Bust with Victory on globe -- and what else?

[Per D]

Taking a break from attributing some pick-bin finds, I’d like to throw out a question about the bust on this coin.

CONSTANTINVSIVNNOBC Laureate and cuirassed bust left, seen from front, holding Victory on globe in right hand, unknown object on left arm.
VIRTVS-EXERCIT Standard with VOT/XX on drapery and with captive on each side. Iota-Chi monogram (?) in left field, PT in exergue.
3,15 gm. Ø 21 mm.
RIC VII, 121; Sear IV: 17299; Voetter (Gerin): 5 (Tarraco); Cohen 256.

The more elaborate Constantinian bust types can be quite confusing. It’s sometimes difficult to tell whether a bust is draped or wearing an elaborate cuirass, and there are also differing views on the various accoutrements. This specimen is worn and corroded, but the obverse is clear enough to be a good example.

The coin is listed as type I¹ in RIC VII (laureate, draped, Victory on globe in right hand, mappa in left. In his key to obverse busts (p. 88 ff.), Bruun also lists a type I² (sceptre instead of mappa in right hand) and adds in a footnote that the two are probably identical, adding that the “object in the l. hand, frequently described as a sceptre or sword handle, is probably a mappa”.

On the Not in RIC website, Lech Stępniewski comments on this: “… mappa seems to be the rarest possibility. Many of these busts apparently belong to a military type and than, according to Claude Brenot, object in l. hand is neither a mappa nor a sceptre, but a small dagger called pugio … Bastien usually calls this artefact parazonium … It is possible that on some busts object in l. hand is lituus, a crooked wand used by augurs.

Now, the bust on my coin (and the few other specimens I’ve seen of the type) seems to be cuirassed and not draped. As for the object in left hand, it doesn’t seem to be a mappa, nor a sceptre, a pugio, or a parazonium. The design doesn’t look like the litui  depicted on earlier coin types either. Does anyone have a better suggestion?

[Victor]

on worn coins it is tough to be sure, but it looks like a parazonium to me. It seems that I can make out the eagle- headed pommel of the dagger.

there have been a few topics about these daggers here, including a survey of some literature and what the object is called-

https://www.lateromanbronzecoinforum.com/index.php?topic=1016.msg2842#msg2842

and a look at the Constantine I VIRT EXERCIT GALL types

https://www.lateromanbronzecoinforum.com/index.php/topic,1255.msg3559.html#msg3559

[Per D]

Yes, a parazonium would make more sense than a (consular) mappa together with the cuirassed bust and military theme of the reverse. I also picked up the following from the Wikipedia article on the parazonium: “In Roman statuary, the weapon is cradled in the bearer's left arm …”. Its symbolic rather than utilitarian function also explains the seemingly awkward way the parazonium is held by Virtus on the VIRT EXERC GALL reverse, something I’ve been wondering about (on two of your specimens it looks like a folded umbrella).

[Victor]

In Roman statuary, the weapon is cradled in the bearer's left arm …”. Its symbolic rather than utilitarian function also explains the seemingly awkward way the parazonium is held by Virtus on the VIRT EXERC GALL reverse, something I’ve been wondering about

the Germans have a word for this concept; which RIC VII uses-- gestus.

Gestus is a combination of physical gestures and "gist" or attitude.

In RIC VII, the L busts are described as "showing imperatorial gestus (raising hand, holding globe)

[Per D]

My pictures are awful, but one can actually see how awkward this gestus is, with Virtus holding the parazonium behind her upper arm. This was an educational diversion; I also just learned that the original mappa was a “perfectly ordinary, soft, white table napkin” which, in the late empire, had developed into a small padded cushion “in the consular or triumphal colours of purple and gold” and was part of the emperor’s consular insignia (Gilbert Dagron “From the Mappa to the Akakia: Symbolic Drift” In From Rome to Constantinople: studies in honour of Averil Cameron).

Well, this thread was more fun than being outbid at the Leu auction.