Sale: CNG 61, Lot: 2087. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 25 September 2002.  Sold For $500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

HELENA, mother of Constantine I. Æ Follis (3.56 gm). Struck 318-319 AD. Thessalonica mint. Draped bust right / Eight-pointed star in laurel wreath. RIC VII 50; LRBC 821. EF, dark green patina, some light roughness. ($500)

The coinage of Helena as Augusta commenced with her elevation to full imperial status in 324 and continued until her death five years later. Preceding these issues, however, was a remarkable series struck circa 318 AD at the Thessalonica mint on which both Helena and her daughter-in-law Fausta are accorded the lesser title of Nobilissima Femina (N F). Both ladies had borne this rank for some considerable time, Helena since her son's elevation to imperial status in 306, Fausta since her marriage to Constantine in March of the following year. The significance of the anepigraphic reverse with star within wreath remains unexplained, though presumably it contains some reference to divine providence and destiny.