Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 2045. Estimate $150.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $150. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ROMAN. Constantine I. 307-337 AD. Lead mint tessera (22mm, 5.45 gm). Thessalonica mint. Two winged Cupids bending over a crucible, crushing ore with a pestle / Incuse impression of the obverse of a follis of Constantine I: CONSTAN TINVS AVG, laureate cuirassed bust left, holding spear over shoulder. VF, brown patina. Rare and unusual. ($150)

Roman art often depicted Cupids or putti participating in scenes of everyday life. This token, possibly for use within the mint, shows two of them involved in the preparation of ore for processing into metal. The die used to create the reverse was used at Thessalonica 318-319 AD (cf. RIC VII, 32, 60 and 67).