Roman Mint Marks

Mint Marks are awesome ! You can use them to determine the city where your coins were produced.

These marks were first used by Roman mints in the latter part of the third century (about 270 AD), and they were regularly used starting in the late third century, under the reign of Diocletian.

The exergue, or very bottom of the coin’s reverse, is where mint markings are usually always seen.
This may or may not be set apart from the field by a line.
But, occasionally they might be found between the tiny figurines of the emperor and Jupiter, the Sun, or another god who frequently appear standing on the reverse.

The first few letters of the city were typically included in the mint marks, but several abbreviations were also used.
As a result, some coins may only have one letter, such as A, while others may have three or four letters, such as ARL, both of which are from the same city, Arelatum.

However, there is occasionally confusion because the same letter may be used for two distinct cites, or in one instance it may stand for the workshop (with the city not stated), and in another situation it may merely be the city (with the workshop not indicated).

In certain circumstances, you may need to use the RIC catalog or have additional in-depth knowledge, such as the coin’s style, to correctly identify the mint.
This is also true for coins that were produced before mint markings were ever used, however certain emperors only issued coins in particular towns, at particular dates, or in particular mints that only produced coins in particular metals.
Books will be very helpful in determining where the majority of coins were manufactured, and over time, one may begin to remember some of the details.

Table 1 provides a list of the mint marks that were applied on Roman Imperial coins along with the city’s modern name and location.
Some of the mint marks may have the letters SM on them (for an explanation, see 5.1 below), which are displayed if they were often used in that city.

As you can see, the mints were distributed from England to Africa and Asia Minor.
Nonetheless, not all of them were in operation at once, and some were either open for a brief time or operated by a single emperor.

Yet the bigger ones were in use for a very long time.
You may find images of Roman buildings online, along with historical details for many of the cities where your coins were produced. Consider locations like Arles in France, Carthage in North Africa, London in England, or Trier in Germany, as examples.