Unique Londinium Siliqua

Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 409. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $5500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Magnus Maximus. AD 383-388. AR Siliqua (1.46 g, 6h). Londinium (London) mint. D N MAG MAXIMVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / [VI]CTORIA AVGVSTORVM, Victory seated right on cuirass, holding wreath inscribed VOT/V/MVLT/X and supported underneath by eros standing left; [AV]COB. Unpublished, but see illustration of RIC IX (Londinium) 1 for same obverse die, and cf. RIC IX (Treveri) 78 for reverse type. VF. Apparently unique.

While the reverse type is known for a Treveri mint semissis of this emperor, the mint mark of this coin is clearly that of London. The obverse of this coin is struck from the same die as another London mint siliqua (though with a different reverse type). The similarity of reverse types suggests that Maximus may have intended to strike semisses at London, in addition to his issue of solidi there shortly after the inception of his revolt, but dismissed the idea in favor of using the reverse die to strike this siliqua.