Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 1538. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $5250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CONSTANTINE I. 307-337 AD. AV Solidus (4.30 gm). Nicomedia mint. Struck 335 AD. Diademed head right, eyes raised to God; no legend / Victory seated right on shield and cuirass, inscribing shield held by Genius; SMNP. RIC VII 177; Depeyrot 44/1. EF. Rare. ($5000)

Constantine's upward gaze derives its iconographic inspiration, in part, from Hellenistic portraiture. Likewise, the emphasis on the eyes, as can be seen in many of the sculpted heads of Constantine and his sons, has links to ancient Near Eastern models. Eusebius gave it a particularly Christian interpretation by refering to this attribute as a posture of prayer to God. Like Augustus before him, Constantine was deftly combining a variety of seemingly opposite elements into a new synthesis.