My first attempts

Disclaimer - I have now been collecting coins for a whole week, and as such the identifications made on this page are entirely based on the various legend search engines and excellent photos of coins found on the net. If anyone notices any glaring errors with the coins i have tried to identify please let me know, BUT if you can identify a coin I haven't managed to yet please keep it to yourself. The research is half the fun.

Carausius (287 - 293) This coin is shown here in pretty much the condition in which it arrived. Although it is damaged down one side there is still enough of the Emperors name visible to get only one match when searching. You can make out 'AVSIUS' on the heads (Obverse) side. The VCRC search engine only turns up one emperor for this, Carausius. I have not been able to find this actual coin on the 'net.

Licinius (308 - 324) This coin is again in pretty much the condition in which it arrived. The obverse side is clear and readable, the Reverse slightly less clear but still legible. Searching the VCRC turns up a similar coin with the Siscia mint (sis) mark at the bottom. This coin has something else which apparently indicates it was minted somewhere else. The TS part could indicate Thessalonica in Greece, but I couldn't find TSH in any of the lists. There is a list of the Roman mints and their markings, here and another here

Constantine the Great (306 - 337) This coin is in amazingly good condition, with everything visible and clear. It is still exactly as it arrived, apart from a few days in Olive Oil to see what difference that made. The SIS at the bottom indicates this coin was minted at Siscia, in Croatia.

Constantine the Great(306 - 337) This is another pretty nice coin. The inscription on the obverse is clear (VRBS ROMA) and typing this into a search engine turns up various similar coins, all from Constantine. On the reverse of the coin a popular mythological scene is shown, that of a wolf suckling Remus and Romulus. The remaining letters at the bottom of the reverse are not that clear, but possibly show the coin was minted in Siscia.

Constantine the Great (306 - 337) Purist coin collectors may want to look away now :-) This coin was one of a few 'junk' coins I bought to experiment with. None of these had any visible markings on them until I soaked it in stuff called 'Scalex multi-purpose descaler' overnight. Some of these coins cleaned up to reveal featureless disks of copper, but a quick rinse revealed that this particular coin was in surprisingly good condition. The text on the back is particularly clear, and the letters at the bottom (SMANA) reveal it was made in Antioch, home of the holy hand grenade. The other text, GLORIA EXERITUS, means 'Glory of the Army'. The batch of coins I bought had three of these little coins in it, all heavily encrusted but underneath in quite good condition. The On-Line dealer I bought these coins from said that these 'clearance' coins were not up to much, but I found out that most of them had identifiable markings. Not bad for 40p each.

Constantius II (337 - 361) This is one of my favorite coins from the from the first batch. Even with the areas encrusted with crud it is still possible to see a nice green patina which is apparently important. After preliminary leaning I thought this was another Constantine coin, but careful cleaning revealed that the obverse actually reads 'CONSTANTIVS'. Constantius II emerges from the VCRC search engine as the emperor behind this coin. The figures on the reverse are apparently a soldier spearing a fallen barbarian horseman. I have had some success cleaning this coin. Take a look at the Before and After photos

Valentinian 1 (364 - 375) This coin does not have enough of it's text or images visible for me to positively identify it yet. As it looks like most of the right hand side of the Obverse face is damaged, the only hope for a beginner like me to identify it is to find something recognisable on the reverse side. Luckily it looks like there may be some decent text under the crud. It is presently soaking in Olive Oil in the hope that it will remove some of the crud and enable a more positive ID. Update - Find out about my attempts to clean this coin