AE4 (less than 17mm).
'It's a very nice example of one of the rarer Clacton types - only just over 20 of the basic type (VA 1458) are recorded, and there are some variations within that group (mostly in minor elements of decoration, and in particular the form of the 'flower' beneath the horse)'. It will be CCI 04.0481. '70BC

Gallo-Belgic E stater, c. 56 BC. It's class 2 of the type, listed in Van Arsdell as VA 52. This will be 04.0476 in the CCI.

Cunobelin Gold full stater 10 to 40 AD, CCI 03.0811.
Celtic stater of Addedomaros 37 - 33 BC

CCI No 04.0678

'this is a very good example, both sides nice and sharp. I'm doing some detailed work on the dies of this type at the moment, there are quite a lot - something like 25-30 obverse dies and maybe 50 for the reverse - so it must have been quite a sizeable coinage, probably produced over a number of years. Somewhere between about 45 - 25 BC is probably a reasonable guess'.

Celtic gold stater Norfolk wolf type 65-45 BC found by Alaskan Todd

 

'CCI No 04.0681 is the Norfolk wolf. Another nice coin, c. 50 BC. The basic type is common (over 300 coins) but there are minor variations in the design, and this appears to be a rare variant with a sort of stick below the wolf rather than the usual crescent and pellet. I haven't checked through all the records but from memory there are no more than half a dozen or so from this die variant'.

Gold stater Dubnovellaunus 70BC found by Boston Al

Celtic 1/4 stater found by Alaskan George

"it's an early (perhaps c. 50-40 BC) quarter stater, possibly produced in Essex.
It seems to have developed out of the Gallo-Belgic D quarter stater (Van Arsdell 69), imported in large quantities into Britain from Belgic Gaul, possibly with some influence from the so-called 'Kentish trophy type' (Van Arsdell 147) of a
very similar period. This particular type is unpublished in any major catalogue

Hard to imagine the skill required in those days to to put two thin gold sheets over a bronze inner. Contemporary forgery of 'Clacton' type gold stater circa 70 BC

Celtic AE probably Kentish - boar right, pellet in ring below - ? Horse galloping right

Cunoblein stater hoard with corn and horse design found by Virginia Brian(g)From left to right

CCI 04.0477 'classic A' series, VA 2027-1. Generally believed to have been the last major series of his gold, so probably dating from the 30s AD. There are three or four matches for this particular pair of dies in the CCI, among the c. 100 of the basic type. The decoration at the base of the corn-ear is a bit more showy than usual.

CCI 04.0478 'plastic A' series, VA 2010-3. Believed to have preceded the classic type, so perhaps from c. 25 - 35 AD. About ninety of these are recorded here, and again there are a number of matches for both of these dies, including at least one coin in the British Museum (BMC 1819 in Hobbs's Catalogue of Iron Age coins in the BM).

CCI 04.0479 'linear' series, VA 1925-1. The earliest of these three, perhaps from c. 20 AD, and a little rarer, with about 60 recorded here. Again there is a coin in the BM from the same pair of dies, BMC 1783. There are a couple of rather unusual features to the dies - although not clear on your example because of the position it has been struck, there appears to be no V on the end of CAMV, and there's also a mark - perhaps some kind of privy mark - after the CVN on the reverse, you can just see the top of what looks like a letter I between the N and the horse'sfront legs on your coin.

Gallo-Belgic E stater, c. 56 BC. It's class 2 of the type, listed in Van Arsdell as VA 52. This will be 04.0476 in the CCI.
'Based on the portrait, it appears to be either Didius Julianus or Pertinax. Both emperor's coins are quite rare'.
Cunobelin tribe full stater AD 40 found by Boston Al
Celtic gold 1/4 stater Addedomaros Floral Trinovantes tribe, 30 BC found by Billericay Mark

'CCI No 04.0680 is the quarter stater, VA 1623. Probably an issue of Addedomaros, so similar date to the stater VA 1620, although since there's no inscription we can't be certain. The style of the horse is very like other coins of Addedomaros though so it's a reasonable guess. Just under 60 of these recorded'

Minted by Arcadius, ruled 383 to 408 AD; this coin was issued between 15th May 392 to January 17th 395 and could have a 10% silver content. Found by Cal Charles
(b)

'This is an example of the Clacton 1/4 stater - it's not listed in VA, but there's one in the British Museum catalogue, at BMC 192 (where it's incorrectly attributed to the Corieltauvi). These coins were virtually unknown until the 1980s, but we now have records of more than 50 of them, predominantly from Essex, and it seems certain to be the quarter stater type associated with the full Clacton stater. There is strong Gallo-Belgic influence, as you mention - the obverse seems to be copied from the 'three men in a boat' design found on the imported Gallo-Belgic quarter staters, while the reverse is indeed nearly identical to the Clacton stater type. Its date is probably c. 50 BC.

This one will be in the Index as CCI 04.2136'. found by Manhattan Gary

Dubnovellaunus Late 1st BC to Early 1stC AD Full Celtic gold stater found by Texas Dave

Cunoblein 40AD - 1/4 Gold stater found by Boston Bud

'many thanks for these, they're both very fine coins. The Dubnovellaunus stater is VA 1655-5, and will be CCI 04.2295. We have records of just under 100 of the basic Dubnovellaunus stater type (VA 1650-1655); it can be very difficult to split them further without studying the individual dies, because key motifs such as the inscription are often off the edge of the flan, as here. In fact this example is struck a long way off-centre on the reverse, since it's unusual to see just about the whole of the motif beneath the branch under the horse.

The Cunobelin quarter is rarer. It's actually the so-called 'plastic' type, VA 2017 (CCI 04.2296). The key to its identification is that it's the only Cunobelin type which has CAM CVN on the obverse, rather than the usual CAMV. We have records of just 17 other examples. There are also other, rarer subtypes, which have A or AGR on the reverse coupled with this obverse'.

Celtic Cunbelin bronze 1/4 stater found by Vegas Mike

Celtic Coin Index as 04.264

Morini ' boat tree' type c 70BC Celtic quarter stater

'As you say it is the Morini boat/tree type. The closest catalogue reference would be Van Arsdell 69-1, though as you realize it's not quite the same, but has all those extra little crosses around the boat. This is not particularly uncommon - we have at least 60 or 70 examples of this among the 700 or so of the basic quarter stater type - but it is quite unusual to see them as well displayed as here. It's arguable that this variety ought to be given some sort of separate catalogue entry, but for the time being it falls into the VA 69 bracket.
This one will be CCI 04.2470'

   
 
1stC BC Roman silver coin forgery
'unfortunately, one can't even see if there is
a laurel wreath or diadem that might help with vague dating. My first
impression is that it's post-Constantinian, but that's in the realm of
"clarevoyant attribution" rather than being based on any firm evidence'

Roman Republican denarius, Crawford 390/2

Moneyer:l.Lvcreti Trio, Mint Rome 76 BC

obv:laureate head of neptune facing right with trident over shoulder, behind is a control mark. rev winged boy on dolphin speeding right,below L.LVCRETI border of dots TRIO 3.73g, 18.08 mm.

4thC Roman bronze

'Your coin is a "BEATA TRANQVILLITAS" altar type and appears to be from either London or Trier mint - the exergual mintmark is too vague in your picture to be sure - these date to the early Constantinian era, pre 324 A.D'

 
 
 
 (snr)

"Silvered" AE follis of Constantius I (Constantine the great's father) as Caesar c. 295-305 A.D. The Obverse inscription is (probably) [FL VAL] CONSTANTIVS NOB C - his laureate and cuirassed bust right. The reverse inscription is GENIO POPVLI ROMANI "(To) the genius (spirit) of the Roman People" with Genius standing left holding a patera in his right hand and a cornucopia in his left. Unfortunately, I can't make out the mintmark - in the exergual space on reverse - under the "ground line" upon which Genius stands - so I can't give you a definitive attribution - if you can make out letters in this area, let me know and I'll give you RIC # and exact dates.
 

'The series in general is universal, ie: this type was struck at all mints in the empire for several years during a general re-tooling of the money system - so in great numbers, but certain officinae at certain mints striking for certain personages may be considered common, scarce or rare. It's certainly "important" in its greater British context since Constantius' victories in the area were instrumental in getting him promoted to the Tetrarchy in the first place, and by extension, his son Constantine the Great and his whole brood who would dominate the scene for the next 50 '

 
 Information kindly supplied by Mark from the UAC
 

Addedomaros 37 - 33 BC found by Dakota Dennis

'a very nice example of the Addedomaros spiral stater, VA 1620. Lots of them about now (150 plus) but this is a very decent example - though as usual without a trace of the reverse inscription, all off the edge of the flan. VA's dating is a bit unrealistic, I would suggest anywhere between 45 and 30 BC, but certainly a little later than the Gallo-Belgic stater you recorded before. This one will be CCI 05.0196.

'This appears at first glance to one of two possible coins - either an early Byzantine-era pentanummium (c. 525 A.D.), or a fragment (or barbarous imitation) of a centenionalis of Constantius II or Magnentius (c. 350-355
A.D.) with a large Chi-Rho (X + P) monogram style Christian symbol on the reverse'.

GLORIA EXERCITVS - soldiers flanking single
legionary standard - of some member of the family of Constantine and so
dates to about 335-340 A.D
'Tetricus I, 270-273 A.D. and appears to be Spes
advancing left holding flower and hitching skirt - Cf. Sear RCV, 3181
'

Large Roman in great shape 11.97g - 30mm Neronian VICTORIA AVGVSTI S C dupondius

'It would date to 50 AD to 68 AD based on date of minting but keep in mind that by the time the coin traveled all the way to Britain and acquired as much wear as it enjoys, it was probably deposited in that field where your guy found it 20 to 30 years later and possibly as late as Hadrian's time (117 AD plus.) (These things circulated a long time sometimes.)

The rarity of the coin is certainly in the "scarce" category'

Chicago Ron's 2nd full Celtic stater

5.30g 16mm

CCI 05.0267

Chicago Keith's and Chicago Ron's full Celtic staters

Left example 5.64g 16mm CCI 05.0212
Right example 5.54 g 17mm CCI 05.0213

Addedomaros type 45- 30 BC 17mm 5.50g not in any major reference book Canadian Rod

'This will be CCI 05.0283. What is unusual about it is that the reverse is struck quite far off-centre, so that much more of the inscription is visible than is usually the case. Although the initial A of Addedomaros is not visible (at least I can't make it out on this image), what you can see then reads DDIID working clockwise round the top of the horse - with the first two Ds represented by the Greek letter theta (so with a bar across the middle), then the II representing the fourth letter, E, then a conventional D for the next letter. And obviously the rest of the inscription would carry on round in front of the horse's head and beneath the cornucopia under the horse. It is more common to see these coins offstruck so that the lower part of the design is visible, and relatively very rare to see the early part of the inscription as you can here'.

CCI 05.0283

Addedomaros 45- 30 BC found by Mass Linda 19 mm 5.45g

CCI 05.0285

Addedomaros 45- 30 BC found by Canadian Rod 17mm 5.42g sent to CCI for logging

Addedomaros 45- 30 BC found by Mass Linda 18 mm 5.62 g

CCI 05.0286

Addedomaros type 45- 30 BC - 5.53g 18mm

Veggie Mike

CCI 05.0290

Addedomaros type 45- 30 BC 5.62g 17mm

Mass Linda

CCI 05.0291

Addedomaros type 45- 30 BC 5.63g17mm

Mass Bruce

'The 'burnt' one is curious, can't really tell whether a lot of that will clean off or not from the image. It's interesting that so far, most of the coins are really quite worn - which suggests that these coins had been around for a while before they were buried. So subject to further finds etc, at the moment I'd guess a burial date somewhere round 20 BC, perhaps even a few years later'.

CCI 05.0293

Addedomaros type 45- 30 BC 5.57g 16mm

Mass Bruce

CCI 05.0292

'local imitation of a Nero ANNONA AVGVSTA CERES sestertius in very crude style - the portrait less so than the reverse. The portrait looks like Nero, but he had a fairly limited group of reverse types and the only likely possibility for a standing figure next to a seated(?) one is the Annona type'.
3rd century product - of excellent style - although you show the reverse rotated 90 or so degrees clockwise - it may also be unofficial, but the relief is unusually high for a "barbarous radiate". The reverse is probably meant to be a peacock flying right with a person riding it - this is a memorial style, the peacock bearing the person off to "heaven" or wherever. Say around 260-275 A.D. (?) I believe would be a safe guess. I think there are coins struck posthumously for Valerian by Gallienus with this reverse, I know there was a type or two Valerian struck for his late wife Mariniana with a similar reverse, but that's no woman on the obverse and women were never portrayed with radiate crown. This is problematic, because at the time of Gallienus, Britain was part of the Gallic empire, so you might need to look under listings for Postumus or his successors to find a closer match
'This coin seems to be an official, though highly worn sestertius of either Vespasian or Titus - I think I can see "VES.." in the obverse inscription from about 9:00-10:00. Since they both were portrayed looking nearly alike and Titus used VESP in his inscriptions, it would be difficult to say which of the two it is from your photo, but you could fairly safely date this to the 60's & 70's A.D'.

Trinovantes Clacton Celtic gold 1/4 stater 50 BC 1.29g 14mm CCI 05.296

'yet another very interesting coin. This is a Clacton quarter stater, unlisted in Van Arsdell but in the British Museum catalogue (in the wrong place, with the Corieltauvi) as BMC 192, and in 'Coins of England' as no. 42. These coins were almost unknown in the late 1980s, but there are now about 60 of them recorded here, mostly from Essex and Suffolk. The reverse design is basically the same as the better-known Clacton stater (VA 1455), while the obverse has yet another interpretation of the three men in a boat design, here with two 'men', and sometimes looking like a human face. Unfortunately not readily visible on this one, though you should be able to pick out the outline of the boat.

Of those 60 or so examples, possibly as few as two are struck from the same reverse die as this coin, which has several large flaws and is probably from late in the series (as the use of a nearly plain obverse die also suggests). Both of the earlier two coins came from Suffolk, one from Ipswich and the other near Alderton. The type probably dates to c. 50 BC and was definitely a production of the Trinovantes.

45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold coin 5.58g, 15.72mm CCI 05.0752 found by Mass Bruce
Morini ' boat tree' type c 70BC Celtic quarter stater 1.41g, 11.0 mm sent to CCI for logging found by Atlanta Mike

45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold full stater found by Texas Gary

5.45g, 18.78 mm

'thanks very much for these, nice to see another Addedomaros after a gap of a few weeks! This one will be CCI 05.0749. The obverse is good, looks like one of the earlier dies in the series with the pellets between the arms. It's interesting that this one is that much further from the bulk of the other coins; it still fascinates and puzzles me, trying to work out exactly what sort of site you've got there, or what the precise pattern is behind the deposition of the coins'.

Celtic gold 1/4 stater of the Cunoblein tribe 1stC BC to 40AD.(Biga type) head facing left found by Wis Paul

1.38g, 10.89 mm

 

'another cracking little coin. It is the biga type as you say, still quite rare: we have just over 20 of the quarter recorded. I had hoped to have a look at the dies in comparison to the rest of the coins in Oxford this morning, but ran out of time and I'm now back in Guernsey again. That'll have to wait a while, but in the meantime it looks as though it's one of the later strikings of this type, because of the simplified CAMVL inscription on the obverse. The earliest examples have each letter very clearly defined, but they soon merge into what looks almost like a zigzag on some coins.

Saying it's a 'late striking' is all relative of course: it's possible that the biga type was struck over a very short period, perhaps even just months and certainly unlikely to be more than say five years or so, sometime around 8 - 13 AD I would estimate. It'll be CCI 05.0688

Chicago Ron's 'Snettisham' type ? Celtic gold full stater 5.85g - 17.05mm

'Having seen this one I've had to think again about 05.0680, the Whaddon Chase type I wrote about earlier. Although quite different in their individual style these are probably both the same variety of WC stater, actually listed as VA 1498. This is a rather puzzling type because it's not clear whether it really belongs to the WC group or - as you suggested - the Snettisham type. There are 18 examples of it here and those with findspots are a mixture of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk - on that basis it could arguably be either WC or Snettisham. In terms of style, they are perhaps among the very last WC staters rather than being the first Snettisham, which appear to have been based on the Whaddon Chase design. In terms of date this might only be a difference of a few months, and almost certainly not more than a few years, so it's perhaps unreasonable to expect we'll be able to tie it down quite so neatly. CCI 05.0687'.

Wis Dave's 1/4 Uninscribed Celtic gold stater 1.43g, 12.98mm

'Yes, this is interesting. It's an uninscribed quarter stater, traditionally attributed to the Atrebates (in the South Thames) but almost certainly a North Thames issue. We have records of about 25 of them, and without exception they've come from the North Thames area: it was previously attributed to the Atrebates because of the style, which resembles their uninscribed quarter staters with a wreath on the obverse. The date of this quarter would be around c. 45 BC, I would estimate, so like the Whaddon Chase it could be just a little earlier than the Addedomaros coins. It is catalogued in Van Arsdell as VA 260-1, but not only wrongly as Atrebates but also listed as silver. Many of the surviving examples are struck from the same pair of dies, which develop some fairly major flaws, especially on the reverse; the lack of many dies suggests this wasn't a very big issue, in comparison to the Addedomaros spiral for example.

If I remember rightly there are one or two examples of this type in the huge East Leicestershire hoards which came up about 3 years ago, but mostly they're Essex/Suffolk area. This'll be CCI 05.0683'.

Ark Gary's second 45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold stater 5.50g, 16.35mm

CCI 05.0679

Illinois Tim's 45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold stater 5.63g, 17.96mm

CCI 05.0678

Chicago Ron's Celtic gold stater 'Whadden Chase' type 5.95g, 17.68 mm

The Whaddon Chase stater (yes, it is that type) will be CCI 05.0680. These coins are probably not very much earlier than the Addedomaros staters - it all depends really on when one dates the Addedomaros issue. It seems fairly certain that the Whaddon Chase staters could be from the later stages of the Gallic War, say about 54 BC at the earliest; they could be a little bit later, but are unlikely to be after say 40 BC at the very latest. If Addedomaros's spiral staters are his latest stater issues, then they could be somewhere around 30-25 BC, so perhaps up to 25 years later than Whaddon Chase. It just depends where each type fits, and we don't have an exact idea. I suppose it's true to say though that there is almost certainly a minimum of ten years between them, and more likely 20.

One of my colleagues recently suggested that the WC staters were issued by Cassivellaunus, to pay off Caesar during the Gallic War. They certainly seem to be found mostly in the territory of the Catuvellauni (so this one would be a bit further east than usual . The main catalogue reference for this type is VA 1476 in Van Arsdell's 'Celtic Coinage of Britain'. They're relatively common (300 or so recorded) but a lot of these are finds from the original WC hoard, found in Bucks in 1849.

Ark Gary's 45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold stater 5.55g, 16.02mm sent to CCI for recording

45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold full stater 5.51g - 19.05 mm found by Ohio Mike

This one will be CCI 05.0667.

As you say, a very well-used reverse die. I think I recognize the die - after looking at these quite intensively over the last year or two, the individual dies start to become recognizable. The obverse is on the other hand pretty sharp, and must have been struck from a fairly fresh die.'

45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold full stater found by Florida Don

'this one's a real cracker!

Certainly one of the best I've recorded in recent years, with just a little wear, as you say. The quality of the engraving is also extremely high - I'm sure these must have been among the first dies engraved for this type. The horse's muzzles which I mentioned last time are particularly neat here, it's really unusual to see them quite so clearly. I also suspect, though I haven't worked out how to prove it yet, that the coins with the pellets between the spiral arms are the earlier examples of this type.

I'll record this one as CCI 05.0655'

45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold full stater found by Ark Gary

'Well, this is a nice one, and as you say with those intriguing symbols above the horse visible. What they seem to be is three horse's muzzles - on some dies they are virtually identical to the muzzle actually on the horse. Curiously, at roughly the same time that Addedomaros was using this motif on his staters, so was Commios, down in Hampshire. In fact since Commios is generally dated a little earlier than Addedomaros, it's not impossible that the latter encountered one of Commios's staters and decided to copy this feature. It quite often appears blundered, which suggests that the die engravers didn't always know what they were looking at. I'll record this one as CCI 05.0603, and I look forward to more!

'VA 2029, one of the rarest of Cunobelin's stater types with the left-facing classic style horse. We have just thirteen others of this type recorded; this one will be CCI 05.0666'.
Celtic quarter stater Gallo Belgic 70 BC found by Canadian Rod VA 69-1
CCI 03.0203
#That would be "ARA PACIS" The Altar of Peace. It's just a large, squarish object that corresponds pretty well to the blob on your coin. Positive ID for Nero. According to RIC, the years the type was minted were 65 & 66 A.D. and only at Lugdunum (modern Lyon). Some sub-types are considered "common" some less so, but I doubt we'll ever be able to read enough of the obverse inscription to say more than that it's the ARA PACIS type'.

Mark

4thC Valens - 364-378 A.D Roman bronze with the info supplied by Mark at the URF

'That is the emperor Valens - 364-378 A.D. Obverse inscription DN VALENS PF AVG diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right. The SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE AE3's of him and his brother are very, very common. His brother Valentinian I who pre-deceased him in 375 due to not waiting four hours for brother Valens to arrive, hoping to claim the "glory" for his imagined "victory" at Hadrianople for himself, is one of the classic hubris stories of the later Empire. Valentinian and hiis legions were ridded down by the Gothic cavalry employing their new invention - the stirrip - and anihilated. One of the greatest disasters to befall the Empire at this time I can't make out the mintmark on the reverse - perhaps some cleaning would reveal sufficient tops of letters in the exergue to tell you what mint produced this piece.

The Victory reverse is interesting in that it appears at the time the iconography was shifting from the Classical deity Victory to the Christian angel symbology - but at this time is still to be interpreted as Victory advancing left carrying wreath and palm.'

4thC Roman bronze - Comments from Mark Lehman

'That's an easy one - up to a point. It's Constantius II, (377-361 A.D.) DN CONSTANTIVS PF AVG. Diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right. The reverse type is FEL TEMP REPARATIO - roughly translated as "Happy days are here again". The reverse shows a soldier advancing left, spearing a fallen horseman. As inappropriate as this juxtaposition of legend and scene might seem, the thought that foot-soldiers could unhorse and kill "barbarian" cavalry was comforting enough to those for whom this propaganda type was issued.
This series was current from about 250-260 A.D. and these "AE3's" (medium sized bronzes, 17-22mm) are among the very most common Roman coins known - however, they're not so common in Britain, I suppose, since Roman involvement in Britain was about done-for by that time. Unfortunately there isn't enough visible in the exergue (space below the "ground line") on the reverse to be able to tell the mint from which this specimen comes, although it looks like it might become visible with careful cleaning'.

GLORIA EXERCITVS - 2 soldiers standing, facing, holding spears in outside hands and leaning inside hands on shields, flanking a single legionary standard with a chi-rho Christogram on it
As you probably noticed, there is almost no legend on the obverse. All that ever made it onto this undersized flan is the "...B C" at 4:00 or so - and it's too bad, too, because the detail of the coin is so good and crisp otherwise - but the legend never made it onto this coin in the first place - the flan was too small for the dies. The "...B C" indicates that it was struck for someone before they had become emperor. Unfortunately, there are 4 suspects and we will never be able to be completely sure which it is. Three of Constantine the Great's sons:
Constantine II
Constans &
Constantius II,
also:
Delmatius - a cousin - but Delmatius is pretty rare, and it's fairly unlikely that's who it is.
All four used this reverse in the 335-337 A.D. time-frame.
My best guess is that it's Constans because his shorter name could account for the seemingly broad spacing of the couple of extant letters.

FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C
CONSTANTINVS IVN NOB C
FL IVL DELMATIVS NOB C
FL CONSTANS NOB C

are the most common forms of their names for this series. Also, unfortunately, the exergue similarly failed to make it onto the coin, so I can't tell you at which of the myriad of operating mints it was struck, either.

Info supplied by Mark Lehman

'In your photos, I can't make out any of the obverse legend or even see a clear profile of the portrait. My guess, from what little I can see is that it might be Antonine-era: c. 140-180 A.D. The reverse has a "generic" standing female personification holding a cornucopia in her left arm, and I'm not altogether sure what she's holding in her right. A scepter, a long torch, a caduceus, a standard - any of those are possible, and with only a couple of letters visible, we could only tell which personification it's meant to be by the "attributes" - what she holds, that is. The S - C in the lower fields could be found on just about any Imperial AE of the era - it merely means the Emperor was paying lipservice to the powerless Senate by saying the bronze was issued ex senatus consultio - by the permission of the Senate.

As I keep writing and looking at the picture of the reverse, I'm starting to think it might be: PAX AVG - although the spacing of the letters is a little odd - usually they would spread the letters out more to take advantage of all the space. And really, a laundry-list of TR P's, COS's, and IMP's is far more usual for a reverse legend at this time. Very useful, when clearly readable, for dating the coin to a particular year or even month, in some cases.
Even if it is Pax, that tells us little. These reverses were dictated by the Imperial propaganda-machine and every emperor who ever fought a war (IOW, every emperor) used some form of the Pax reverse either to declare victory, or as wishful thinking.

When and if the obverse ever cleans up a little better - or if you can get a better angle of light that shows the profile to better advantage, please let me know the diameter in mm and I'll make a better stab at the ID for you'.

Info supplied by Mark Lehman

'It's almost certainly 3rd century by the radiate crown on the obverse - it looks nothing like a 4th century "post-reform radiate". I'm not making out any legends or the reverse type on that one, either. What is the diameter in mm? I'd say, depending on diameter, that it's either an official antoninianus from the darkest hour of the Empire - Gallienus-Claudius Gothicus - 260-270 A.D. or a contemporary (so-called "barbarous radiate", although I dislike that term - the folks who made and used them were no more barbarians than the Italians) imitative radiate'

Info form Mark at the URF.

'The "celticbronze" is actually an early Roman Provincial As or Semis from Spain - Costulo, I believe. That's probably a bull on it. This could belong to either what's know as the "Romano-Celtiberian" series from the time of the Republic (2dn-1st centuries B.C.) or could be as late as Augustus/Tiberius in the 1st century A.D'.

300-305 A.D Maximian - Constantius I

'These are both folles (sing.- follis, plural-folles) dating from approximately 300-305 A.D. Both from the Mint at London which eschewed exergual mintmarks during this era.
The first is Maximian, the second, Constantius I - father-in-law and father of Constantine the Great respectively. These both have the GENIO POPVLI ROMANI reverse portraying the "Genius" (spirit, roughly) of the Roman People as an allegorical personification of a nude man, drapery over left arm, holding a patera (shallow, saucer-like libation-offering dish) and cornucopia.

Maximian's obverse legend is: IMP C MAXIMIANVS PF AVG. He is laureate and cuirassed.

Constantius' obverse legend is FL IVL CONSTANTIVS NOB C, noting that his status was less than Imperial at this time - he would briefely be emperor before dying of illness in Britain in 307. He is also laureate and cuirassed.

I would assign Maximian to RIC VI, London 17, and Constantius to 22 of the same series.

Both these coins originally had a silvery wash over the copper to indicate that they were to be considered part of the silver series. The Maximian is rated "Common", Constantius "Scarce" in RIC, but both are in exceptional condition (as I'm sure you're aware) particularly for field-finds in England. I would limit any cleaning to a bare minimum on these, exposing only the highlights of legend and devices, leaving the fields encrusted for contrast - "earthen highlights" - common for mideast finds, this would be brilliantly unusual for native, British coins.

Nice pair of finds, guys!!

Mark


'This is not from the same era as the last two, rather about 30 years later, despite the similar overall look of patina and encrustation. This one is a CONSTANTINOPOLIS commemorative. The reverse has Victory on a ship's prow and no legend. When Constantine moved his capital to Byzantium and changed the name, there was a very large emission of coins from all mints with the allegorical personifications of either Constantinople or Rome instead of the usual royal portrait. Your piece is from the second officina at the mint of Trier, 330-331 A.D. RIC VII, Trier, # 530 - considered very common' Mark

Huge Roman Sestertius
19.11g, 31.1 mm

'A little tough to be sure from the images, but I believe that's Faustina II, the wife of Marcus Aurelius. If you rotate the obverse image 90 degrees clockwise, you see the characteristic hair-bun at the back of her neck. also, what's visible of the legend is probably: FA [VST] INA AVGVS [TA]. I can't really tell who the personification on the reverse might be. She was married to M. Aurelius in 145 A.D. and died in 175 A.D., So if this isn't a "DIVA" posthmous type, and it doesn't seem to be the sort struck under Antoninus Pius, this would date to 161-175 A.D.

I have never heard of "Memoriae Damnatio" on a coin of Faustina - but perhaps in Britain things were different? I'm thinking perhaps this might have something to do with the Antonine Wall? Or some campaign during the time of M. Aurelius that was very unpopular?'

'This is an AE sestertius of Faustina Jr., Wife of Marcus Aurelius, issued after her death in 175 A.D. She died while accompanying her husband on a journey to the East.

The obverse legend should be: DIVA FAVSTINA PIA and as far as I can tell, the reverse is: AETERNITAS S - C with Aeternitas standing left, holding phoenix on globe and leaning on column, RIC III, 1693

A very interesting find - too bad it's laminating so badly'.

Mark Lehman

Possible Roman lead token

70BC Morini 'boat tree' Celtic gold 1/4 stater 1.45g, 11.61mm CCI 06.0187

'many thanks for these. The Gallo-Belgic 'boat tree' quarter will be CCI 06.0187, and the Clacton quarter 06.0188.

The G-B quarter is a lovely coin, looks very sharp. There is a distinctive class of these which have all the little crosses around the 'boat' - they're not uncommon, but not always as nice as this.

The Clacton quarter is one of those where the wear on the obverse makes it look as though there's a face - and perhaps the Celts who saw the coin thought that too, although it is based on the same boat that appears on the Gallo-Belgic coin. Again it's not particularly rare, at least not anymore - there are a good dozen or more from this obverse die, and probably this reverse too although it's difficult to be sure from this image'.

50BC Trinovantes Celtic gold (Clacton type)1/4 stater - 1.13g, 13.71g CCI 06.0188

50BC Gallo Belgic Celtic gold stater 6.24g - 16.58mm CCI 06.0190

North Thames type Celtic gold stater 5.54g - 16.93

 

'many thanks for this one, a rare one indeed. It's an example of VA 1509, also in the BM catalogue (BMC 350) and no. 34 in 'Coins of England'. It usually has a couple of S shapes on the obverse, although I can't see any traces of them here - the obverse is sometimes worn though. It seems to be a North Thames type, to judge from the few provenances available, but there are only six examples previously recorded so it is a rare type. I would guess quite early too, perhaps 40s BC. Certainly one of the best Celtic you've had so far, thanks! It'll be CCI 06.0195'.

cheers
Philip

Roman 1 - 2.20g, 19,14mm - Roman 2 - 0.92g, 12.43mm

Roman 1 'small-module follis of one of the members of the family of Constantine - and a perfect example of what I refer to as "Murphy's Law of Ancient Coin Legends" - the part that is most important, if there's any question who it is, will be the part that is missing. I can easily say who it isn't - it's neither Constans (wrong letter on the end) nor Constantius II (too early) - what I can read on the obverse is "...ONSTANTI.." but this could be either Constantine I or II. The reverse is the "SOLI INVICTO COMITI" type and shows radiate Sol standing left raising hand and holding a globe. It's from Lugdunum by the prominent "L" in the exergue (SLG, probably), and, looking in RIC, I see from the S - F fieldmarks that it's too early at 313-14 A.D.to be Constantine II.'

Roman 2 'I am not going to be able to tell you who or where-from on this one - but your reverse image was upside-down again. It's a GLORIA EXERCITVS (Glory of the Armies) with 2 soldiers, holding spears in outer hands and resting inner hands on shields, flanking 2 legionary standards. The 2-standard type are the earlier form with this legend and date to 330-335 or so. Again, it's a member of the family of Constantine - could even be Constantine himself, but there doesn't appear to be any usable legend on the obverse of this one at all'.

Mar

That one's easy - that's a Constantinopolis city-commemorative. When Constantine the Great moved his capitol from Rome to his newly-rebuilt city of Constantinople, there was a large series of parallel "Urbs Roma" (to help appease "jilted" Romans) and "Constantinopolis" coins issued from all mints. Originally issued around 330 in great quantities, then declining in size and numbers, they were revived after Constantine's death in 337 when the succession was somewhat in doubt - so that individual mints didn't have to declare for the various contenders. As small as your is, it probably dates to just before or sometime in the decade after Constantine's death.

Your coin shows the allegorical personification of the city of Constantinople on the obverse, helmeted and with spear over shoulder and had the legend made it onto the undersized flan, would have read CONSTANTINOPOLIS. The reverse, anepigraphic but for the exergual mint mark, shows Victory on prow of a ship left. In your specimen, Victory holds an unusually prominent palm-branch (I think) - usually, she holds a spear and leans on a shield.

Mark

What I can tell you, despite the lack of detail, is that this is a dupondius of Trajan, 98-117 A.D. Luckily, in the early 2nd century A.D. the Romans were still doing high-quality, representational work and Trajan's profile is unmistakeable. The denomination, "dupondius" (two asses) is indicated by the spiky, radiate crown of Sol - by this time, any coin displaying this sort of headgear can be assumed to be a double-denomination. particularly since the "S" of the obligatory "S - C" (Senatus Consultio - "by consent of the Senate" - an official and fondly held myth that the Senate still had any say in matters like the small-change supply at this point in the Imperium) virtually all imperial AE's carried seems to be in the correct position this way. I still can't quite make out who or what is being portrayed here, and since Trajan was around for quite a while - nearly 20 years - there are literally hundreds of possible reverse types for dupondii. A complete WAG might be Hilaritas, who is usually portrayed holding a long palm branch.

Mark
   
 
Vespasian AD 69-79
Antoninianus of Carausius.
Septimius Severus 193-214 AD Denarius debased silver (b) found by Arkansas Gary
Constantine III AD 407-411
Bronze Sestertius Marcus Aurelius 161-180 AD
This time you have two unofficial coins. I've been trying to move away from the term "barbarous" in describing these because it's an outmoded and rather pejoritive term coined by elitists of an earlier age - as in "Barbarous Radiate" - when, in reality, the folks who made and used these coins were no more barbarous than those who made and used the coins they imitate. But whether you use the term "Contemporary Counterfeit", "Unofficial Imitative", "Ancient Forgery, or "Barbarous Radiate", that's what the first one is. I can't tell from your photo whether the radiate portrait is bearded or not, but the prototype for this coin would most likely have been an official, Gallic Empire antoninianus of Tetricus I or II - "Dad" being bearded, and "Junior", clean-shaven. At this size and weight, adequate for even an official coin of the era, it is unusual to see such crude and illiterate work - that usually appears on the smaller ones which didn't try nearly so hard to imitate the prototypes in general.
Whether these were counterfeits made to decieve (seems unlikely dunnit? what with this level of workmanship), filled a general need for coin in an era of chaos when official coin was unavailable, were the equivalent of "Plantation Tokens" - scrip used in large Latifundia - farming estates - and/or were meant to be exchangeable for regal coin when it became available again - well, we just don't know. They might have filled any of these functions, all of them, or "none of the above". At any rate, the prototype for this specimen, as far as I can tell, was the SPES AVG type common to all the Gallic Emperors. This shows Spes - allegorical personification of "Hope" - advancing left, holding a flower and hitching the hem of her skirt. If the bust proves to be beardless, you can say it was copied (loosely) from Tetricus II, if bearded, it could copy, in about this order, Tetricus I, Victorinus, Postumus, or - far less likely - Laelianus or Marius, both of whom were extremely short-lived.

The second, broken one is also probably unofficial. It's a bit harder with the coins of the Severans to be certain. The prototype, if it's not actually official, is a denarius of Septimius Severus dating to about 211 A.D.
The coin, were it whole, should read "SEVERVS PIVS AVG" on the obverse and "P M TR P XVIII COS III PP" and shows Jupiter standing left, holding thunderbolt and scepter, between two children (Caracalla and Geta, presumably) - RIC 233, RSC 539.
This one is a bit more problematic to tell whether or not it's official. You say it's AE, right? The Severan denarii underwent significant debasement so that some issues of even irrefutably official specimens may appear to be billon or even AE after millennia in the ground. There also exists a significant body of high-quality copies in AE, some lightly silvered, which seem to be unofficial. Since these have been appearing in larger numbers in recent years since the use of metal detectors has become commonplace, particularly in Eastern Europe, they have been - probably wrongly - conflated with the "Limes Falsa" lightweight, crude AE's in imitation of the AE types of the 1st and earlier 2nd centuries A.D. found along the "Limes" or borders of the Empire. The name "Limes Denarius", although a misnomer, has been applied to these so often that it has stuck. Here again, although we know that these AE denarii are more or less faithful copies of silver prototypes, and we know that they were both struck and cast in various places - we even have numerous molds and forgers' dies - we don't understand the role, if any, they may have played in the official monetary system. Were they copies made by semi-Romanized folks just outside the reach of empire? - folks who had become accustomed to the use of coin but who did not have access to official supplies? Were they a form of military scrip meant to keep large quantities of precious metal from falling into enemy hands in the event of a defeat - and presumably redeemable in good coin at some future date? Were they out-and-out counterfeits? Were they particularly debased official issues? (well, the cast ones probably weren't) Or did they fill some, as-yet unknown function? They might have done any or all of these at various times and places.
Or, your coin might just be lower-grade silver and completely official.

Mark

'That, my friend, is a "Judea Capta" As of Vespasian - a highly desirable coin in any identifiable condition - what a find for digging in one's garden!. It commemorates the final putting down of the 1st Revolt in Judea (Masada, and all that, the burning of Solomon's Temple, etc, etc, the Jews carried off in bondage to Rome to build the Coliseum financed by the treasures of Jerusalem, etc, etc.) - a job finished by Vespasian's son Titus after Vespasian was called-away from the effort to restore order and become emperor in the chaos in Rome following Nero's demise.
Although this is not, generally speaking, a "rare" general type by any means, it is highly sought-after by "crossover" folks - ie: people who have little to no other interest in ancient or Roman coins want one because of its "Biblical" or "Judaic" references.

This one appears to be in pretty nice shape for a British ground-find and it makes me wonder if it might not be a collector's piece that had been lost in more recent times. I would advise great care in its cleaning and restoration - please advise your friend not to have at it with Brillo or anything, OK? - this is a potentially fairly valuable piece.

Your obverse image is a bit blurry, but so far as I can see, the complete legend should be something like:
IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG COS III (or IIII?) for Vespasian's 3rd (or 4th) consulship putting it in 71 or 72-3 A.D. The reverse has an odd (but not unknown) variant legend and spelling of IVDEA rather IVDAEA or IVDAEA CAPTA which are more commonly seen.

I thought I was going to be able to easily rip-out an RIC reference for you on this one, but after spending some significant time with the book, I don't find this exact type listed - at all. The reverse of Jewess seated right, trophy behind, is common enough for denarii, but not for larger AE's which usually have the Jewess seated by a palm tree with a variety of adjunct figures or impedimentia. I have sent photos to a couple of folks I suspect might have a clue, and when (or if) I get a reply, I'll let you know.

A very interesting find no matter what, and potentially a very important one if it is a hitherto uncataloged type'.

Mark

'perhaps after a bit of cleaning might allow a somewhat more accurate ID, I believe the first one is a FEL TEMP REPARATIO from the late 350's, early 360's A.D. - most likely Constantius II - The posture of the soldier leaning left into the spear with which he is dispatching the unhorsed persian/barbarian is unmistakable.

12.74mm,2.1g

Roman bronze likely to be Marcus Aurelius (particularly as Caesar under Antoninus Pius) Lucius Verus, Commodus or Septimius Severus. Most likely, I think, would be Aurelius. His dates as Caesar run from 138-161 A.D. and as Augustus from 161-180'

22.63mm,4.76g

This is what has normally been referred to as a "Barbarous Radiate" - and I say "normally referred to" because I really don't like the term. Too many people lack the semantic subtlty to distinguish the difference between "Barbarous" (referring to style) and "Barbaric", thinking, perhaps, that Conan, Korgoth and their buddies are the source of this sort of material.
Personally, I am trying to replace the term "Barbarous" - with all its pejoritive Victorian assumptions and prejudices about artistic style - with terms like "Imitative" or "Contemporary Copy" that are not quite so value-loaded. Although we are not certain why, precisely, imitative coins appeared in great numbers in several eras, I think it's safe to assume that neither the people who made nor used these were barbarians by any rational definition.
There are many theories and little hard evidence to the precise "why" of these coins - some better, some worse imitations of common, circulating Roman issues, but the "where and when" are both fairly clear - at the borders of Empire and approximately contemporaneous with their prototypes. One of the most fertile places and times for their production was mid-late 3rd century Britain and northern Gaul - during the time of the Gallic Roman Empire founded when Postumus split away from Valerian and Gallienus' tottering central Roman administration.
This coins seems to have used a billon antoninianus of Tetricus I as its prototype. Since all we have for legend is "IMP........PF AVG" and a bearded portrait, it could also have been in imitation of several other folks - since all the Gallic emperors struck PAX AVG types. Indeed the Pax Avg type was the most common type among both the official and imitative coinages, and Tetricus' ants were the most commonly copied.
Typically smaller and somewhat cruder (some have blundered or totally illiterate legends although some are as good as or better than their prototypes), these may have been emergency issues to replace dwindling stocks of regal coin when it became unavailable, they may have been "plantation tokens" on lage latifundia - meant to be circulated only locally and/or to be redeemed in regal coin. Or they may have been out-and-out counterfiets, made to deceive - however this seems unlikely since they are typically so much smaller and cruder than their prototypes.

This piece is of fairly good size (these are found down to 8 or 10 mm diameter) and style, and might even be a crude official piece, but I strongly suspect it is a contemporary copy.

Mark
'Given the size, weight and portrait, that would be an As of either Marcus Aurelius or his son Commodus - of recent, if not particularly historically accurate fame from the movie "Gladiator".Without at least a few letters of legend to try to hang the ID upon, I'd say it's somewhat more likely to be Aurelius. Their years:Marcus Aurelius - 161-180 A.D.Commodus - 177-192 A.D. (but to have this, more mature portrait, if this coin is Commodus, it must be from the later part of his reign.

The reverse lacks the crucial bits that would show what the figure standing on the reverse is holding or doing. Whatever this might be, it seems to be taking place over an altar, so reasonable guesses might be Salus feeding her pet snake or Pietas sprinkling incense'.


Mark

Large Roman bronze sent to our expert for ID
'That's a reduced-module follis of Constantine I, "The Great". The reverse reads: SOLI INVICTO COMITI and shows Sol, radiate, standing left raising his right hand hand and holding a globe in his left. I can't quite read the exergual mintmark in your photo, but from the field-letters S - F, and the clear "N" at the end of the exergual string, it must be MLN - for Mint of London, emission of late 315-early 316 A.D.

The obverse is not clear enough to be certain which of many possible legend-variants it bears, but I think it's CONSTANTINVS AVG - which would make this RIC VII, London, # 43 (however, I could be wrong on the letter-count and it could be anywhere from # 43 through # 49) - rated "R2" - meaning that only about 7-10 specimens were known in major collections at the time of the book's publication in 1966 (but all the S-F/MLN's are rated "scarce", at least, for frequency)

There are many folks who agressively collect products of the London mint, so this is one of the more desirable "common Constantinians" you have shown me'.

Mark
2.42g, 20.46mm
   
   
No, it's not "Barbarous", it's an official issue of Rome - and more interesting speculating how it got to Britain for this, since it's Gallienus - almost certainly dating to his sole reign, 260-268 A.D. after the capture of his co-regnal father, Valerian I, by the Persians. Britain and Northern Europe were part of the break-away Gallic Empire at the time, most likely under Postumus. Unfortunately very little legend remains on that specimen to help pin it down specifically, and Gallienus had, by far, the largest and most varied number of coin-types in the 3rd century. That appears to be a centaur, left, so my best guess would be that the reverse legend should be: APOLLINI CONS AVG - a large series which included a number of mythical creatures as the reverses.

Mark

Trinovantes Clacton type Celtic gold 1/4 stater 50BC 1.28g, 13.72mm

06.0492. Not much I can say about these except that the second one is probably the later of the two, struck from a rather more stylized reverse die. But 'later' in this context might only be a matter of days or weeks, I don't think these coins were struck over a very long period'.

Trinovantes Clacton type Celtic gold 1/4 stater 50BC 1.26g, 14.04mm

CCI 06.0491

Your sestertius is of Marcus Aurelius, 161-180 A.D. I can't make out any of the legends nor can I be certain which allegorical personification is on the reverse, although I'd make a guess at Pietas standing before a short, lighted altar and holding incense box. Withouth the details a clear reading of the obverse legend would afford, I can't zero-in on the exact time-frame. It's too bad, too, because usually these have a "laundry list" of titles which will allow them to be dated to within a year or two.

'Although I can't be certain about the reverse type, this is obviously a sestertius of Hadrian - 117-138 A.D. The obverse legend of: [HADRIANVS] AVG COS III PP places it among his later issues since he only held the PP title post 128 A.D. and this legend is specific to 134-138 A.D. If, as I think is likely, the reverse is "PAX AVG S - C" it dates to around 135 A.D. However, there are several other standing figures holing cornucompaie that it might be - if we could get a few letters of the reverse legend, I oculd pin it down more specifically'.

Mark

20,96g , 28.77mm dia x 4.56mm t

1stC AD Roman bronze

28.44mm, 12.87g

The quick answer is that it's Trajan, 97-117 A.D. (Hadrian's predecessor) and so has every good reason to be in Britain. Given the diameter and weight, it would be an As - also, although perhaps just a tad heavy for an As at nearly 13gm, I see no traces of the radiate crown which would indicate that it was a Dupondius (2 Asses).
Now, on the downside (for the ID) - Trajan reigned for 20 years during a time of exceptional internal peace and prosperity in the Roman Empire.
During Trajan's reign, the Empire achieved its largest size, measured in geographical area His reign saw literally thousands of different types of coins struck, most of which circulated until they were worn smooth, this being the era of the "Adoptive Emperors" with financial stability for nearly a full century enabling these coins to stay in crculation so long. Many call this the "Golden Age" of Rome. Since there is so little by way of detail visible on the reverse of your coin, I doubt it's going to be possible to say much more than that it's an As of Trajan, since there is so little to distinguish it from the hundreds of other possible Trajanic reverses.

An interesting factoid about Trajan's coins: Not only did the Empire achieve its greatest size under his reign, the coins became longer-winded under him than any other ruler. Some of his sestertii have such an extensive laundry-list of his titles that they can have upwards of 75-80 characters in the obverse legend alone, then go on at even greater length on their reverses. For those of us who must type-up cards to go in coin-flips, Trajan's legends can be very challenging to fit onto a 2"x2" fliptag.

I'll try enlarging, tweaking and rotating the reverse image to see if I can make any sense out of it, but, as I said, Trajan had so many reverse types it may be hopeless.

Mark


Really crisp

4thC Roman bronze - sent off for ID

2.93g, 19.67mm

You're probably already aware it's Constantius II (337-361 A.D. - Constantine's youngest son and longest-surviving of his successors)- although the fact that it's his and not his brother's is not quite as obvious as you might think - older brother Constans shared the purple with Constantius until 350 A.D. and so had an almost equal number of the earlier types of FEL TEMP REPARATIO's struck in his name. It's the fact that the legend breaks where it does - DN CONSTAN - TIVS PF AVG - that shows that it's Constantius rather than Constans - his legend would break
at: DN CONSTA - NS PF AVG for this issue. The new, silver-plated AE Centenionalis series replaced Diocletian's much reduced and abused Follis as a part of the monetary reforms of 348 A.D.
and managed to produce some fairly nicely sized and well-worked coins before succumbing to the same economic pressures that did-in the Follis.

The reverse type is one of those marvels of Roman symbolic art - they packed a lot of PR (some might say propaganda) into those reverse types. This was really one of the few venues for official mass-media in the proto-literate Roman era - which lacked any of the communication devices we take for granted like newspapers, etc.
The idealized personification of the emperor stands boldly (perhaps remindng Yanks of a certain famous painting of George Washington crossing the Deleware River in the snow), he holds a radiate (Sol or Helios' radiate crown) Phoenix and a labarum (legionary banner with the Christian Chi-Rho symbol on
it) - deftly blending pagan and Christian symbolism, foot (in mastery) atop the prow of a galley steered by Victory - you gotta love it! The legend is the well known FEL(icitas) TEMP(orum) REPARATIO - "Happy days are here again" (actually it's closer to "[to] the return of happy times", but not so much closer that "happy days are here again" is way off the mark) Before settling into the overdone, stereotypical "Soldier spearing fallen horseman" type, the FEL TEMP series produced some other interesting types - I'm also fond of the type showing the Emperor leading a young barbarian forth from a hut under a tree (or dragging him - depends on who you read...)

Too bad the exergue is unclear - we won't be able to be certain about where it was minted unless a little careful cleaning in that area reveals some detail - I'll guess it's a Western European mint on the rather vague basis of "style". I was hoping the fact that there's no officina or sequence marks in the reverse fields might narrow down the list of possible mints some, but as it turns out, Antioch was the only mint which never struck this type without any fieldmarks.

You didn't specify a diameter this time, but using your fingers as a rough gauge, I'm guessing it's around 22-24mm, right?
This type in this size dates from the earlier emissions, post reform - mostly in the 348-351 A.D. timeframe before the AE2 (larger) module was completely replaced by the AE3's (smaller).
Some folks call this denomination a "Centenionalis", although this terminology, like most of what we think we know about the denominations after about 310, is theoretical at best - it may also or alternately have been called a "Majorina" - or it might have been neither. We know the names of these denominations, but frustratingly, we don't know with certainty the coins to which they refer.

Mark

1stC Roman 17.27g, 28.42mm dia, 4.51mm thick

The "guy riding the lion" is actually the Eastern goddess Cybele, whose cult was popular in Rome in the later 2nd century. Her "consort" (weird thing to call him under the circumstances) Attis, as the mythos goes, castrated himself and well as performing a related - ahem - amputation in order that he not be distracted in any way in the purity of his devotion to Cybele - so it was a cult with eunuch priests - whether, if the criticisms of the era are accurate and these ad-hoc operations were actually carried out on the spur of the moment by devotees in transports of holy ecstasy joining in the course of the parades and processions this sect was fond of holding, is something I tend to doubt - but the histories are, after all, written by the victors and they got to say pretty much whatever they wanted to, eventually.
Cybele is seen here riding a lion - typically you'll see her either enthroned, flanked by her lions, or driving a trimuphal chairot pulled by lions. She's wearing a turreted headdress, and carrying a drum (also a typical attribute) and scepter.

Now, we come to the issues this coin presents - it seems, from the size, as though it should be an As - but this type isn't listed for anything in AE except Sestertii in any of my references - and actually, at 28+mm & 17.27gm, it's really too large and heavy to be an As of the era, so it pretty much has to be a Sestertius. I have several sestertii of Commodus very close to this in weight - less than 20gm - in my collection.

RIC III, Rome, # 599 AE Sestertius - 191 A.D.
Obv: (all off-flan, unfortunately, but should be:) L AEL AVREL COMM AVG P FEL. Laureate head right.
Rx:: (Also just about all off-flan) MATRI DEVM CONSERV AVG / COS VI PP (in
exergue) S - C (in fields)
Cybele, "towered", facing, riding right on lion and carrying drum and scepter

It's pretty scarce, too, rating an "R2" in RIC and carrying a retail estimate in David Sear's RC&TV of 2-3 times as much as the more common sestertii for this reign. Dating to 191, it's from the next-to-last year of his reign - by this time he seems to have lost touch with reality and was performing in the gladitorial arena on a regular basis (mostly killing
animals) In this time-frame, he also had himself portrayed wearing the lion-skin headdress of Hercules (and Alexander the Great) on his coins with reverse type of Hercules' club - so, he was pretty well out there by the end of his reign. http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album95/CommodusHerc

1stC Roman 12.49g,26.6mm dia, 3.97mm thick

The other, less-well preserved coin appears to be an As of Trajan (98-117
A.D.) It's actually a bit heavy to be an As, so it might be a Dupondius - however I can't see any traces of the radiate crown which would distinguish the denomination as a Dup...
The reverse seems to be a "trophy" - a pile of arms & armor ceremonally set up after a battle in commemoration - a fairly common reverse for Trajan..

See: http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album91/ML11_Trajan_Trophy_dup for a specimen from my own collection, similar to what I think this one is -

Mark

Great condition Roman bronze 307AD

6.45g, 27.98mm


it's Maximinus II, as Caesar - not to be confused with either Maximian or Galerius, both of whose legends are extremely similar-looking. And also, no relation to Maximinus I, "Thrax", from nearly a century earlier.
It's a follis, and a nice, big, earlier one - before they were scaled-down to the size of a newpence.
This one is a product of the mint at London, too - always desirable.

RIC vol VI, London, # 89a, Summer, 307 A.D.
Obv: GAL VAL MAXIMINVS NOB C. Laureate draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rx: GENIO POP ROM. Genius (of the Roman People) standing left holding patera and cornucopia.
Exergue: PLN (?) this is where I have some issues on the basis of what I think I see in the photograph - it looks to me like "SLN" - and that would work if London had been striking in more than a single officina at that time - so SLN would indicate second officina, but, according to RIC, they weren't striking in two workshops in London at this time- so, maybe I'm just not seeing it correctly - it looks like an "S" to me although it should be a "P".

Mark

 

this is Constantine I "The Great", dating to the period 325-27 A.D. Precise dating will depend on a bit of cleaning of the exergual mintmark.

'The obverse is pretty straightforward: CONSTAN - TINVS AVG. Laureate head right.
The reverse type is straightforward too (you had the image upside-down, but you meant to do that, right?)
It's: PROVIDENTIAE AVGG. ("By virture of the Forethought of the Augustii") Campgate (some debate whether this was supposed to be a camp, a city gate, or just what, but they're conventionally called "campgates") of 6 tiers, no door, 2 "turrets" ( there's some debate about what those were, too - but that's a discussion for another day) and 1 star above - your basic "Constantinian campgate" AE3 - very common, but there are many who specialize in these due to all the possible sub-varieties - different numbers of tiers of masonry, door open, door closed, gate on foundation or step(s), decorations in top row of "bricks", number of turrets and stars, etc, etc, ad infinitum, for all the Imperial mints - and you can see how it could be a lifetime's specialty - so, be that as it may, the exact dating of this one will have to wait for a little cleaning of the exergual area on the reverse.

This is from the mint at Trier, an exceptionally active and prolific mint for northern Gaul and Britain at this time. The mintmark appears to be: STR - "SECVNDA TRIERENSIS" that's the 2nd officina or workshop of the mint - so far, so good, but for exact dating I'd need to be able to tell what the little sequence mark is that follows it. I hope you are able to read this in HTML because I am going to insert a few characters here which won't make any sense if viewed in straight ASCI - $#! - a shallow "U" shape with either nothing within it, a small dot, or a larger dot or small asterisk-like star.
If no dot or star in the $, the coin is RIC VII, Trier 461, 325 A.D. "R5" (extremely rare) from officina S But the frequency ratings in RIC VII often require a "reality check" - a certain snobbish, elitist attitude among the museum curators, collectors and scholars of 50+ years ago (when these volumes of RIC were being written) resulted in the keepers of the collections surveyed to compile these frequency ratings typically feeling such coins were "beneath their notice" and, in many cases, they allowed a few token, representative pieces to stand for the entire series. Add to this the astonishing amount of new material coming on the market in recent years with the advent of inexpensive metal detector technology, and a reality check is often in order when one sees an "R5" rating on something like this and an "R1", "S", or even a "C" rating on early gold aureii or solidi.

With a dot - # - it would be RIC 475, 326 A.D., and "C3" (very common)

If it's - ! - with the larger dot or asterisk-star within, it's not listed, but should be presumed to exist, and would be a slightly later series for 326/7, just before the advent of the GLORIA EXERCITVS 2 soldiers flanking 2 standards type.'

Mark

Another nice 4thC Roman find 1.71g,14.57mm sent off for ID

This one doesn't really provide enough clear obverse legend to be certain who it is - the "suspects" in approximate order of liklihood would be:

Constantine I
Constantine II, as Caesar
Constantius II, as Caesar
Constans, as Caesar.

Constantines I & II are head and shoulders more likely than the other two.

The only really clear letter is the "V" at 1:00 or so - this could be as in:
ConstantinVs Max Avg
Constantinus iVn Nob C
Fl Cl ConstantiVs Nob C
but very unlikely to be:
Constans Nob Caes or Constantis Nob C

This is a GLORIA EXERCITVS reverse, the earlier type with two standards between the two soldiers, although I suspect it's either a contemporary copy (a good possibility) or from the very end of the 2-standard era for these on the basis of its small module - for this era, 18mm or so is more appropriate. In general the 2-standard Gloria Ex's date to the period 330-335 A.D. Some mints switched over to the single-standard type as early as late 333.

There isn't enough clear exergue showing to comment on which of the 13 Imperial mints might have produced it - if, in fact, was produced at an official mint.

Mark

Roman bronze Id'd 21.17mm, 2.58g it's an antoninianus of Tacitus 275-6 AD

Eventually, I was able to determine that what we have here is an AE antoninianus or "ant" of Tacitus, 275-6 A.D. This short-lived, elderly (75 yr-old) emperor succeeded Aurelian and very quickly came to the end of his own days after joining his army on campaign - the rigors of life in the field quickly proved his health to be more delicate than he thought.

The obverse shows Tacitus' radiate cuirassed bust right - the legend is too unclear for me to try to quote it, and there are many possibilities, give or take a letter here and there - suffice it to say, it begins with IMP, contains the word: TACITVS, and ends with AVG - but the devil, as they say, is in the details.
The reverse - which took a while to make sense of - is probably PAX AVG (it could be PAX AETERNA or PAX AUGUSTI - but these are much less likely from the letter-spacing) Pax is standing left, holding an olive-branch and scepter (although, given how vague the reverse is, if RIC gave "seated" as a possibility I'd say that was a potential interpretation, and if you said you saw a cornucopia in there too, I guess I wouldn't argue - but RIC only says "standing" and "scepter", under all the Pax varieties.)

The obverse legend is too indistinct for me to be to be certain of the details, and the presence or absence of a single letter here and there would be all the difference there is between the possibilities, but this could be either Cf. RIC V, i Mint in Gaul, 33-44 or Mint of Ticinum, Cf. 146-149, or Mint of Siscia Cf. 186-7.

Mark

Another huge thick 1stC Roman in amazing shape - sent to Mark for ID 19.24g, 30.75mm dia 4.22mm thick

Today's sestertius is a fairly young Commodus - but not as young as I had guessed at first glance.
Commodus is one of those "Royal Brats", who, like Caracalla, had a progression of realistic portraiture on his coinage - everything from a baby-book portrait to a brutally frank, "mature" image of a madman, just before his death at the ripe old age of 29. Caracalla looks every bit the cruel, brother-murdering, dissipate despot in his final coin portraits.
Commodus' portrait-artists were a little kinder towards the end of his rule, but only slightly - this, however, isn't really the point today - just cited to let you know that on some Roman coins, not only are the portraits so realistic as to have you recognizing Hadrian's or Septimius Severus'
look-alikes on the street today, but some of the longer-lived emperors who began their careers as child-Caesars can nearly be dated at a glance from the progression of the portrait - not unlike recognizing cars' model-years in the 1950's by the cut of this year's tailfin... Oh dear, I'm showing my age - and beginning to wander ( ;<{D}.

At any rate, and returning to the coin at hand, so to speak, this is Commodus at the age of 22 or 23, in 183-4 A.D.. He was born in 161 A.D. the same year his father - Marcus Aurelius - succeeded Antoninus Pius after a very long term as Caesar himself. Commodus' first, baby-faced coin-portraits appear when he is only 12.
I had to do a little guesswork since the reverse gives me so little to go on - but that arch of right-arm is distinctive enough to make me as certain as I can be - without actually handling the coin - that it is Hercules standing with arm atop grounded club.
Interestingly - since in just a few years he would be styling himself as (and probably believing that he was) Hercules re-incarnate, very few of his coins feature Hercules on the reverse - this is a bit of luck for us, otherwise I'd have had to give you a very vague ID on it. This one, however, has just enough detail in just the right places to give you what I believe is chapter and verse. We can't be absolutely certain with so little legend remaining, but this is what I believe this to be on the basis of what detail I can make out - and because there are so few Hercules reverses from which to choose:

Sestertius, Mint of Rome, 183-184 A.D.
Obverse: M COMMODVS ANTONINVS AVG PIVS. Laureate draped bust right, seen from behind shoulder.
Reverse: P M TR P VIIII IMP VI COS IIII P P. S - C. Hercules standing facing, head right, right hand on grounded club, holding bow and lion-skin in left.
RIC III 399b - "Scarce"

Mark

Silver Roman coin sent for ID - 4.72g,18.99

Your piece is going to have to get a little cleaner or show a little more detail before I'll go out on any limbs with it, but if I'm interpreting what I believe to be the obverse correctly, I'm going to make a wild guess it's a Flavian - more likely Vespasian or Titus than Domitian - more than that I cannot say at this time.

Mark

Dubnovellaunus Late 1st BC to Early 1stC AD Full Celtic gold stater

5.44g,17.57mm - sent to Celtic coin index for recording

Dubnovellaunus succeeded Addedomaros to the Trinovantian throne about 10-5BC and ruled for several years before being overthrown by the Catuvellauni under the leadership of Cunobelin

'it's a nice looking coin. I'll record it as CCI 07.1130.
It's a bit difficult for me to check die-links from here but I'll try and have a look when I get the chance.

Here's hoping for a few more in the autumn!

Best wishes
Philip'

Severus Alexander 222-235 A.D.

This one is an As too, but has neither enough legend nor a characteristic enough portrait for me to be sure which of the two most likely candidates it is, but I believe it's either Severus Alexander 222-235 A.D. or Gordian III, 238-244. Both were "boy emperors" who came to the throne in their teens and were both around a relatively long time as mid 3rd century emperors went - long enough for there to be a significant body of coins for both of them. Also, the one letter on the obverse which appears to be clear seems to be an "A" - and could fit into either of their names in about that position. I'm afraid I can't tell what's happening on the reverse of this one. Sorry I can't give you much more than that on the basis of the photos.

3.36g, 20.26mm

Commodus 184 A.D

'is an As of Commodus. This son of Marcus Aurelius was a fairly crazy bad guy who should never have been emperor, but wasn't probably quite the craven wacko that Joaquin Phoenix portrayed him as in the colorful but wildly historically inaccurate "Gladiator" - for one thing, he certainly didn't kill his father to become emperor - he had been co-emperor since 177 A.D. - 3 years before Aurelius' demiseCommodus did, in fact, appear in the arena in his later life - slaughtering wild beasts - and apparently thought he was Hercules re-incarnate.The obverse reads (or should) : M COMMODVS ANTON AVG PIVS. Laureate head right. -
Rx:: TRP VIIII IMP VI COS IIII PP S - C. Minerva standing right, resting on spear and shield.
This one dates to 184 A.D., mint of Rome - catalog: RIC III 428, & SR 5894'

6.04g,
23.64mm
1.65g, 16.19mm

 

'This is a "City Commemorative" - when Constantine moved his capitol to Constantinople in about 330 A.D., he issued coins in honor of both Constantinople and of Rome. This one is the CONSTANTINOPOLIS type with
the personification of Constantinople in helmet left with spear over her shoulder. The reverse has no legend but shows Victory standing in the prow of a vessel, holding a spear and leaning on a shield. These were issued in a couple different waves. The earlies ones were larger, heavier and of better workmanship than the later types. This one probably dates to c. 335 A.D. or later - I can't read the exergue, so I can't tell you which mint it's from'

Magnentius 350-353 A.D 1.57g, 17.71mm

This seems to be either a centenionalis which has been extensively chipped making it smaller than it started out, or perhaps it's a half-centenionalis. Since none of the obverse legend remains, it could be either Magnentius or Decentius and I won't be able to tell which of the two (although Magnentius' coins are far more common). This
older-Augustus/younger-Caesar brother combo was around briefly in the 350-353 A.D. time frame. Having power only in the European West, their coins only come from the Gallic & Italian mints, plus Siscia. The reverse type is: VICTORIAE DD NN AVG ET CAES. with two Victories holding a shield between them inscribed: VOT V / MVLT X over a cippus, or short columnar altar. It's their most common type, although the two of them are
not, in general, what you'd call really common finds.

Gallienus 260-268 A.D 2.49g, 20.72mm

'is a mid-late 3rd century AE antoninianus. The denomination was introduced, in good silver, in 215 by Caracalla - it contained one and one-half denarius' worth of silver but was tariffed as 2 denarii - things only got worse from there. Quickly debased, by the time of the crisis of the 260's, it was completely copper with a silvery wash (which seldom survives). The later 3rd century "Illyrian" emperors like Aurelian and Probus restored the coin to a better size and alloy, and although still silver-washed, the process was better so it stuck better. Eventually, it was phased out in Diocletian's reforms in the late 280's, but a new, wholly AE "radiate" fraction of the follis was retained with exactly the same reverse types as the former antoniniani. I guess everyone was so used to having copper radiates that they just continued the general module as a different denomination.
You hazarded a guess that this was Tacitus, and as much as I hate to disappoint you, that's unlikely, since Tacitus, Florian, Carus, Carinus, Numerian, and the other last few emperors besides Aurelian and Probus in the era before Diocletian and the Tetrarchy were all relatively short-lived, so their coins tend to be a bit scarcer. My best guess here is Gallienus - I'm afraid I can't tell the reverse type aside from saying it appears to be a standing allegorical personification of some sort. It would date to his sole imperium, after his father and co-emperor, Valerian I, was captured by the Sasanian Shapur I in 260 A.D. - so the most likely time frame here is 260-268 A.D'.

Magnentius ID 3.28g, 19.93mm

This one is either Magnentius or Decentius again - and again, no legend is visible so there's no way to be sure which of the two it is, although Magnentius is a good bit more likely. This is another Centenionalis, and shows clearly the sympathies of the Western Augustus and Caesar for Christianity - there was a good bit of disagreement over just how good an idea Constantine's choice of Christianity was at the time. The Chi-Rho reverse on this and the contemporary double-centenionalis left little doubt about the official position of Magnentius & Decentius.

Aurelian - 270-275 A.D


is a bit problematic. When I first looked at the reverse, I said "Aha! one of the Valentinian clan" c. 365-383 A.D. (although it's a bit late for Britain) because the reverse, at first glance, looks so much like the very common GLORIA ROMANORVM type they issued so many of - with the emperor dragging a barbarian and carrying a labarum, but as I look at the obverse, I'm pretty sure from what I seem to be able to read of the legend that it's an antoninianus of Aurelian - 270-275 A.D. I can't be all that sure of the reverse type, but it might well be one of the
numerous ORIENS AVG types of which Aurelian had many, showing Sol in various postures and holding various attributes. Aurelian is significant in that he pulled-together what remained of the empire at a time when
everything had gotten seemingly hoplessly fragmented - the Gallic empire in the northwest and the Kingdom of Palmyra in Syria were only two of the major issues he had to deal with - but deal he did, despite his advanced
age.

2.08g, 17.59mm

Constantine 335-337 A.D 1.38g, 14.06mm

is another GLORIA EXERCITVS - this one is from the mint at Trier, although I can't tell you which of the Constantinians is on the obverse. The ones with a single standard between the soldiers date mostly to the period 335-337 A.D. or shortly thereafter. This is probably one of the 3 sons of Constantine, probably as Caesar just before Constantine's death.

Huge 1stC Roman bronze "c. 150-160 A.D." 15.28g, 30.10mm x 4.25mm thick

As you say, there's little other than the main types for us to go on here, but my best guess is that it's Faustina I or Sr. (depends on who you read whether she's numbered or given seniority)
She was the wife of Antoninus Pius (138-161 A.D.) and died only 3 years into his reign, in 141 A.D. Consequently, very few of her coins date to her lifetime, but there is an enormous body of posthumous commemorative issues in her honor. She typically has this same characteristic hairdo which is what enables an educated guess, here. At the size and weight this would be an orichalcum Sestertius.
The obverse should read: DIVA FAVSTINA
I think the reverse might be Pietas standing left (legend: AVGVSTA S - C) , sacrificing from patera over short, lighted altar and holding box of incense in left hand, although it could be one of half a dozen different female personifications or deities standing left, holding some object in right hand. If it is Pietas, then it would correspond to: SR 4620, mint of Rome, minted sometime after 147 A.D. - you could say "c. 150-160 A.D." pretty safely about any sestertius in the AVGVSTA series.

Here's a similar sestertius from the same series with Vesta reverse, from my collection you can compare:
http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album93/ML_001_Faustina_I_Vesta_Sest

and this is a dupondius (a little smaller and from a different series) with Pietas reverse:
http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album93/ML23_Faustina_I_Pietas_as

Mark


5.73g, 17.13mm

'This is quite a rare type, as you no doubt appreciate. The best parallel is provided by three coins in the British Museum, listed in their catalogue as nos. 3353-55. It's one of a group of coins loosely described as the Snettisham staters, because several of the types were first recognized in one of the Snettisham (Norfolk) hoards of the early 1990s. The exact type is not in Van Arsdell although it's closely related to the North Thames types listed as VA 1500, 1502 and thereabouts. It is presumably an East Anglian type, although because of the stylistic similarities there must have been some very strong link between the producers of the Snettisham types and the North Thames types. Date c. 50 - 40 BC, I think.

I'll record it as CCI 07.1164. '

Best wishes
Philip

 

Easy one, this is either an official issue, or a somewhat-better-than-average contemporary copy (of the sort referred to in a rather arch and pejoritive manner by our Victorian forbears in the numismatic field as "Barbarous Radiates") of a Tetricus I AE antoninianus.  The reverse type of PAX AVG has Pax standing left holding an olive-branch and transverse scepter.  The obverse legend is somewhat unclear, but would probably be IMP C TETRICVS PF AVG or something very similar.
 
 
and also with:
 
Here you can see how broad the range of style is within these issues and types - some of the ones "on the edge" are just a judgement call as to whether they're to be called copies or official - with some, there is no doubt that they're unofficial. 
 
If official, the mint would likely be Cologne or Vienne (Gaul, not Vienna / Vindabona), 272-3 A.D. and be at least very similar to SR11243.  If a contemporary copy, it would date to the same basic time-frame, possibly plus a year or two (up to around 274 and Tetricus' capitulation to Aurelian) but the mint-site, of course, would be unknown.
 
Mark

Roman minimus

well, I'm afraid I can't make any sense out of the dominant design element.  This one I was fairly certian was unofficial, and the reverse tends to reinforce this opinion.  The reverses were cruder, in general, than the obverses, and not unlike the Celtic coins of an earlier century, the types tended to break down to salient design elements which suggested the reverses of official coins - the looping left arm of Spes hitching her skirt, the outstretched right arm with olive-branch of Pax, etc.  what remains here is surely supposed to suggest a common reverse subject, but which one, I just can't say. 

 

Mark

3rdC Roman bronze sent for ID

reverse appears to be Fortuna (as on your Hadrian denarius), but standing left with her left hand on the handle of a rudder.  This is a little unusual, since it's usually her right that rests on the rudder.  At any rate, this leaves us right out of saying it's from the Constantinian age - Fortuna was not on the short list of formulaic reverse subjects used in the 4th century - so it must be a 3rd century product.  I would guess that it is official, from the quality of the engraving, but I'm still uncertain about who's on the obverse - call it "latter half of the 3rd century, probably an official antoninianus of an uncertain ruler" and that would be about as close as I can get it.

1st/2ndC Roman bronze sent for ID

Now, I'm guessing at the size and weight based on your fingers in the picture - some metrology might be helpful - this is approximately 27-30mm diameter - or the coin originally was that size before all the edge-chipping occurred.  We have a bit of legend at 10:30 obverse, - unfortunately it's a rather less than revelatory 'AVG', but knowing that AVG appears in the obverse legend at or near the mid-point might be very important in the deductive process.  Next, we have the standing deity or personification on the reverse, but more importantly, we have the fairly unusual occurrence of a legend written horizontally across the fields.

From the portrait, My first guess was Hadrian, but I found no across-the-field reverse legends for him which fit with the relatively few of his obverse legends having AVG in the middle.

Antoninus Pius, however, has a sestertius with obverse legend ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P and PAX - AVG (a plausible reading of your coin's field-legend) across the reverse field - COS III S - C - Pax standing left, setting fire to a heap of arms and holding a cornucopia.  Unfortunate there is so little design left to show the heap of arms, this is a rather ambitious coin-reverse.  Your coin seems a bit skimpy for a sestertius, and without measurements,  was initially tempted to say it's an As - however, no As with this type is known for Antoninus. Of course, I suppose that a coin that started out on the smaller side and then was mumbled about in the field by plows, etc, resulting in several visible generations of edge chipping could easily be reduced to this size.

So, my best guess is Antoninus Pius, Mint of Rome, 147 A.D. Brass sestertius. PAX AVG COS IIII SC - RIC III 777, SR 4201.

1st/2ndC Roman bronze 147 AD

Now, I'm guessing at the size and weight based on your fingers in the picture - some metrology might be helpful - this is approximately 27-30mm diameter - or the coin originally was that size before all the edge-chipping occurred.  We have a bit of legend at 10:30 obverse, - unfortunately it's a rather less than revelatory 'AVG', but knowing that AVG appears in the obverse legend at or near the mid-point might be very important in the deductive process.  Next, we have the standing deity or personification on the reverse, but more importantly, we have the fairly unusual occurrence of a legend written horizontally across the fields.
From the portrait, My first guess was Hadrian, but I found no across-the-field reverse legends for him which fit with the relatively few of his obverse legends having AVG in the middle.
Antoninus Pius, however, has a sestertius with obverse legend ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P and PAX - AVG (a plausible reading of your coin's field-legend) across the reverse field - COS III S - C - Pax standing left, setting fire to a heap of arms and holding a cornucopia.  Unfortunate there is so little design left to show the heap of arms, this is a rather ambitious coin-reverse.  Your coin seems a bit skimpy for a sestertius, and without measurements,  was initially tempted to say it's an As - however, no As with this type is known for Antoninus. Of course, I suppose that a coin that started out on the smaller side and then was mumbled about in the field by plows, etc, resulting in several visible generations of edge chipping could easily be reduced to this size.
So, my best guess is Antoninus Pius, Mint of Rome, 147 A.D. Brass sestertius. PAX AVG COS IIII SC - RIC III 777, SR 4201.
1st/2ndC Roman bronze

Small bronze coin Not ID'd

'Yes, it appears to be a Siliqua - VIRTVS ROMANORVM type - I'm not certain, but I think it's Gratian (370's AD) and probably from Trier'.

Wow -the reason you haven't seen any 4th century silver is that, quite simply, there is so little remaining.  The Romans were too broke by that time to be able to afford to use silver for money in the homeland.  All those copper coins you find are the equivalent of Pound notes or "Fivers" - a fiduciary currency whose stated value in trade is far above any intrinsic value it might have.  There was an attempt to restore dependable, circulating precious-metal coins which was fairly successful in the case of the gold solidus which replaced a scramble of differently sized and variously fine "Aureii" from the chaotic end of the 3rd century - and unsuccessful in the case of the Argenteus/Siliqua - the silver was sucked out of the Empire by overseas purchases and military spending, so the argenteus was quickly debased until it was also indistinguishable from AE.  The Siliqua became so popular, however, for buying-off the "barbarians" (who wouldn't take copper fiduciary currency as a bribe!) that it eventually stuck and by the middle of the 4th century, siliquae were actually circulating again at a fineness not seen since the time of Nero. (~.900 fine)  But it's the eternal fate of good-quality circulating precious metal coins to be the first into the pot when it's time for a re-coining for a different name, country or denomination, so the siliquae of the later 4th century are still pretty scarce.

A couple rulers, Constantius II, Valens, Valentinian, Julin II pumped-out so much silver in siliquae that theirs aren't quite so rare, but as I was told many years ago (and it's a bit of an underestimation rather than an exaggeration) "You'll handle 100 denarii for every siliqua you ever see."  It's the truth.
 

Mark

1st/2nd C Roman bronze sent for ID ,20.45g, 32.29mm

This one can only be a sestertius - the big brass quarter-piece of the silver denarius - and most likely from the 2nd century AD.  There isn't much more I can tell you, however, with no readable legends (readable by me, at least - are there any fairly clear letters around 1:00-2:00 on the obverse?  It looks like there might be something there, but I can't be sure from your picture, even when I enhance the contrast.)
Working strictly from the silhouette, which appears to show a bun on the back of the head, it would seem likely to be one of the later Antonine wives - who mostly were portrayed with that sort of hairstyle - Faustina II, wife of Marcus Aurelius, Lucilla, wife of Lucius Verus, or Crispina, wife of Commodus - if it's one of these three, it dates to the 2nd half of the 2nd century.  If, however, that's not a bun, just a raised area of corrosion, and if I had to guess at a male silhouette, I'd say either Trajan or Antoninus Pius, putting it in the 1st half of the 2nd century.
I'm afraid there's not enough detail on the reverse for me to hazard a guess at the reverse type - the 2nd century was famous for the huge variety of its reverse types - even if I were sure of the ruler, there could be dozens - in some cases, hundreds - of possible reverses.
Mark

3rdC Roman bronze , 1.28g, 15.95mm

It appears to be a posthumous commemorative antoninianus of Claudius II Gothicus.  He inherited the chaos at Gallienus' death.  A soldier-general under Gallienus, he did fairly well during his rule, considering what he had inherited, winning several crucial battles, but plague had been brought into Europe by the Goths whom he defeated at Naissus - he was among the Romans who contracted and subsequently died of the plague - after only 2 years of rule - in 270 AD. 
The "CONSECRATIO" series of posthumous commemoratives in the name of "DIVO CLAVDIO" - the deified Claudius - was huge, and was also the prototype for an equally enormous, or possibly greater number of unofficial issues copying them.  Workmanship had slipped so badly, and the size of coins had been reduced so much at the mint in Rome that it is not at all easy to be certain in many cases whether a piece is official or imitative.
 
This appears to be either an official issue, or a better-than-averge imitative of the CONSECRATIO series showing an altar on the reverse. All we have to go on, however, is the fairly distinctive, bearded portrait and the straight lines on the reverse  there isn't enough clear legend to read at all.  Very few reverse subjects in this era were not curvilinear - so with straight lines, an altar is all I can think this was supposed to be. -
See: http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album106/ML_13_Claud_II_Consecratio_Altar1 for a presumed official issue and: http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album106/ML_19_Claud_II_Consecratio_Altar6 for a presumed contemporary copy, and: http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album106/ML_15_Claud_II_Consecratio_Altar3 for a fairly certain contemporary copy - you can see how little diffference some of the imitatives show from the official issues the copy.
 
Mark
3rdC Roman bronze sent for ID

2.06g, 18.90mm

This piece also appears to be a DIVO CLAVDIO / CONSECRATIO posthumous antoninianus of Claudius II, c. 270 AD, and also seems to be of the altar reverse type, although you can see that the style of the altar is vastly different on this than on the last one.  These commemoratives were struck by his short-lived successor, his younger brother Quintillus - but he was so short-lived (some sources say only a few weeks) that it seems unlikely that the huge posthumous commemorative series for Claudius II was accomplished during his reign, so it assumed these types (there are also common eagle reverses and some showing a funeral pyre) continued to be struck in the early months of Aurelian's reign.

4thC Roman bronze -13.75mm, 1.08g

This type was struck c. 347-348 AD. It was the last series before the monetary reform which brought in the ubiquitous and lengthy series of FEL TEMP REPARATIO "soldier & fallen horseman" types in various sizes (and other, less common FEL TEMP types) Struck by both Constantius II and Constans, I don't think we're going to be able to tell which of the two this is.  With not a single letter of the obverse legend still on the coin due to edge-chipping, there really isn't any other way to discriminate between the 2 brothers.  The reverse type is 2 confronted Victories holding wreaths with the legend being VICTORIAE DD AVGG Q NN ("Victory! [to] our masters the two emperors") - this type has occasionally been described as: "2 Angels playing tennis (or ping-pong)" by young students in the ACE program (the educational concern for which I work) who are asking for help in ID'ing their 1st Roman coin.
The mint mark is similarly lost - or never made it onto the coin to begin with - these being struck quickly in large numbers and rather carelessly in general.  But this type was only struck in mints on the European continent, so Rome, Trier, Arles, Lyon, Siscia, etc. are the most likely points of origin.
 
Mark Lehman

4thC Roman bronze 3.75g, 22.09mm

All I'm gong to be able to do with this one is give your some general info on the period - I won't be able to assign this one to a specific ruler, but I can place it in a fairly tight time-frame.  This is either a very late antoninianus or its successor under Diocletion's reforms, the purely AE "Post-reform Radiate" which was a fraction of the new "flagship denomination" the Follis.  Since the basically AE radiate Antoninianus had been virtually the only coin in circulation for the 25 or 30 years prior to Diocletian's reforms, it is assumed that the general familiarity with this coin-type was the reason that a coin of this type was carried-over into the new system, looking almost exactly like the old ones 

This is probably either Diocletian or Maximian - the first two emperors in the administrative partnership which soon became the Tetrarchy.  The reverse appears probably to be CONCORDIA MILITVM - which was a very common reverse for both the late Antoniniani and the Post-reform Radiates.  Both denominations, nearly indistinguishable from each other, are typified by the radiate crown (crown of Sol or Helios) worn by the emperor on the obverse.  The reverse of this one has (I believe) two figures clasping hands or one giving the other a small Victory-figure on a globe.  This will usually be the emperor on the left receiving the Victory from Jupiter on the right - or occasionally a more allegorical scene of the emperor clasping hands with a figure representing, in some way, the armies. 

Diocletian became emperor in 284 AD, at the end of the political and monetary chaos of the 3rd century.  He soon - in 286 - added Maximian as his co-emperor.  The bulk of his monetary reforms were accomplished in the early 290's AD, so this coin is from the approximate period, 285-300 AD.

Mark

Roman bronze coin with animal on reverse - sent for ID

almost over-thought this one (hearing hoofbeats, I began to go off looking for zebras, I guess) before I realized what a common type it really is.  This is an VRBS ROMA City Commemorative issue for Rome, c. 330-337 AD. 
 
When Constantine moved his capitol to Constantinople c. 330 AD., alongside the normal Imperial portrait types, he decreed a massive issue of coins commemorating both Constantinople and Rome:   The "CONSTANTINOPOLIS" types which also use an allegorical personification of "the city" as an armed and helmeted female bust facing left and have a reverse type of Victory on the prow of a galley - and this VRBS ROMA type with the "animal" reverse.  The reverse type for Rome is the foundation-myth scene of the shewolf suckling the twins, Romulus & Remus with two stars in the field above.  This reverse type is actually a part of the logo of Ancient Coins for Education, Inc, the non-profit educational enrichment organization for which I work. http://www.ancientcoinsforeducation.org
 
Here's a representative specimen of the VRBS ROMA type from my collection:
 
and a CONSTANTINOPOLIS type for comparison:
 
These two were companion types and issued simultantously between 330 and about 337.  These same two obverses are also known with the GLORIA EXERCITVS, 2 soldiers flanking a military standard reverse between 337 & 340 or so - these were struck, interestingly enough, when the succession of the Principiate was contested just after Constantine's death - it was a way a neutral mint-city could dodge the issue of seemingly supporting one of Constantine's warring sons over another in the conflict.
 
Mark
 

 

4thC Roman bronze sent for ID

 
You're generally correct, but in addition to Constantine I himself, these were struck for the whole Constantinian gang, including a couple nephews who are hardly more than footnotes in the Imperial line.  We won't be able to tell for whom this one was struck since none of its obverse legend survived, but since it's a single-standard GLORIA EXERCITVS it can be dated to the period of 335-345 AD.  The single-standard types were struck for Constantine, and for his sons when they were Caesars as well as for his sons after his death when all three became Augusti in their own right. 
After the FEL TEMP REPARATIO - Soldier spearing fallen horseman type which followed this type, the GLORIA EXERCITVS - soldiers and standard(s) is probably the 2nd most common coin-type of antiquity.
 
Mark

 

 

4thC Roman bronze sent for ID16.26mm, 1.97g

This is Valentinian I, 364-375 AD, the co-founder of the Valentinian Dynasty along with his brother Valens, the same Valens who was killed in what was possibly the worst defeat ever suffered by Rome in a single battle - the massacre at Hadrianopolis in 378 - in which "the Goths rode-down the flower of the Roman legions" and virtually annihilated the Roman army in a single battle.  Things were mostly downhill for the Western Empire from this point onward, and only 32 years later, the Goths would sack Rome during the lackluster rule of Honorius.  About the best that could be said about Valentinian I is that he was lucky enough not to live to see his brother's great defeat.
The reverse type is GLORIA ROMANORVM and shows "the Emperor" walking right dragging a "barbarian captive" and carrying a labarum - a standard with the Chi-Rho symbol on it.
 
This type, and the companion SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE, walking Victory AE3's, were struck in vast numbers at all the Roman mints throughout the joint reigns of Valentinian I, Valens and Gratian, Valentinian's son, from 364 until about 383 AD.
 
Mark

3rdC Roman bronze coin sent for ID 16.91mm, 2.25g

This one appears to be an AE Antoninianus of Tetricus I - or a contemporary copy of one.  As encrusted as this is, and with so little of the legends readable, I probably can't say a lot more about it.  I can't be sure about the reverse type, but PAX AVG is a really common reverse type for both the official issues (of the Gallic Empire) and the local copies. This one looks as though it could be Pax as easily as any of the other, common standing personification reverse types.
Tetricus' dates were 270-273 AD - when, after surrendering to Aurelian, ceding "his" Gallic Empire back to Rome, and encouraging his troops to join with Aurelian's legions, he and his son, instead of suffering the normal fate of "rebels" (the actual rebellion had taken place 20 years earlier under a whole different generation of rulers), were brought back to Rome to march in Aurelian's triumph and were taken care of in great style, being made honorable members of the Senatorial class for the remainder of their lives. 
If it is a "contemporary copy", and contemporary copies are very commonly found in the UK and northern France, it could be up to 2 or 3 years later, but the old theory that these so-called "barbarous radiates" (a term I neither like nor use) date to the time after the Romans abandoned Britannia has been thoroughly disproved by recent archaoelogical evidence of hoards and even "forgers' tools" dating specifically to the era of 270-275 or so.  It can be relatively difficult to tell the difference in some cases between official pieces and local copies - some, however, belong to the "minim" class and can be found as small as 8 or 9 mm - others distinguish themselves by their extreme crudeness.
 
Mark
 
To give you an idea of the breadth of difference possible between official and unofficial
here's a specimen that's almost certainly official:
 
Another official piece and another potential reverse type yours might be:
 
Here's one that's might be official or might be a copy:
 
and here's one about which there can be almost no doubt that it's a contemporary copy:
 
And here's an example of just how bad the copies can be:
 

 

2ndC Roman bronze sent for ID 29.98mm, 13.8g

This is a "DE GERMANIS" sestertius of one of the Aurelian emperors - I know these were struck for Commodus, very probably for Marcus Aurelius and maybe even for Lucius Verus - although the victory over the Germans of which this speaks may well have been after Verus' demise.

Here's a specimen from my collection showing a young Commodus (from a MD dig in France according to the seller, BTW)

http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album95/ML_02_Commodus_De_Germani_sest

I can have a look a little later to see for whom this reverse type (and the very similar DE ALEMANIS and DE SARMATIS types) was struck, but I'd say Marcus Aurelius and Commodus as co-emperors during the period 175-181 AD is probably as good a guess as any for the general date.

Mark

4thC Roman bronze sent for ID 16.95mm, 2.0g

I believe you have a local, unofficial copy here. The type is the ubiquitous "FEL TEMP REPARATIO" ("to the return of happy times" or more broadly: "Happy Days are Here Again!") showing a Roman foot-soldier spearing an unfortunate, un-horsed "barbarian" or Persian cavalryman - wishful thinking at best that a Roman infantryman could unhorse and kill a Persian armored cataphract or German cavalryman - but it was a powerful bit of propaganda well suited to its times in which the Roman army was increasingly being shown not to be invulnerable to the "barbarians" on the borders or to the omnipresent antagonist in the East - the Persian Empire.

The size - 16mm - is typical of the enormous later emissions of this type under Constantius II (and to a lesser extent, Julian II as Caesar) in the 350's AD, but the obverse legend is a badly blundered attempt to spell "CONSTANS" - who had died in 350 - and although he is associated with this type, it's only with the large-module, "AE2" Centenionales of the period 348-352. (or 348-350 in his case), not the small AE 3's & 4's of the later years of the issue.

The official coins were produced in such astronomical quantities that it is probably a reasonable guess that after the Chinese square-holed cast brass cash coins, the FEL TEMP-fallen horseman type is the single most common coin of all antiquity - although they're probably a bit scarce for you and your digs since the Roman presence was already on the wane by the time of the inflation - which must have been on the scale of that seen in post WWI Germany - which produced the mind-numbing quantities of FEL TEMP's at the official mints throughout the Roman Empire. They additionally were copied extensively at unofficial mints across the Empire, but particularly in the more rmaginal fringe-areas like Britannia. You can date this piece to the general period 350-365 AD.

Mark

 

Large 1st C Roman bronze 14.70g, 31.62mm sent for ID

This appears to be a Sestertius of Faustina II - wife of Marcus Aurelius (161-180 AD) She died in 175 and most of her coins are either posthumous or were issued while M. Aurelius was still Caesar under Antoninus Pius (139-161) so the dating can only be general with no reverse type to guide us and not enough obverse legend to tell if it's a life time or posthumous issue.  There isn't much else I can say in the condition this one is in.
 
Mark
No gold in this issue - the Romans may have used copper to debase gold (although, interestingly, unlike with the silver, they tended not to do this very much and instead struck smaller rather than debased gold coins in times of economic emergency) It certainly would have been "silvered", however - when new it would have had a wash of shiny white metal over the surface - this coating didn't last long and finding specimens of this era with any more than a trace of their silvering intact is very unusual. 
 
This is "The Unfortunate Crispus", as history tends to style him.  This eldest son of Constantine the Great by his 1st wife (before he was forced, for political reasons, to divorce her and marry Maximian's daughter) Crispus was having a brilliant career as a soldier and was extremely popular with the people.  Constantine's 2nd wife (as the story goes) mother of the future emperors Constantine II, Constans and Constantius II, plotted to get rid of Crispus to clear the way for one or more of her sons to succeed Constantine.  After she connived in concocting a story of rape and treason against Crispus, Constantine had him excecuted (there's some question here whether Crispus' popularity and military successes might not have been at least part of the great pragmatist, Constantine's, decision to do away with his own son).
 
Later, when Fausta's complicity in the plot was exposed, he had her sealed in a bath with a hypocaust beneath it, then had the fire stoked until she was boiled to death like a lobster.
 
This piece, from the Vota series, was struck at Siscia in 320 AD. The legends are thus:
Obv: IVL CRISPVS NOB CAES Laureate head right
Rx: CAESARVM NOSTRORVM around wreath, VOT / V within; GSIS (Siscia, 3rd officina) in exergue. RIC VII 151.
 
The "VOT V" is in proclamation of Crispus' undertaking the vows of his 5th year as a Caesar.  The Emperor as Pontifex Maximus and "heirs apparent" Caesars as high priests of the State religion (despite Constantine and his family's official recognition of Christianity) undertook vows to perform certain ceremonies and sacrifices at various intervals (usually every 5 and/or 10 years) as sort of a bargain with the gods - "I'll faithfuly attend to doing these sacrifices for you if you'll keep me alive and in power for another 5 (or 10) years."  Often appearing on reverses as merely VOT / V / MVLT / X (or X & XX, or XX & XXX, etc) within a wreath, this one honors the 3 Caesars created simultaneously 5 yrs before, Crispus, Constantine II, and Licinius II.
 
Mark

Roman 1st C bronze sent off for ID 21.64g, 33.15mm

From the size and weight, it's a sestertius.  From the outline and what I think I make of the letter-seriphs, it's Antoninus Pius.  I can't really say much more about it with no reverse visible and none of the obverse legend clearly readable.
 
Mark

Huge Roman bronze, just sent it off for ID 32.57mm, 14.43g

It's smallish, weight-wise, for this, but the diameter is in the right range for it - I'm pretty sure it's a Sestertius of Trajan. 
 
Or, let me put it this way - I'm sure it's Trajan (98-117 AD), but there is some room for questioning the denomination, since as a Sestertius it should weigh in the vicinity of 20+gm. 
 
14gm is a bit on the heavy side (but not completely out of the question) for an As or Dupondius, but the diameter is really too large for either. Also, on a Dupondius the bust would have a radiate crown - this specimen has a laurel-wreath.  Asses tend to be a bit lighter than Dupondii, hence it's even less likely to be an As, but it "works" best as a lightweight Sestertius.
 
Mark

Roman copper coin with good bust outline- 4.78g,25.46mm Sent for ID

 
The size indicates an As or a Dupondius - a Dupondius, however, like a Sestertius, would have been made of "orichalcum" - a naturally-occuring and not-necessarily consistent form of brass.  The Romans did not recognize zinc as a separate metal and lacked the technology necessary to make brass from elemental copper and zinc in controlled proportions even if they had been aware of zinc.  Orichalcum, like brass in general, tends to do better under wet and otherwise corrosive conditions than copper.  Asses, however, were made from nearly pure copper.  The weight of this specimen is way outside of the standard deviation - way too light even for the underweight local copies of Imperial Roman coins.  It has obviously lost in the vicinity of half of its original weight to corrosion and/or mineral leaching. 
 
I can't be certain whether it was originally an officially issued, or a contemporary copy of an Imperial As, but the portrait seems to be of Antoninus Pius.  I doubt it could be anyone else, since his short beard can appear like a bare chin.  Imperial beards came into style with Hadrian and all emperors after that time were bearded, right up through the time that copper Asses became very scarce and went out of use in the early-mid 3rd century - usually all had beards long enough not to be mistaken for a bare chin but Pius is shown with his beard very short.  The shape of the head is just not right for Trajan or any of the Flavians, nor is the style right for any of the clean-shaven Julio-Claudians.
 
Mark

Roman bronze sent for ID - 25.23mm, 5.48g

Another damaged, fragmentary and probably mineral-leached As.  This one appears to be Antoninus Pius again- 138-161 AD - and the reverse has a standing figure, if you know which way to align it.  I believe the standing figure of which we see the middle of the torso is Antoninus himself, togate, and sacrificing over an altar which is not quite visible to the left of the "S" from the S - C in the fields.
 
If it's the type I think it is, it dates to 148 AD.
I know this one on sight - and it's actually fairly scarce.  This is the short-lived emperor Magnentius. You can easily recognize him and his brother by their distinctive and somewhat silly-looking mullet hair-do's. An interesting footnote to the period of Constantius II's reign, Magnentius had been a general of Constans'.  Around the time Constans died in 350 AD, Magnentius had recently been proclaimed emperor by his legions and his authority was widely accepted in Gaul and other Western Provinces, particularly in the power-vacuum caused by Constans' demise.  He named his younger brother Decentius Caesar in the spring of the next year - 351.  Their rule was meteoric and brief, with both of them commiting suicide after a string of lost battles in 353.
 
If, as you say, it's "like a typical 3rd c size" (and I'll assume you really meant 4th century here) this would be a somewhat lightweight Centenionalis, or possibly a half - RIC says "20-21mm & 5.07gm for average size & weight and doesn't list a normal half-piece, but it's not unusual for them to be found a bit on the smallish side. This reverse, GLORIA ROMANORVM, with the ruler spearing an unfortunate "barbarian" enemy from horseback, was struck only for Magnentius and not for his younger brother - and only for a short time.
 
This piece is from the mint at Lugdunum - modern-day Lyon in France - and dates to the period before the elevation of Decentius, so it's pretty solidly dateable to January 350 - Spring 351.
 
RIC Lugdunum 115, LRBC 214, SR 4021.
 
Mark

1st C Roman bronze sent for ID

 
That is indeed a sestertius - or what's left of one - and was issued posthumously in honor of Lucius Verus - co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius from 161 AD to his death in 169.  He wasn't much help while he was alive, being more interested in the "percs" and pleasures of Imperium than in service like his senior partner Marcus Aurelius, who spent nearly his whole reign out on the borders fighting "barbarian" invaders.  He was "family", however - the son of Hadrian's chosen heir Aelius who predeceased him (Hadrian), and was married to Marcus Aurelius' daughter Lucilla - so was accorded all the conventional honors, etc.
 
The "wedding cake" looking arrangement on the reverse is a huge funeral pyre.  The Romans cremated their dead, mostly, and the more important a person, the more public and lavish the event.  Those who had no real "name" but were rich, might arrange for extravagant funerals as well, to try to gain some fame after death, at least.
 
There were two "stock" posthumous reverses for emperors at this time, the "layer-cake" crematory pile and an eagle standing on a globe.  This coin was issued by Marcus Aurelius right after Verus' death in 169 AD.  Similar coins were issued for both Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius after their deaths - Verus' posthumous coins are a bit scarcer than either of the other two - Verus' lackluster life and career wasn't seen as deserving more than perfunctory, if Imperial, honors
 
Mark

Remarkable Roman bronze 6.99g, 28.90mm sent for ID

Interesting one .  There were 2 emperors who used the name "Maximianus" - one was Diocletian's colleague Maximianus "Hercules" who had a colorful career, being emperor no less than 3 times in his life and Constantine the Great's father-in-law, among other factoids.  There was also his junior colleague Galerius Valerius Maximianus, generally known as "Galerius".  Galerius was Caesar under Maximian, then he was Maximian Augustus in his own right during the first of the senior Maximian's abdications.  He was also one of the VERY few emperors of this era who died in his own bed (albeit from a dreadful disease).
 
So the issue is, when faced with a coin with the obverse legend: "...MAXIMIANVS PF AVG", which Maximian do we have here, the 1st or "2nd"? - it's one case where if he'd been called "Maximian II" it would be more useful than his given name of Galerius. So, depends on when the coin was issued - and this we must discern from the sequence marks.  So, we have to approach this coin from the reverse to try tell when it's from in order to know who it is.  And, Voila! this coin has neither exergual mintmark or fieldmarks to help us, plus it's the extremely common reverse type of Genio Populi Romani - well, isn't that interesting?  OK, then, the obverse legend is: "IMP C MAXIMIANVS PF AVG" so we turn to the list of obverse legends in RIC VI to see which mints used that form of the name - and it turns out to be all of them, no help here either.  Luckily, in the plates for RIC VI, there is a photo of a GENIO POPVLI ROMANI follis with a blank exergue and fields for Lugdunum - modern Lyon. 
 
So, this appears to be RIC VI, Lugdunum 14b - c. 296 AD.  I cannot, however, be absolutely certain that no other mint issued for either Maximian as Augustus a GENIO PR follis which had no exergual or fieldmarks - absence of evidence not equalling evidence of absence and all that - without spending an absurd amount of time turning pages in a volume over 725 pages long.  The findspot being Britain, however, a Western European mint like Lugdunum is quite likely.
 
Since Galerius, the junior Maximian, was a Caesar at this time, this must then be the elder Maximian.
 
Mark
1st/2nd C Monster sized Roman bronze sent for ID - 11.02g, 32.44mm
1st/2ndC Roman bronze coin
1st/2nd C Roman bronze sent for ID - 12.97g, 27.94mm
1st/2ndC Roman bronze
1st/2ndC Roman bronze
Mid 4thC Roman Barbarious radiate coin
Mid 4thC Barbarous Roman bronze coin - English type
Very curious Roman bronze that I initally thought was Saxon as it is the perfect size and thickeness of a sceat - Sent off to Roman expert for ID , 9.85mm, 1.21g.
Curious Roman bronze - sent for ID
   

Mass Bruce's Roman

NH Scott's 6 Roman's

Unless I am mistaken, all 7 of these belong to the brother team of Magnentius & Decentius - a fairly short-lived (350-353 AD) Augustus/Caesar pair of the sort promoted to Augustus, ad-hoc, by their legions. This was a very common story during the chaos-years of the later 3rd century, but happened far less often in the 4th.  Magnentius had been a top general of Constans' - his army proclaimed him Augustus and since Constans did him the favor of being captured and executed conveniently quickly - within a few months - Magnentius was duly recognized as Augustus in most of the Western provinces in 350.  The next year he elevated his little brother Decentius to be his colleague Caesar.
 
Constantius II was not pleased by the Western upstarts and within 2 years had defeated them in a couple of significant battles.  Realizing the jig was up, they both committed suicide in 353.
 
Although these reverse types are known for other rulers (for whom they are pretty rare), they are especially associated with Magnentius & Decentius, both of whom were always portrayed "bare headed" - no laurels or diadems, etc. - and both of whom sported distinctive "mullett" hairdos like you see on the clearest specimens here.  Since I believe the obverse legend on that nice one of Bruce's ends in "AVG", I'd say it's most likely Magnentius.  Any on which the obverse legend ends (around 5:00) in CAES, CAESAR,  NOB C, or NC can safely be assumed to be Decentius.
The type with the 2 Victories resting shield inscribed: VOT / V / MVLT / X on a cippus (or just holding it between them) woul have a legend like: VICTORIAE DD NN AVG ET CAES - and was common for both of them.  The large Chi-Rho Christogram reverse was used on both the centenionalis and short-lived double-centenionalis denominations - it's not really scarce, but is sought-after making it a bit more expensive for those wanting to buy one.  This is a common factor in ancient coins, those with some sort of "religious" reference are always found desirable by folks who have no other interest in ancient coins, thereby driving up the prices (like the so-called "Tribute Penny" denarius of Tiberius - of which your diggers have found several - which is the most common silver coin of the early 1st century, but sells for 3-4 times as much as any other).
 
This pair struck only in the Western mints: Amiens, Trier, Lyon, Arles, Aquilea, Rome and Siscia
 
You have the Chi-Rho reverse 90º counter-clockwise out of alignment, by the way. in the left and right interstices of the Chi are "A" and "W" (Alpha/Omega).  You can see these letters pretty clearly on this specimen although the "P"-shaped top of the Rho seems to have taken too much damage to be visible.
 
Some examples from my collection:
 
Magnentius: Chi-Rho double-centenionalis: http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album167/26_Magnentius_SAL_AMB
typical 2 Victories:
2 Victories from a British MD find:
a couple less-common reverses:
 
Decentius:
 
Mark

 

Roman (non hoard coin) - sent off for ID

2.38g, 17.10

Valens, 364-378 AD, AE3, Mint of Lyon - LVG.P, 364-7 AD.  Reverse type: SECVRITAS REIPVBLICAE, Victory walking left holding wreath and palm.

Mid 4thC Roman House of Constantine bronze coin

Roman bronze - sent for ID (hoard coin)

3.60g, 19.44mm

Magnentius 360-363, AE Centenionalis. Mint mark off-flan or obscured, Reverse type: FELICITAS  REIPVBLICE. Emperor standing left holding Victory on globe and labarum (standard with Chi-Rho on banner).

Roman (non hoard coin) - sent off for ID

17,21mm, 2.11

(Please bear in mind this must, at best, be an educated guess) Claudius II, "Gothicus" 268-270 AD. Billon antoninianus. Reverse type: Felicitas Temporum (?) standing left holding caduceus (?) and scepter.  This might be one of a number of other personifications or deities standing and holding a scepter (Jupiter, Libertas, Providentia, among others), but this resembles a plate coin in RIC

Roman bronze - sent for ID (hoard coin)

0.79g, 12.02mm

Magnentius or Decentius, AE 1/2 Centenionalis, as far as I can see, it's the 2 Victories & inscribed shield "VICTORIAE DD NN AVG ET CAES" reverse.

Roman bronze - sent for ID (hoard coin)

3.61g, 19.99mm

Magnentius ("D N MAG..." visible at 8:00 - 10:00 obverse) Mint mark obscured by dirt. Reverse type: VICTORIAE DD NN AVG ET CAES - 2 Victories hold shield inscribed: VOT / V / MVLT / X.

Roman 2nd bronze coin 32.93mm, 21.49g

 

is a sestertius of Hadrian - and a very young portrait style, too - his portrait still resembles Trajan at this point and he's shown with a very long neck and bare chest - probably about 117-120 AD, but without a clue about the reverse I can't be any more specific.

Mark

4thC Roman coin sent for ID

16.67mm, 1.41g

You're correct that this coin has a Shewolf & Twins reverse which is typically found on the VRBS ROMA, City of Rome commemorative, reduced-module folles introduced around 330 AD., at the time Constantinople became the official seat of Constantine's government. These have a helmeted and mantled bust of the allegorical personification of the City of Rome facing left on their obverses.  At approximately 17mm (although at 1.41gm, it's on the light side) it's most likely from the emissions of c 330-333/5, rather than the later ones of 333/5-337 which tended to be even smaller.  At some mints, they were even continued as a type past the death of Constantine in 337, although often paired with a "Vota" or a GLORIA EXERCITVS soldiers & standard reverse rather than the wolf & twins.  This atypical use of a subject other than an Imperial bust on the obverse was a convenient political "dodge" for cities which hadn't necessarily declared-for or been brought securely into the fold of one or another of Constantine's sons, who had some "disagreement" about who had inherited what territory or was to rule where, etc.
 
Unfortunately, the exergual area is too far off-flan for me to be able to make an informed guess as to the city of origin - top seriph-tips of a few letters are visible, but not enough to really be able to tell what was intended.
 
For a somewhat clearer view of the type, see: http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album165/52_VRBS_CYZ  or:  http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album165/57_VRBS_TES and as you can see from the first example, these were originally silver-washed, although the silvering very seldom survives to the present day.
 
Mark
 

 

Huge 2ndC Roman sent off for ID

28.21mm dia x 4.58 mm thick

19.14g

This is a sestertius of Marcus Aurelius - 161-180 AD.  I don't think I can tell you a lot more on the basis of what I can see here.  The reverse shows one of literally dozens of standing female allegorical personifications or minor deities Aurelius used on his coins over the course of 2 decades as Augustus (of course, he had already had 2 decades of extensive coinage before this as Caesar under Antoninus Pius).  There aren't any obvious clues as to which it might be.  That, and the 2nd half of the obverse legend being missing or illegible means I can't date it more closely than to say this dates to his time as emperor, 1st part of the 2nd half of the 2nd century AD..
 
Mark

 

 

Mid 4thC Roman House of Constantine bronze coin

late Constantius II - I'm pretty sure it's a SPES REIPVBLICE, the last AE type Constantius II minted - emperor standing holding spear and globe.  These date to about 359-361 and are only known for Constantius II and Jullian "The Philosopher/Apostate" as Caesar.

Mark

Interesting group, but I'm afraid what they indicate is at very least a couple centuries occupation. 
 
I'm thankful you're asking for guesses at this point - very little here I am feeling completely confident attributing to specific folks, but the general time-frames are not in question.  I will try to fill-in details over the next couple days (I'm recovering from the flu and not spending as much time at my desk as I normally do.)
 
 
The one you describe as "Celtic" is most likely Spanish - "Romano-Celitberian" as they call them - segueing into Provincial issues - and is a "DIVVS" (deified) someone from the clear bit of counter-clockwise legend around 4:00-5:00.  I'm guessing Augustus but it could be Julius, Agrippa, etc.  Not earlier than late 1st century BC (c. 40 BC at the earliest) and not likely to be later than 25-35 or so AD when the Spanish Provincials dried up in favor of Imperial coin.
 
The one with the apparently severly advanced bronze disease pits in the obverse I can tell you is a "Caesar" - as in "crown prince", "emperor in training", "heir apparent", etc.  The reverse type is PRINCIPI IVVENTVTIS - or some variant of the same - "Prince of Youth".  I don't know, off the top of my head, which Caesar was portrayed with 4 standards and holding a scepter (that's unusual - typically it's only 1 or 2 standards, but this should work to our advantage, eventually), but I'm sure I can figure it out.  It's unlikely to be earlier than Commodus (c. 160's) or later than Herrenius Etruscus (c. 250)  If I read your metrics correctly, that one's an As
 
The one in the middle, of approximate sestertius weight with the gorgeous portrait, seems not to be Roman Imperial - at first glance, it seems to be Provincial, but since so far I can't read a single letter on obverse or reverse - I'd have to guess that one was supposed to be Caracalla, Geta, Philip II, or another of the baby-faced but bearded 3rd century folks. - Again, gussing only, c. 200-245 AD.  The portrait style is just not correct for Roman Imperial of the era.
 
Mark

Using the 'distilled water ' method to clean up two Roman bronze with detail - still soaking to remove the rest of the crud

 

The larger of the two is Faustina the Elder - wife of Antoninus Pius.  She did her duty as a Roman matron and popped-out a lot of Imperial larvae, then (conveniently for him, it would seem - although we have no evidence of him taking any advantage of his most-eligible-bachelor status) she died in 141 AD, only 3 years after Antoninus donned the purple.  Among her daughters was Faustina the Younger, wife of Antoninus' successor, Marcus Aurelius.  This coin was part of the relatively huge posthumous coinage Antoninus minted in her honor throughout his long reign (138-161).  The reverse shows Juno standing left, holding a patera and resting on a scepter.
 
The smaller piece, an As it would appear, is Antoninus Pius - other than what I think is a pair of legs - indicating a standing character of some sort - I'm afraid I can't make sense of the reverse from the photo - if it is cleaned any further, or you can get a photo which makes whatever detail there may be seem more clearly visible, I can give you at least a guess as to what the reverse type might be.
 
Mark
Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD) AE As, 26mm, 10.50gm, BRITANNIA COS III; SC (in ex). Britannia seated left on rock in attitude of dejection, chin propped on right hand and left hand resting on rock; in background, shield and vexillum. RIC II 934, SR 4296, VM 119.
 
These are not "rare", or even really scarce, but they tend to sell for much more than comparable contemporary pieces due to the Britannia reverse.  This design was struck on all of Antoninus' AE denominations and the sestertii can be quite pricey - particularly if they're in nice condition.
 
There is also a Britannia reverse from Hadrian's "grand tour" series, but those are rare - and very expensive.
 
I'll get back to you when I've had a chance to analyze the photos you attached to today's mail.
 
Mark

Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD) AE As, 26mm, 10.50gm, BRITANNIA COS III; SC (in ex). Britannia seated left on rock in attitude of dejection, chin propped on right hand and left hand resting on rock; in background, shield and vexillum. RIC II 934, SR 4296, VM 119.

 
These are not "rare", or even really scarce, but they tend to sell for much more than comparable contemporary pieces due to the Britannia reverse.  This design was struck on all of Antoninus' AE denominations and the sestertii can be quite pricey - particularly if they're in nice condition.
 
There is also a Britannia reverse from Hadrian's "grand tour" series, but those are rare - and very expensive.
 
I'll get back to you when I've had a chance to analyze the photos you attached to today's mail.
 
Mark

4thC Roman bronze coins

Potential Roman bronze coin hoard found - reported to Col;chester mueum

 

The piece with the short altar on the reverse is a BEATA TRANQVILLITAS - these date to about 320, they're the series just after the VLPP's.  It seems to say CONSTANTINE on the obverse, but could be either Constantine I or son Constantine II, I can't see the end of the legend and that would tell us whether it was Constantine I (AVG), or II (NOB C) - The letters in the field - C - R on either side of the altar allow me to attribute it to the mint of Lugdunum (Lyons). - here's an example of a similar type from the mint of London - http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album164/34_Constantine_II_BET_LON
 
The other piece with a clear reverse is another 1-standard GLORIA EXERCITVS - I can make out "...STANT..." on the obverse, which rules out only Constans and Delmatius - it could be any other member of the Constantine clan - and again, I can't see the end of the legend which would allow me to narrow it down between a Caesar or an Augustus. (Pretty much the same list in either case, since all 3 of Constantine's sons became Augustii on his death in 337 - all 3 had been Caesars previously).
 
The piece for which you sent only the obverse image has no visible legend, but the portrait tends to look the way Constantius II tended to be portrayed on his FEL TEMP REPARATIO (soldier spearing fallen horseman - I'm sure you're familiar with these - they're probably the most common coin-type of all antiquity).  You must understand, this is 90% guesswork when I'm seeing only an obverse portrait of this era with no legend and no part of the reverse.
 
So far, with the exception of the larger pieces you sent yesterday, just about all this material dates to the Constantinian era - but over a fairly broad span of years, say 315-360.  This is a little later than most of the coins you've shown me from your other, earlier dig-sites, although your last "hoard" of Magnentius/Decentius Centenionales came from a specific bit of the same general era.
 

Mark

 

the "D" shaped one (# 5, I believe) is a GLORIA EXERCITVS - "(to the) Glory of the Armies" - with a single standard between the 2 soldiers, it dates to the period 335-340.  They were struck for the entire Constantine clan and a couple cousins, besides, so without some pretty clear letters on the obverse, it's difficult to tell who was intended to be portrayed.  I can, I think, make out the bottom seriphs of "...AVG" at the end of the legend, so that narrows it down to 4 possible suspects - Constantine I & II, Constans and Constantius II - with no real way to tell who it is.
 
This one might have looked something like this, originally - http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album165/67_Constantine_I_GE1_ANT
 
The very irregularly shaped one (# 4, I think) dates to around 320 AD - these were struck for Constantine I, his oldest son Crispus, and the two Licinii.  These are known as "VLPP's" - the reverse (VICTORIAE LAETAE PRINC PERP) shows 2 Victories, face to face, resting a shield inscribed "VOT / XX" on a short altar.  I'm pretty sure this one shows Constantine I - or at least that's what the fragments of legend between about 8:00 & 12:00 on the obverse lead me to believe.
 
It would have looked like this, originally - http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album164/02_Constantine_I_VLLP_TIC - although the bust faces the opposite direction.
 
There isn't enough of their lower reverses visible to tell which mint they might have come from.
 
Mark 

Mass Gary's hoard coins

1stC Roman bronzes with detail sent off for ID

Sestertius of Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius, (177-192) 16.21g, 29.88 - As or Dupondius of Faustina II, wife of Marcus Aurelius, 12.85g, 27.76mm

Boston Beau's Roman hoard coins

Roman bronze sent for ID 3.48g, 25.88mm

The larger one with good detail (#8) is pretty easy - that's Maximian, Diocletian's partner in founding the first Tetrarchy at the end of the 3rd century.  It's a Follis, and the type is "GENIO POP ROM" - the "Genius" (meaning more like "spirit" than anything to do with MENSA) of the Roman People.  This is an interesting type - it's about the only follis of this kind with no mint mark - which means, in this case, it's from the mint of London, c. 300-303.
 
#9 seems to have the legend "GLORIA ROMANORVM" - which should be a big help, except that this legend is used over and over by many rulers over centuries.  Checking a particularly helpful on-line reference, I find that if the design is what I think it is - 
"Emperor on horseback, galloping right, spearing barbarian with outstretched arms kneeling left beneath or in front of the horse; shield and broken spear beneath horse" - here's a none-too-clear example from my collection: http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album167/28_Magnentius_GLO_AQL
- and about all I have to go on for certain is the shield at the bottom, the fact that's it's a "busy" design, and the mint mark - "TRP" (Trier mint) - with this legend, if it is this type, it can only be Magnentius - a short-lived emperor in the 350's, promoted from general to the purple in the field by his troops - the last hoard you had was deep in Magnentius and his brother Decentius.  His legitimacy as an emperor and popular support was mainly centered in the Western part of the Empire.
 
#10 is just a face - unfortunately, as nicely crafted as this example is, by the end of the 3rd century, the "photo-realism" of earlier centuries was gone.  Now, the engravers were generally struggling to make the obverse portrait look like "a person" - unfortunately, not a specific person, just a more or less generic human, so except for a few notable exceptions, you just can't tell who was intended if there's no legend, no reverse, etc.  The fact that the headgear is a laurel-wreath instead of a diadem places it at least before the death of Constantine I (337) when the imperial diadem completely replaced the laurels of an earlier age.
 
Mark

Non hoard Roman coin sent for ID

Quick reply is that it's a sestertius of Marcus Aurelius as Caesar (138-161) under Antoninus Pius.  Not sure what the reverse type is yet, the figure is in "military garb" but I don't recognize the pose right offhand - I'll look more closely later.
 
Mark
I spent a good deal of time trying to run this one to ground - and didn't quite satisfy myself as to who, what and when it is, but I can tell you generally what it has to be.  On the basis of the un-bearded-looking chin, in order of likelihood, this is a sestertius of A) Antoninus Pius, B) Marcus Aurelius, C) Commodus.  Although all three tended to sport beards, all three began with either very tightly cropped beards or bare chins - Antoninus, however, kept his beard short and trim throughout his reign.  All three used legends at some point in which ANTONINVS appears early in the obverse legend - Antoninus througout his reign. M. Aurelius as Caesar (ie: short beard) seldom, but as Augustus, nearly always (but always with a long, pointy or even scraggly-looking "Philosopher's beard" as Augustus.) Commodus, whether early or late in his reign, very seldom, but not "never".
So, as you can see the indicators point towards Antoninus Pius (although I believed it was M. Aurelius Caesar or even Commodus from the portrait) for the obverse.
The reverse has a figure dressed in "Military garb" standing, either left or facing.  presumably holding something in that upraised hand and perhaps cradling a short object in the left elbow.  Figures of Virtus / Roma in military garb abound for all three - here's an example of a Virtus reverse for M. Aurelius as Caesar -   http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album94/M_Aurel_Caes_Virtvs_Sest1 - Virtus is not in the same pose, but dressed similarly and holding a short(ish) object, the parazonium, in the crook of the arm (albeit, the right arm).  There is also a type common to all 3 of "The Emperor in military garb standing..." but usually with easily identified attributes - Spears, Standards, Leaning on Shields, etc.
 
After going through RIC III page-by-page for the whole Antonine Dynasty, I did not satisfy myself that I had found "The Type" beyond question, but there were many examples for which the ambiguous bits of legend and/or types on this coin could be made to fit.  More for Antoninus than for the other suspects.  So, in the interest of getting something else done today, I'm going to cut my losses and say "Probably Antoninus Pius and probably Virtus/Roma on the reverse" This places us somewhere between about 140-160 AD. - but those are the same years as for M. Aurelius as Caesar, and M. Aurelius Augustus shared the purple with his son Commodus from about 175-180, but Commodus was also Caesar from 166-176 (and would have had a bare or barely bearded chin), so you can see there's a LOT of potential overlap of era here.
 
Basically, it's really too bad that there isn't more clear legend on the obverse and/or in addition to the S-C on the reverse.
 
Mark

 

 

30.92mm, 16.06g

Coin 22 (330-337 AD)

Roman coins sent off for ID

Coin # 20 appears to be a contemporary copy of a mid-3rd century antoninianus.  Some folks call these "Barbarous Radiates", although I think that's a completely inappropriate name and mindlessly continues the narrow-minded artistic prejudices of our Victorian forbears.  The folks who made and used these coins were no more barbarians than were the makers and users of the coins which they copied - in fact, they tended to be the most civilized residents of an area.  These coins typically were an "emergency currency", not unlike Conder Tokens or US Civil War or Hard Times Tokens.  When no official coin is reaching an area the economy of which is normally facilitated by commonplace use of coinage, local substitutes - usually in imitation of familiar types - almost inevitably arise.  These pieces were not made to decieve, (and so are NOT "counterfeits"), rather to take the place of Regal Coinage which had become unavailable due to  hoarding and/or attrition.
 
This piece is not in good enough condition for me to be sure what was being copied, although the "PAX AVG" and "SPES AVG" reverse types were overwhelmingly popular on 3rd century contemporary copies and the standing figure's raised arm might be holding an olive-branch or a flower.  It appears from the seeming string of "O's" in lieu of legend visible around 1:00-4:00 on the reverse, that this may be a contemporary copy of a Roman type by an illiterate or semi-literate neighboring group - it was common for legends to be reduced to a design element when coins were copied for this purpose - as a supply of coins for trade purposes to semi-Romanized local peoples who had become familiar with the use of coin.
 
Date this one to approximately 265-275 AD.
 
Coin # 21 seems to be of a 4th century Caesar.  It was common at that time to distinguish between emperors and Caesars by the headgear on their coin portraits.  This is a bare-headed bust, and so you'd think it must be a Caesar.  However, the legend ends in "...AVG", and there is one Augustus who often appears bare-headed, Magnentius.  So my best guess on this one is a Centenionalis of Magnentius with a FELICITAS REIPVBLICAE reverse type - the emperor standing left, holding a small figure of Victory and a labarum.  Magnentius was around for only a brief time, 350-353 AD.
 
Coin # 22 is a "City Commemorative" - when Constantine moved his capital to Constantinople c. 330, there was a very large issue of small folles commemorating both Constantinople and Rome.  This is an VRBS ROMA - with helmeted Roma facing left on the obverse and the mythic Shewolf standing left on the reverse suckling Romulus and Remus.  These belong to the period 330-337 or so.
 
None of these has any legible mint marks (not that the mint mark would mean anything on the contemporary copy) so I can't tell where they were minted.
 
Mark

 

 

Mass Steve's 18 Roman hoard coins sent for ID

# 25 appears to be a Dupondius of the Antonine Era - I believe I see the points of a radiate crown on the portrait, the size and weight are consistant with dupondii of that era.  Most likely Antoninus Pius (138-161) - the reverse is too far gone to say more than that it's a standing figure - the reverse legend seems to end in "...COS III" dating it, most likely, to the time of Antoninus' 3rd consulship, 140-145 AD.  It might be COS III, however, in which case, it would date it from 145-161.
 
#23 & # 24 are both Constantinian-era pieces, both Folles -
 
on # 23 I can make out "...CONSTAN..." on the obverse and not very much else - I can't figure out what the reverse is doing - 4 members of the Constantine clan are potential suspects (Constantine I & II, Constans & Constantius II) - without knowing the reverse type, I can only estimate a date roughly, say 315-325 AD. 
 
# 24 has a little more going for it, I'm pretty certain that it's Constantine I, and since the reverse type is one of the IOVI CONSERVATORI series of reverses with Jupiter standing left, holding a small figure of Victory, on a piece of this size, you can say approximately 313-318 AD. with some confidence.
 
Mark

Another Roman hoard coin sent for ID

20.22mm, 3.47g

 

That, like the majority of the pieces from the hoard you found a few months back, is our old friend Magnentius.  The combination of the mullet on the portrait and a slighly scarcer reverse type - FELICITIAS REIPVBLICE, emperor standing left holding Victory and labarum - plus an unusual obverse legend - discernable by the "EN" at 1:00 obv - allow us to tell that it's from the mint at Trier, despite the missing exergual mint mark.  The short-lived Magnentius and his brother Decentius were only around for a couple years, 350-353 AD.
 
This piece has essentially the same type of reverse, unfortunately it's hardly more legible than the reverse on yours http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album167/27_Magnentius_FEL_AMB
 
Mark

Non hoard Roman bronze sent for ID

29.76mm, 16.03g

This one will be from a different occupation horizon that most of what you've been digging recently.  It's not easy to be sure with the condition it's in, but I believe that's a mature-bust portrait of Hadrian - so we're looking at c. 125-138 AD.  200 years, give or take, before the Constantinian-era material which has been the majority of what you seem to be finding at your "village" site.
 
It's interesting, overall, that you almost never seem to find any 3rd century / Severan Dynasty material - on this or any of your other sites.  It's as though the area was abandoned for a century-plus between the late 2nd century and the early-mid 4th century. 
 
Mark

 

Constantius II

If it's the soldier & horseman type, it's from around 355-259, if it's the emperor & galley type, it's more like 350-53.

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2nd C Roman bronze sent for ID

I believe the one with the nicer portrait is an As of Hadrian - 117-138 AD.  The portrait is in the style I associate with the earlier years of his reign - his older busts make him look a bit more "chunky" and seldom show much of a neck or shoulders.
 
Here's an example of a portrait of Hadrian in a style quite similar to what you see on your coin: http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album92/Hadrian_Virtus_Dup
 
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4thC Roman bronze sent for ID
4thC Roman bronze sent for ID
4thC Roman bronze

27.74mm, 7.81g

This appears to be a GENIO POPVLI ROMANI follis of either Galerius as Caesar or Maximinus II as Caesar - this is a little earlier than most of the 4th century material you seem to turn up.  This would date to about 305-310 AD.  I can't quite read the mint mark - it could be London - but it's generally more likely to be a Western (European) mint rather than an Eastern mint.

 
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Roman bronze sent for ID

This one is a two-standard GLORIA EXERCITVS - without a clear obverse legend, I can't say for whom it was struck - and there are at least 4 possibilities - Constantine I and his three younger sons.  This type generally dates to about 330-335 AD.  These are contemporaneous with the city commemoratives for Rome and Constantinople (like the CONSTANTINOPOLIS you sent earlier today)  In about 335, the double standard between the soldiers was changed to a single standard.  The single-standard reverse type continued to be used on and off for another 5-10 years.
 
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4thC Roman bronze sent for ID

The two at the top are common Constantinian family types - the 2nd is definitely a 2-standard GLORIA EXERCITVS - the one at the top, I'm not as sure what's going on - is it two standing figures? - if so, it might be a VICTORIAE LAETAE PRINC PERP with 2 Victories holding a shield over a short column, or possibly a Gloria Ex, although it doesn't strike me immediately as a Gloria Ex, I suppose it could be a single-standard type.
 
The coin on the bottom, however, is unusual - it has AVGVSTA (I think) spelled-out and so is earlier - probably early 3rd century - let me do some research and see who I come up with - I think I see IVLIA on the left, and it could be Domna, although it doesn't much look like her - and I'm curious about the diameter of that one, too - bigger than 18mm, right? - because if it's in the 18mm vicinity, then it's probably a so-called "Limes Denarius".
 
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Cracking condition Roman bronze sent for ID 19.27, 1.92g

 

This one, in case you couldn't read it, is an antoninianus of Gallienus (sole reign, 26-268 AD) this belongs to the so-called "Zoo" series of coins with various animal reverses.
 
This one has a reverse legend of DIANAE CONS AVG and shows an antelope or a stag (elk) (I'm not completely sure which) walking right.  A nicer specimen (I happen to be working with a Gallienus zoo collection at the moment)
 
This series, naming various deities - Apollo, Diana, Hercules, Jupiter, Liber/Bacchus, Neptune & Sol was issued in the last couple years of Gallienus' reign 267/8 
 
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Unusual Roman bronze sent for ID

20.75mm,3.22g

Constantine I "The Great" (307-337) - this AE3's reverse has "D N CONSTANTINI MAX AVG" around a small wreath in which is the Vota vow "date"- "VOT / XX"  It also has a somewhat unusual obverse legend-break - "CONSTA - NTINVS AVG" - they're usually broken more symmetrically.
 
I can't read the mint mark - if this cleans up at all and we can read the exergue (in this photo, the reverse is rotated 45º clockwise of proper orientation - the mint mark would be at the bottom, under the wreath-ties) I can tell you where it's from - in general though, the "when" is about 320-324 (it wasn't unusual for emperors to "anticipate" their vows by half a decade or more.
 
If I could see the mint mark, I could say both where it was struck and narrow-down the time frame to a year or a few months, depending.
 
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Large Roman 1st/2ndC AS sent for ID

 

These are AE's of Faustina II, wife of Marcus Aurelius (I believe - it could be Lucilla, but she's not as likely as Faustina) and Hadrian.  I can't quite figure out what's happening on the reverse of the Hadrian - looks like a transverse chain?  Nothing I'm immediately familiar with, at any rate.  perhaps it is 45º rotated to clockwise and I'm seeing a shield and the outline of drapery and an arm?  If so, could be a lot of different things, but Roma, Mars & Virtus come to mind - all would have grounded shields.
 
The Faustina/Lucilla Rx is a Diana Lucifera type - Diana holding a long torch transversely.
 
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Large Roman 1st/2ndC AS sent for ID

These are AE's of Faustina II, wife of Marcus Aurelius (I believe - it could be Lucilla, but she's not as likely as Faustina) and Hadrian.  I can't quite figure out what's happening on the reverse of the Hadrian - looks like a transverse chain?  Nothing I'm immediately familiar with, at any rate.  perhaps it is 45º rotated to clockwise and I'm seeing a shield and the outline of drapery and an arm?  If so, could be a lot of different things, but Roma, Mars & Virtus come to mind - all would have grounded shields.
 
The Faustina/Lucilla Rx is a Diana Lucifera type - Diana holding a long torch transversely.
 
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4thC Roman bronze coin - sent for ID

either Constans or Constantius II - the reverse type, VICTORIAE DD AVGG Q NN - 2 victories facing each other holding wreaths - was only struck in 347 & 348 so it's a good type for dating a site.  The obverse is too badly compromised for me to tell from the photo whether it's Constans or Constantius - nothng particularly special about either one, they were brothers and sons of Constantine I "The Great".  Constans would live another 2 years and Constantius another 15 or so, but they were petty much "interchangeable" at this point in time, except that one dealt with the western part and the other the eastern part of the Empire.

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Mid 4th House of Conatantine Roman bronze coin