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Research Coins: The Coin Shop

 
734806. Sold For $5750

CONSTANTINE I. 307-337 AD. AV Solidus (21mm, 4.48 gm). Nicomedia mint. Struck 335 AD. Diademed head right, eyes uplifted / VICTORIA CONSTANTINI AVG, Victory seated right on shield and cuirass, inscribing VOT / XXX on shield held by Genius; SMNM. RIC VII 176; Depeyrot 44/1; Alföldi 615. EF.

Constantine's upward gaze, considered apt for the first so-called Christian emperor, iconographically derives from Alexander the Great's portraiture. Eusebius refers to this attribute on various of Constantine's gold coins, indicating it as a posture of prayer to God. Thus did the image appear to his Christian subjects; pagans might note the resemblence to Alexander and other Hellenistic kings.