Triton XIV, Lot: 840. Estimate $500. Sold for $1000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Constantine II. As Caesar, AD 316-337. Æ Follis (19mm, 3.35 g, 6h). Treveri (Trier) mint, 1st officina. Struck AD 317. CONSTANTINVS IVN NOB CAES, bareheaded, draped, and cuirassed bust right / CLARITAS AVGVSTORVM, Sol standing left, raising right hand and holding globe; T-F//•ATR. RIC VII -; cf. Schulten em. 18 (for emission); Anon., “Médailles faisant partie de la collection de M.J. Carbonnel,” Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société archéologique de la province de Constantine vol. 10, 2nd series (1879-1880), 20 var. (bust type and officina). EF, black-green patina. Extremely rare, the second known with this reverse legend, this variety unpublished.

The reverse legend, CLARITAS AVGVSTORVM, is a relatively rare legend among the Imperial coinage. Its first appearance was on a gold stater of Postumus struck at Trier, which read, CLARITAS AVG around the jugate busts of Sol and Postumus. The next appearance of this legend was on an issue of antoniniani of Constantius I as Caesar, dated to the beginning of the first Tetrarchy. The legend in that issue must refer to the creation of the Tetrarchy, and it is likely that the same message of the claritas of the augusti that heralded the elevation of Constantius I and Galerius, is echoed here on an issue firmly dated to the elevation of Constantine II, Crispus, and Licinius II as the Caesars of Constantine I and Licinius I--the creation of a new dynastic system a la the Tetrarchy. It is interesting that all instances of this legend are confined to the mint at Trier, which suggests its message was colloquial in relation to the areas in which the coinage of that mint circulated.