Triton XIV, Lot: 835. Estimate $10000. Sold for $13000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Constantine I. AD 307/310-337. Æ Follis (28mm, 3.11 g, 11h). Constantinople mint, 1st officina. Struck AD 327. CONSTANTI NVS MAX AVG, laureate head right / SPES PVBLICA, labarum, with three medallions on drapery and surmounted by a christogram, spearing serpent; CONS. RIC VII 19. EF, dark green patina. Extremely rare.

In AD 326, the imperial family underwent a crisis with the deaths of the heir-apparent, Crispus, and Constantine’s complicit wife, Fausta. Now, not only did a new dynastic arrangement need to be implemented, but a period of contrition followed. Not only were the remaining three (Christian) sons elevated to receive the empire jointly, but also the emperor’s mother, Helena, went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, in part to expiate the sins of the imperial household and during which journey, she discovered a number of important holy relics, including the True Cross, which she brought back to Constantinople. Now, with the difficulties of the previous heir replaced by the three new co-heirs and the bringing of holy relics to the new capital, the hope was to to bring about a new capital untainted by the faults of the old.