RCC/Tips for Finding Scarce Bargain Late Roman Bronzes

Tips for Finding Scarce Bargain Late Roman Bronzes

by Kent Woodson

For a few years now when the coin show comes to town I immediately dive into the large batches of "unsearched" bargain cleaned and uncleaned roman bronzes. Apart from enjoying the idea of getting grubby up to my elbows, I enjoy finding an overlooked rarity amongst the common coins. I realize that these batches are not truly unsearched, they have received at least a cursory glance when they were first discovered and sorted into lots for the international market. Fortunately for all the bargain Roman bronze collectors, these sorters do not have enough time to look at each coin judiciously. One can certainly sympathize with the sorters abroad whey you are faced with the daunting task of going through hundreds if not thousands of coins within a few hours. Here are some tips to take for making the task a bit more manageable and heighten your chances for a "find".

TIP #1: Look for coins of exceptional condition - This one seems to go without saying, but it needs a bit of attention. "Exceptional" is a difficult word to describe, and learning what is ''exceptional'' takes a considerable amount of time to develop by looking at thousands of coins. The tip here is that high grade coins needn't necessarily qualify as exceptional". During the turbulent political and economic climate that existed between the 3rd and 5th Centuries A.D. there was a proliferation of the bronze coinage both in the actual quantity minted but also in its diversity. Due to the inflationary times the coin quality and size diminished. Because of this, especially on the smaller modules (as small as 9mm), finding a well centered one with complete legends is a rarity. With these earlier (3rd century) common issues finding one with excellent detail and a flan that isn't cracked is the key. In this group, the coins of Gallienus (A.D. 253-268) come to mind. Gallienus spent most of his tenure on campaign and utilized travelling mints to ensure that his troops were paid on time (to not do so often proved to be a fatal error). The flan preparation for these issues were crude to say the least... the flans often flaked or cracked when struck and often had very rough ragged edges.

TIP #2: Look for left-facing busts The majority (about 90%) of issues during this timeframe, have the emperor on the obverse facing right. Issues that face left are somewhat collectible because are often more decorative. There are a few emperor that use the left-facing bust more than others, and their issues should be considers less scarce; they are the Antoninanii of Probus and Aurelian (these coins always have a radiate "spiked" crown), the folli and AE3 modules of Licinius I and Licinius II (these are still neat coins with the left-facing emperors usually wearing battle regalia or a consular bust holding a mappa (Licinius I). Additionally, the one-half and one Cententionali of Constantius II have a left-facing bust with the emperor holding a globe (this is a neat series too, but fairly common). All other left-facing busts have a good chance of being scarce.

TIP #3: Look for field markings It seems that the further the mints were from the economic centers in the east, the more innovative the local mintmasters and celators became. Generally speaking this meant the western mints during the 4th and 5th Centuries A.D. These western mints were further away from the commercial centers did not issue as many coins are a bit scarce. Mints that fall into this category that often utilized field marks include Aquilea (Italy), Arelatum (France), Carthage (Tunisia), Lugdunum (France), Londinium (England), and Treveri (Germany). One of the innovative things that these mints did was take the standard design that was minted and added a few things to them. The most obvious of these additions are field markings that filled the empty spaces on the reverse design. These field markings could be stars, wreaths, branches, religious symbols (a cross or the Greek letters Chi and Rho combined), crescent moons, and letters. These features really stand out and can be recognized by the novice collector in a short time. More advanced collectors will be able to pick out subtleties in the designof the central features of the reverse, such as legionary standards with different legion markings, the shapes on shields, or even how many leaves are on a branch. This is a skill that you will have to develop over time. Several times I have picked up a scarce coin just because it looked weird to me, after consulting a few reference books later I was able to determine that I had a "find". Field marks are also important in attribution. As I stated in TIP #1 with smaller modules the legends are often off the flan when struck and you can only determine the mint city by looking at the telltale field markings.

TIP #4: Look for Roman Women -Empresses and relatives of the Roman emperors were put on coins as well, but their mintages were much smaller than the emperor himself. The easiest way to identi~ a Roman woman is by hairstyle. Emperors generally have either a crown, laurel, military helmet, or a diadem adorning their royal heads. Roman women generally have a stylized hairdo and no accessories, but sometimes may have a diadem. You often have a fairly good chance of finding a scarce Roman woman because they are not as widely collected as their male counterparts, and overseas sorters are less likely to take one out of a lot unless it is of high grade.

TIP #5: Look for coins with an odd size -Most Roman coins between the 3rd and 5th centuries are between 1 2mm and 24mm in diameter, sizes that are outside of this range are generally not Roman. I have found many Greek, Medieval, Arabic, and some modern coins in the lots I have searched through and size and weight is the easy giveaway on these. There is also a good chance tat you can find earlier Roman bronzes that are highly collectible and hence more valuable. These earlier Roman bronze issues are larger and thicker than most later Roman bronzes and are easily spotted. Because of this most are caught in the cursory sort overseas, but some "finds" still remain, but if you find an As or Dupondius of Nero, it will probably be a very worn one without any legend remaining. You have a much better chance of finding rarities in smaller modules, because they are harder to attribute at a glance by sorters than the large issues, and smaller coins are not as widely collected.

TIP #6: Look for coins with an odd shape -The majority of coins since the beginning have been round. You will occasionally find a triangular or square coins in these large batches. The triangular coins are usually very thin and generally a clipped Byzantine scyphate cons (generally not scarce, and almost impossible to attribute), these will often have a slight bend remaining from the original scyphate shape which was "cupped". Other coins that are triangular are barbarous issues that took an imperial issued coin, quartered it, and overstruck the triangular Han with a barbarous die. These barbarous restrikes are very small and are easily overlooked in a cursory sorting. In the past, these coins were dismissed as crude and not historic, but as an appreciation for Celtic history, culture and abstract art grows, so does the price of these issues. Just in the past few years these coins have doubled and even tripled in price, especially for a well- struck piece. Square coins will definitely either be a clipped scyphate or an eastern issue from either Bactria or Armenia. These Bactrian and Armenian coins look radically different from Roman issues and are generally found in the cursory sort.

TIP #7: Look for cool mint errors - With the increasingly crude craftsmanship in minting coins and the rise in the number of coins needed to distribute to a burgeoning populace and facilitate a wavering economy, the number of mint errors increased. Many of these errors such as double strikes cause by either 'striking chatter" (coins moves during striking) or by a second full strike due an exceptionally weak first strike are quite common. Neat errors that are still scarce are brockages and overstrikes. Overstrikes over a different coin design could be a mint error (coin stuck to dies or slave picked from the already struck pile instead of the blank Han pile), or it could be "coin recycling". "Coin recycling" is where the mint took existing coins out of circulation because they were exceptionally worn pieces or if the emperor whose portrait it held had fallen out of favor, and stuck it again. "Coin recycling" isn't a mint error, but you can sometimes get interesting combinations. The most interesting one that I have heard of is a Bar Kobocha (2nd Jewish Revolt) silver issue overstrike over a IVDEA CAI~A denarius of Trajan (who put down the first Jewish revolt).

TIP #8: Look for counterstamps - Although there were some counterstamps on imperial issues, counterstamps were generally reserved for Roman provincial issues. The imperial issues I will not address here because most of the counterstamps on imperial issues were reassessed values on worn down early bronzes in exceptionally poor condition. The Roman provincial coinage system ran parallel to the imperial mints, they issued coins for the local populations and used local symbols and language (usually Greek). The only resemblance to the imperial issues is that they have the emperor's bust on the obverse, although sometimes it can be a bit stylized. The neat counterstamps (in my opinion and one of the most collected) are military counterstamps. Often legions on campaign would requisition local currency and stamp it for military payment. These counterstamps include the use of legionary standards, legion numbers, or military figures. The military counterstamps can be associated with the history of the campaign and the great generals of the day.

TIP #9: Learn to read Latin - It really isn't as difficult as you might think, and it really comes in handy in attribution. Looking for physical coin attributes and subtleties in celatorship can take you only so far. Attribution based on an emperor's visage can work well with emperors that had long terms or very distinctive features, but it is inadequate for identifying scarce short-term emperors. This is true for two reasons. First of all, many of the short-term emperors were usurpers and celators not knowing what they new ruler looked like or was too rushed to carve totally new dies issued coins bearing the identical or similar face to the preceding emperor. The only way to determine the scarce emperors is to read the Latin legend. The second reason that you need to be able to read Latin to determine scarce emperors, is because some honestly look alike. Many emperors came from the same family and have very similar features to their close relatives (in some instances the blood lines of emperors were very close and intermarrying within your own family not rare). You need this skill in attributing coins to the emperors Procopius, Delmatius, Jovian, Vetriano, Magnus Maximus, Eugenius, and Jovinus. Another reason to read Latin is to find errors in the legends. Recently, I was able to find an error on the obverse of a Follis of Constantine the Great. Normally this coins type was quite common, but because of the misspelling it was able to be linked to a specific obverse die which has less than 100 surviving examples... not bad for a junk box find. Misspellings are also a good way of identifying barbarous issues. The barbarous northern tribes had very little knowledge of written Latin and copied the legends letter by letter as close as they could. The early contemporary barbarous issues are good renditions of the imperial coins and might only be off by a letter or two. Later issues are easier to spot and they often did not even attempt to copy the legends correctly. The earlier issues generally command a premium, so it is worth your time to read the legends carefully.

Hopefully these nine tips will get you started collection late Roman bronzes. These series of coin afford a great deal of diversity, historical and artistic interest and should not be overlooked because of its complexity. A comprehensive study of the coinage from this timeframe. could take a few lifetimes, but these tips will help you spot a few scarce coins to cheaply add to your collection within a few hours. Happy collecting!

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