Rare City Commemorative Hybrid

338, Lot: 285. Estimate $75. Sold for $575. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Commemorative Series. AD 330-354. Æ Follis (17mm, 1.98 g, 5h). Hybrid of Constantinopolis/Roma types. Treveri (Trier) mint, 1st officina. Struck under Constantine I, AD 332-333. Laureate and helmeted bust of Constantinopolis left, wearing imperial mantle, with spear over left shoulder / She-wolf standing left, suckling the twins Romulus and Remus; two stars above; TR•P. RIC VII 543/542. Good VF, brown surfaces. Rare.

With the dedication of the city of Constantinople in the spring of AD 330, Constantine I utilized a numismatic approach to place his newly-founded city on the same level of importance as Rome. These “city commemoratives” were struck to honor both Rome and Constantinople, the former alluding to its legendary founding with the imagery of the she-wolf and twins and the latter alluding to the recent naval battle over the Licinii with Victory advancing from a conquest. Though meant to honor just these two cities, this series was struck throughout the empire at various mints. For further reading, see Kent, “Urbs Roma and Constantinopolis medallions at the mint of Rome,” pp. 105-13 in Essays Sutherland.