Constantinople Commemorative AR Scripulum. 

Helmeted head of Constantinople left / K.


Contributed by Keith Metzer, April, 2003.

David Vagi #3051 quotes "cf Kent, pl 2 28", tentatively calls it a scripulum,
including the coin in his listing of dedication issues in the same section as
the VRBS ROMA coins. He says the K is for Constantinople.

Michael Braunlin reports on the Kent article:
The article that Dave mentions is "Urbs Roma and Constantinopolis medallions
at the mint of Rome", by J.P. C. Kent. It appears in: Scripta nummaria
romana : essays presented to Humphrey Sutherland / edited by R. A. G. Carson
& Colin M. Kraay,  London : Spink and Son, 1978, pp. 105-113, plates 12-13.
(Vagi's citation to "Kent, pl 2 28" is somewhat misleading. The coin noted
as #28 is indeed found on the second plate of Kent's article, but that plate
is actually plate 13 in the book.)
    Kent's discussion of the issue in question (p. 112) is disappointingly
short, consisting of 2 sentences: "Also from Constantinople, and seemingly
covering a wide range of dates from the fourth to the sixth century, are a
succession of small silver coins bearing a helmeted bust of Roma or
Constantinopolis without accompanyhing legend, and on the reverse, the
letters K, P, or R. (Pl. 13.28-30). The occasions of their issue and
interpretation are as yet unknown."
    It is reasonable to assume that the letters are not marks of value, and
can well be initials of the 2 cities: K(onstantinoupolis), R(oma), and the P
perhaps P(olis), this Greek word for city being used to describe
Constantinople.