'Mint II style a' - more irregular wolf and twins

[adrianus]

Hi all,
Several members have said they would like to see some of my irregular wolf and twins mint groupings. This work is still in progress and will have to be revised based on what I saw in the Maidenhatch hoard recently ( a huge hoard of imitations now in Reading Museum, Berkshire, UK).
But, anyway, this is the first group from what I called my "Mint II". My system is that I give each obverse style a Number designation and each reverse style a Letter designation. These are a small number of my style a coins.
Many 'barbarous' coins do not fit into any of the categories I have so far established but a good number do  . Some other coins have certain features in common but other features that are different. I propose to post a different obverse and/or reverse style each week showing how they link to one another and if any members have similar coins to those posted could you please email me at adrian.marsden@norfolk.gov.uk or PM me with details for my records. As we work through the various styles together this gives us a chance to explore different styles, their stylistic links and how this unofficial workshop operated. It seems that with so many experts on this Forum we should be able to learn a good deal from one another and have many interesting discussions on this irregular Mint.
Anyway, enough talking. This is reverse style a - this is represented by a large number of imitations from all over the north-western provinces of the Roman empire. Some members may have seen this on an earlier thread but this style offers the best starting point for our discussions 
The main stylistic points of reference are:
1) Long snout on the wolf and cat-like ears
2) Diagonal grooves across the wolf's flank
3) Wolf is leaping and head crosses back over front legs
4) Similar posture for the twins
5) Sharp-pointed stars
6) Mintmark [pellet]PLG

Anyway, enjoy and please contribute if you think this thread is worth keeping going 

Adrianus

[adrianus]

And here are the reverses - spot the odd one out! The first coin is a style 2 type which we will leave for the moment. The others are style 1. Style 1 coins have:
1) Square-shaped heads
2) A plume rather like a Christmas tree
3) The end of the helmet crest turns up and then down
4) The border to the helmet is defined by a single line
5) There are several pellets on the helmet visor
6) The drapery on the shoulder is decorated with a curvy line and pellet pattern
7) Roma is hunch-backed
This is a common style and in most cases is the standard obverse style that accompanies style a reverses. The 1a combination is usual - but it is the other combinations that allow us to build up this mint through chains of coins.
Style 2 has the following characteristics -
1) A different style of plume.
2) The end of the crest points down
3) No pellets on the helmet
4) The helmet border is defined by a double line
5) The shoulder is engraved differently
I will post some more coins in a few days after members have had time to look at these
Regards,

Adrianus

[adrianus]

Style 2a

[Goodies]

Success with this research ! We'll see what turns up.. 

Wat adrianus dus zoekt, zijn de bekende Constantinus-munten met VRBS ROMA en de wolf, met het exergue PLC (Lyon) al of niet met stipjes.. Ter vergelijking, een officieele versie van Lyons, naast de munten die adrianus bedoelt:

Officieele Urbs-Roma, Lyon

adrianus speurtocht (afgietsel!)

Dank aan forumdeelnemer "jvlivs" voor het linker plaatje.

De volgende kenmerken van de barbaarse imitaties van Urbs zijn genoemd:

Keerzijde

1) Lange snuit en kat-achtige oren
2) diagonale groeven over de flank van de wolf (niet gevuld)
3) wolf lijkt te springen, neus kruist beide voorpoten
4) de tweelingen zien er identiek uit
5) de sterren boven de wolf hebben scherpe puntjes, geen bolletjes

Voorzijde, barbaarse stijl nr 1

1) een vierkante kop
2) een pluim op de helm "kerstboompje"
3) uiteinde van de helmversiering krult op en neer
4) de helm is met een enkele lijn weergegeven
5) stipjes op de voorkant van de helm
6) krul en stippen op de schouder drapering

Voorzijde, barbaarse stijl nr 2

2) pluim ziet uit als "graspol"
3) uiteinde helmversiering wijst omlaag
4) geen stippen op voorkant helm
5) helm is met dubbele lijn weergegeven
6) schouderdrapering is anders (stippen, red Lx)

 
Lex

[adrianus]

An official coin from Lyons

[Goodies]

Hi @adrianus,

On the occasion, regarding the available on-line material, I believe we've just started an exhibition, too..

 
Lex

[adrianus]

Hi Lex,

You are right  . I shall confine myself here to Mint II. I shall leave everybody with another Style 2 obverse shown next to the last one. This cast is a bit scratched I'm afraid. But everyone will have to wait until next week to see the reverse!  - I shall be away in Spain for a few days starting on saturday. We can look at reverse style b then.

Regards,

Adrianus

[Goodies]

hi @adrianus, one aspect that strikes me in the coins you show is the small "O" we observe in "ROMA". That may be a candidate for your feature lists ? Or do you ignore the lettering at this stage ? In our early studies regarding barbarous imitation, we used to regard "irregular size of adjacent lettering" as a primary indication, or detector, for imitations of third century radius coins.

 
Lex

[adrianus]

Hi Lex,
Well spotted! Yes, I was going to leave lettering until the end when we had looked at more styles together (most of the other reverse styles have different mintmarks) but you are quite right, the small O is a feature of Mint II. This is particularly pronounced on some style 4 specimens.
Regards,
Adrianus

[adrianus]

Hi all,
Apologies for the delay in replying. Here are 2 additions to our Mint II framework.

The first coin is style 2b, the cast above is of the obverse. The reverse has these attributes:

1) The wolf is crouching low
2) The wolf's shoulder is pronounced
3) The twins' feet cross over at the ankles
4) Sharp-pointed stars
5) The mintmark is either PRS or, more usually, TRS

The second coin has a style 1 obverse like those above but a very different reverse - this is style d. Here we have:

1) The wolf's head points downwards and the wolf is neither leaping (as in style a) nor crouching (as in b)
2) There is a noticeable symbol on the wolf's shoulder (like a double-barred euro symbol)
3) The stars have blob-ends
4) The wolf's front legs are patterned with transverse lines
5) The twins have hump-backs
6) The mintmark is TRS or sometimes TR.S
I will post more pics when people have had a chance to look at these.

Regards,

Adrianus

[adrianus]

And style '1d'

[Goodies]

Thanks @adrianus, I'll take care of the translation of your checklists for 1d and 2c this week. This is like a matrix of features. And the exergues are different..

Please excuse us for the fact that not so many interesting barbarous imitation poor in currently. Winter has started here and the metal detector people seem to be occupied showing off Terra Sigillata finds and Roman bronze weights, instead of barbarous coins lately..

 
Lex