Chronologial indications of reverse legends of Carus, Carinus, and Numerian, 284-285.

The primary chronologial indication on a coin of Carnius or Numerian is on the obverse with the title Caesar or Augustus. Many reverse types give no further chronological information, but some do. Types with legend ending AVG, AVGG, or AVGGG indicate whether there is one ruler or more than one. The table lists which kinds of legend-ending occur at each mint in RIC. (RIC was published in 1933 and is far from complete because much has been discovered since then.) 

Key example:    The entry under Carinus for Lugdunum is
     Caesar: --    which means that none of his types as Caesar have legend ending AVG, AVGG, or AVGGG,
     Aug: GG     means all of his types as Augustus end AVGG (and none AVG or AVGGG).

Notes:  *  Numerian was never sole ruler, so the reverse legends ending "AVG" do not follow the rules. (The numbers given in parentheses are RIC numbers that don't follow the rules).
Carus with one G is presumably before Carinus became Caesar and with two Gs after (or three Gs at Antioch after Numerian also became Caesar).
Carinus with one G is after Numerian died and he remained sole Augustus. RIC 200 is a very rare aureus as Caesar with SPES AVG which violates the rule. Carinus with two or three Gs is presumably before Numerian died.

•  AVG.  Reverse legends ending AVG are issued during a sole reign (that is, the sole reign of Carus at the beginning or the sole reign of Carinus at the end).
•  AVGG.  Reverse legends ending AVGG (plural of AVG) mean there were at least two rulers (that is, after Carinus was made Caesar and before Numerian died). AVGG does not necessarily mean there are exactly two Augusti--one Augustus with one Caesar is enough and it can be also issued for three co-rulers. For example, Tripolis had Numerian as Caesar with AVGG when there were three rulers and it could have had three Gs. 
•  AVGGG is issued only when there are three co-rulers (that is, after Numerian became Caesar and before Carus died). This termination was minted only at Antioch. 

Proper use of Gs to indicate singular or plural is likely, but we can't be sure that, say, AVGG coins of Carinus as Augustus were immediately replaced by AVG coins when Numerian died (Event 6). In  any case, there are many reverses that do not terminate with "AVG" in any of its three ways and they could be from any time period compatible with the obverse title.
 

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