405, Lot: 511. Estimate $100. Sold for $140. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Divus Claudius II Gothicus. Died AD 270. Æ Fractional Follis (17mm, 1.53 g, 12h). Thessalonica mint, 3rd offcina. Struck under Constantine I, AD 317-318. DIVO CLAVDIO OPTIMO IMP, laureate and veiled head right / REQVIES OPTIM-ORVM MERITORVM, Divus Claudius seated left on curule chair, raising hand and holding scepter; •TS•Γ•. RIC VII 26 (R5). EF, dark green patina.

From the Finn Johannessen Collection, purchased from Dr. Hübert Lanz, 20 May 2009.

As the institution of the Tetrarchy disintegrated, Constantine began to publicly assert that he was descended from Claudius Gothicus. This illustrious ancestry formed the basis for Constantine’s claim to have the right to rule over an undivided empire.