Lecture - THE LONDON MINT OF CONSTANTIUS AND CONSTANTINE

Lecture - THE LONDON MINT OF CONSTANTIUS AND CONSTANTINE – AD 296 – 325

By Lee Toone

On: Friday 15th January 2016 at 2pm

Venue: The York Coin Fair, The Grandstand, York Racecourse, Tadcaster Rd, York, North Yorkshire YO23 1EX

 

After Constantius regained Britain from Allectus in AD 296, the London mint set up by Carausius and continued by Allectus was incorporated into the Roman Empire’s network of Imperial mints and continued to produce official Roman coinage in Britain throughout the next three decades. Both Constantius and Constantine used Britain and the London mint as a key part of their power base as they rose through the ranks of Tetrarchic Rome.

This talk gives a historical survey of the period using the coin types produced at the London mint as evidence. During this period the coinage changed dramatically and many different types were produced. It is based on a new book,‘The London Mint of Constantius and Constantine’ by Hugh Cloke and Lee Toone and published by Spink. This book is a comprehensive catalogue and survey of the output of the London mint from AD 296 to 325. From when Constantius invaded Britain to regain the Britannic Empire back from Allectus to its closure in 325 when Constantine began to shift his power base to the East, the London mint was responsible for a vast output of Roman coinage. The Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC, volumes VI and VII)) records around 600 types; the authors of this book have increased the number of known types to 1,037 and have illustrated 90% of these with images on plates facing the catalogue tables in sylloge style. They have also provided a hoard census which lists numbers for each type found in four major hoards. This enables an objective rarity value to be assigned to each coin type. Supported with a comprehensive narrative, indices and a concordance with RIC, this will become the standard reference work on the London mint for years to come.