Very Rare Eugenius Light Miliarensis

Triton XVIII, Lot: 1260. Estimate $20000. Sold for $12500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Eugenius. AD 392-394. AR Light Miliarensis (22mm, 4.30 g, 6h). Treveri (Trier) mint. D N EVGENI IVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / GLORIA ROMANORVM, Eugenius, laureate and in military attire, standing facing, head left, holding labarum in right hand and shield set on ground in left; TRPS. RIC IX 104; RSC 2†a; Gnecchi pl. 36, 13; Cohen 2; DOC –; Hunter –; Triton XVII, 806 (same dies). EF, toned, small cleaning mark on neck, reverse struck with worn die. Very rare.

While Gnecchi illustrated this type in his corpus with an example from his own collection, he referenced it in his text to a similar type, also from Trier, but with the reverse legend VIRTVS EXERCITVS (see his number 2 in the catalog with the correct Cohen cross-reference). Gnecchi did include the GLORIA ROMANORVM type (number 1 in the catalog), but it is for the Milan mint, and nowhere in his catalog does he include the Trier mint version. Furthermore, an example of the VIRTVS EXERCITM type does not appear in his accompanying plates.