Anepigraphic Dafne from Constantinople

[Victor]

Here is another Lanz coin, and I am confident that at least the obverse has had some smoothing, most obviously the fields left and right of the bust. The smoothing got me to thinking about how someone might take a regular eyes to heaven Dafne with legend and completely smooth it down and turn it into an anepigraphic type.


This is a rare type though and not listed in RIC VII. Interestingly, there is an example included in the Voetter catalogue of 1909 “Constantinvs Junior Inbesonders seine Münzen als Augustus und die gleichzeitigen Kupferprägungen in den römischen Münzstätten” from workshop B (see picture below).

Maurice also mentions an unpublished coin with diademed head and no legend..."une tete diademee sans legende" (pg 514 #3) in his book "Numismatique Constantinienne" 1911.

The anepigraphic type was then "rediscovered" circa 1989 when several examples began turning up in auctions.

Another bit from Voetter-- RIC VII describes victory as holding a palm branch in each hand, though the right hand is holding something different, which looks like a laurel branch. Voetter recognized the difference between the two branches and in his 1921 catalogue on the Gerin collection described the reverse as "Victoria mit Zweig und Palmzweig" (Victory with branch and palmbranch)



Constantinus I. 306-337
Follis, Constantinopolis, 328 n.Chr.
Av: Büste mit Rosettendiadem nach rechts nach oben blickend.
Rv: CONSTANTINI-ANA DAFNE /  CONSS (im Abschnitt), Victoria sitzt auf Altar nach links, hält in jeder Hand je einen Palmzweig, links Tropaeum, darunter gefesselter Barbar
3,16 gr 19 mm
Erhaltung: Geglättet, sonst fast vorzüglich
Sehr Selten
RIC VII ­ (vgl. 29 ff.)

[Victor]

I have the coin in hand and it looks pretty nice. My picture below might be a more accurate portrayal of what the coin actually looks like, versus the Lanz photo above; but mine is shot with more light- so probably in between the two pictures. It has definitely had some smoothing, mainly the red areas, that must have had some encrustations. It is most evident on the obverse under the chin and left field of the reverse. However, I expect that the coin looks much better than it did before the red was smoothed down and now it is a pretty sharp example of the anepigraphic DAFNE. It is also a clear depiction of the difference between the two branches held by Victory.

[lrbguy]

My understanding of "smoothing" is that it alters the distribution of the coin metal itself.  If the red corresponds to encrustation, then how is it "smoothing" to remove it?  Is the red the result of chemical transformation of the surface metal?

[Victor]

yes, if only the encrustations were removed, then perhaps it is not smoothing (per your definition); but there is what looks like some smoothing in the fields also-- not much though.

Plus, when I am going to sell a coin, I would rather err on the side of caution.