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Research Coins: Feature Auction

 
CNG 103, Lot: 883. Estimate $500.
Sold for $650. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Constans. AD 337-350. AR Siliqua (20mm, 3.05 g, 11h). Nicomedia mint. Struck AD 337-340. Laurel and rosette-diademed head right, with eyes raised to heaven / CONSTA NS AVG, Victory advancing left, holding wreath and palm frond; SMN. RIC –; RSC –. EF, lightly toned, flan crack, metal flaw on Constans’ cheek, hairline scratches. Very rare, perhaps unpublished for Nicomedia.


This coin is almost an identical twin to the specimen we sold in Auction 102, lot 1099, but the mintmark is weakly struck on the present coin. The observations made for lot 1099 in 102. though, are still relevant: “Although not listed for the Nicomedia mint by either RIC or RSC, the type is known for Heraclea with the mintmark SMH (RIC VIII 12, RSC 2B). One could argue that the very clear and delineated N in the mintmark of this coin is an H, but it is also possible that it is an unpublished type for the Nicomedia mint. On the other hand, the type is known for Constantius II at Nicomedia with the mintmark SMNA (RIC VIII 3, RSC 4b), which would seem to indicate that this coin is from Heraclea with a poorly engraved H in the mintmark. Also, the author of RIC VIII, J. P. C. Kent, noted that this listing was based on Cohen and that ‘confirmation [is] required.’”