Constantine I. AD 307/310-337. Æ Follis (18mm, 3.06 g, 6h). Londinium (London) mint. Struck AD 320. IMP CONSTANT-INVS AVG, helmeted and cuirassed bust left, holding spear / VICTORIAE LAETAE PRINC PERP, two Victories standing facing one another, holding
vota shield; altar with wreath below; PLN. RIC VII 168 (R1). VF, minor roughness.
The output of the mints at Londinium, Lugdunum, and Treveri served as an important source of propaganda for the entirety of the western empire during the first quarter of the fourth century AD. Constantine and Licinius both drew upon a variety of reverse designs in order to signify such ideas as strength, tranquility, and prosperity, though matters between the two were ever-unstable as war broke out between them in AD 316, most likely over a mutual envy and mistrust of one another. The resulting peace in early AD 317 was short-lived and tensions were only subdued, as hostilities once again gradually increased, culminating in the battle of Chrysopolis in AD 324, the execution of the Licinii, and the sole-reign of the house of Constantine.
Represented by two Victories and a vota shield, the Victoriae Laetae Prin(cipum) Perp(etuae) type calls for the everlasting and beneficial victories of the emperor, both militarily and politically.
