Anepigraph

AEL ARIA - NE AVG

Bust of Aelia Ariadne to the right, draped, wearing a diadem of pearls, a necklace of pearls and long earrings.

Latn cross inside crown.

Coin illustrated in the RIC X, plate 32. Bibliothèque Nationale de France. We read ARIA UNE and not NE as noted by the RIC. Seems to have the same obverse die as the coin preserved in the British museum (see AYC #2 var 2, RIC 934). Noted ARIA NE. We can consider that on the coin of the British museum, U may be  whose lower bar has disappeared. We will have to see this copy of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France to confirm these comments. It is very likely that the RIC 934 and 935 are with the same obverse die and therefore that the AYC #2 var 2 either to be reclassified as AYC #2 var 3, RIC 934 (if the star in front of CONO is present, see comment if below).

Regarding the classification of legends given by the RIC X, I compared the coins pictured in the plates and the assigned legends. Everything seems correctly analyzed. Even if the quality of the photos leaves some slight doubts about some letters. For example the RIC 933 which is pictured at plate 32. The first letter A looks more like . In my opinion, this is a bad inscription and not a variant of lettering like what we see with the letter D which has a historical explanation. I will therefore classify the coins of which no copy has been observed since the work of the RIC and of which no photo is visible, considering that the RIC has correctly classified and identified the coins. However, the subject of marks is more complicated. This coin ranked here (RIC 935) is illustrated plate 32. We see a very dark photo .. we can read CONOB or CONO. If we look at the Tremissii anepigraph, there are two marks to analyse: CONOB and CONOB. The star is mixed with the ribbon of the crown (hence its forgetting in the RIC X?). Indeed the RIC 933a seems to have a ball on the right ribbon ... star? If so, it is not mentioned in the marks. For the RIC 933a, both marks exist. But the coin shown as 933a seems to have a star. Forgot or did the authors not see the star on the ribbon? In this case, all the coins indicated without a star maybe have a star. Same thing with the RIC 938 where a star seems visible (plate 32 for the two coins 933a and 938). For this AYC #2 var 2, I chose to follow the RIC X by noting the mark CONO, which however remains to be confirmed.