The London Mint of Constantine

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Location: Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Hookmoor Ancient Coins


I am pleased to announce that our new website, Hookmoor Ancient Coins, is now up and running. As well as resources on the London Mint of Constantine and Romano-British numismatics generally, it will incorporate the Lee Toone Ancient Coins website, offering a range of coins and numismatic books. The first sales lists will be available early in the New Year. In the meantime, please take a look and explore the Resources pages.

Some earlier posts from this blog will be transferred over in due course, but in the forseeable future this website will be maintained as an archive. 

To view the new website click on the logo above or here.

Friday 23 September 2011

New Website Imminent!

My apologies for the lack of posts over the summer months. New projects have led to me taking my eye off the ball - organising MONETA BRITANNIA 2011, taking the family on holiday and watching too much cricket have also not helped!

One of my new projects is to set up a new website that can be managed without the commercial and technical constraints of Google blogspots - the host of this website. The new website is currently in Beta testing and should go live in November. Further information and a link will be placed on this blog next month.

Many thanks to all of you for reading this blog over the last few years.

Saturday 7 May 2011

An Unlisted Facing Quadriga


Facing quadriga types of Constantine only appear at London and are very rare. The coin shown above is not the prettiest of specimens but does come with a long legend IMP CONSTANTINVS AVG. This legend is unknown to me for this type and would come before RIC VII 81. There is no provenance available for this coin.

Monday 21 March 2011

A Consular ADVENTVS of Constantine


The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) has once again made an interesting contribution to my studies. The first coin was brought to my attention a few months ago and seemed to be a previously unknown consular bust issue ADVENTVS of the star in right field issue of London. Found in Norfolk, its condition leaves much to be desired but one had to assume that this coin was the first known to link a consular bust of Constantine with an ADVENTVS reverse. Fast forward a couple of months and look what appears in an article by Sam Moorhead in the March edition of "Treasure Hunting" magazine.


This coin is in much better condition and confirms the link between these obverse and reverse types for this issue. Looking closely, one can determine that these coins are an obverse die match, although not a reverse die match. These discoveries potentially strengthen the theory that Constantine visited Britain in AD311 just prior to his consulship that started on 1st January AD 312. No doubt further examples of these types will come to light in the future. Not quite the Frome Hoard, but on a different scale, another success for PAS!

Saturday 29 January 2011

London Mint Talk

I have been asked by the  Yorkshire Numismatic Society to give a talk on the London Mint. The talk will focus on the period from AD 319 to 325 and will be based on my recent article and research. It will take place on 5th March 2011 at the Swarthmore College, Woodhouse Square, Leeds at 2.00pm for 2.30pm and I am informed that guests are all welcome.

Friday 14 January 2011

Those were the days .......... !

The Cae Bardd hoard featured significantly in my article on the London mint covering the period AD 319 to 325. Found in 1981 and published in Coin Hoards from Roman Britain Volume VII it contained 4,716 coins including 1,978 from the London mint. The report records that the hoard was subsequently bought by a dealer and dispersed.

Thanks to a good friend of mine (thank you Adrian!), this week I have obtained a copy of the dealer's sales catalogue for the hoard. Issued, I think, in 1982 by D.B.Coins, it lists 188 individual coins including an example of RIC 288 (GVF) for £22 and many EF silvered examples for between £20 and £30 each.

Parcels of ten VF coins would set you back £90 and 100 fine to VF coins £700. Thirty years on, these prices have probably not kept pace with inflation but it has been a while since I have seen this amount of coins of this quality available in a retail catalogue.