RIC VII, TRIER 449/450, CONSTANTINE I, UNLISTED MINTMARK, HYBRID [IRREGULAR COIN]

OBVERSE	CONSTAN-TINVSAVG [CONSTANTINVS AVG]; head r., laur. [TRIER 449].
REVERSE	PROVIDE-AECAECC [PROVIDEAE (sic!) CAECC (sic!)]; camp gate with two turrets, no doors, star above. PTR• in exergue [cf. TRIER 450].
NOT IN RIC	UNLISTED MINTMARK, HYBRID. Mintmark not attested for this type. Obverse TRIER 449 with reverse similar to TRIER 450 [or 451-457]. Note also errors in rev. legend. Apparently an ancient imitation. General note from p. 160: "The only disturbing feature of the post-324 bronze coinages [from Trier] is the appearance of both regular and irregular-looking coins of the types VIRTVS AVGG or CAESS, some of them with the Providentiae reverse, others of the type with four turrets familiar from the coinage of Arles. The specimens kmown to the present writer are very few and do not permit us to reconstruct the pattern of this coinage. The majority of these coins, recorded by Maurice, seem to have been part of the Cologne hoard and therefore regarded as valid currency. These irregular coins and their counterparts, struck at the same time by the mint of Arles, point to a major confusion in the financial administration in Gaul".

NOTES

Weight 2.18 g; diameter 18 mm. Coin sold on Leu Numismatik web auction 13 (lot 1524) in August 2020 for CHF 75.