331, Lot: 338. Estimate $200. Sold for $220. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Fausta. As nobilissima femina, AD 318-319. Æ Follis (19mm, 2.92 g, 6h). Thessalonica mint. FAVS TA N F, Draped bust right / Eight-pointed star within laurel wreath. RIC VII 51; LRBC 824. Good VF, dark green to black patina, some minor smoothing. Very rare.

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