The London Mint of Constantine

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Saturday 16 January 2010

The Dr J S Vogelaar Collection

Before his retirement Dr J S Vogelaar was an antiquarian book dealer specialising in economic and numismatic books, a coin dealer and a free lance economist based in Ireland. His interest in Roman coins began in the mid-1980s and he built his Romano-British collection during the 1980s and 90s, continuing to add to it up until 2005. The collection contained a significant London mint component.

The recent sale of his collection, without formal cataloguing, led me to consider the need for a published record of the man and the collection so that the new owners of his coins would at least have some connection with the provenance. Dr Vogelaar agreed to be interviewed and the result is an article that will be published in “The Celator” later this year. The article contains a list of the auctions in which the collection was dispersed and should be published this summer. When I know the exact publication date I will update this post.

Friday 8 January 2010

An Interesting Bust Type for Constantine II


Often the bust types for RIC VII London coins are quite ordinary. Anything out of the ordinary tends to make me stop and stare a little! Not quite as spectacular as the jugate bust in the previous post but a nice little "cameo" of the young Constantine. RIC VII London 288, this example is holding Victory on a globe in the right hand and a mappa in the left. I have seen several examples of this type recently including a variety without a left hand at all. So, not a rare coin but, as it is out of the ordinary, any specimen will probably command a premium.