Second Known

CNG 111, Lot: 808. Estimate $1000. Sold for $3750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Constantius II. AD 337-361. AV Semissis (16mm, 2.21 g, 1h). Constantinople mint. Struck AD 355-361. CONSTAN TIVS AVG, pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / VICTORIA AVGVSTI, Victory seated right on cuirass, grounded shield behind; on her knee she supports a shield inscribed VOT/ XXXX in two lines; to right, a small winged Genius supports the shield with both hands; CONS. Triton XX, lot 878 corr. (references and rarity); otherwise unpublished. Good VF, hairline flan crack. Extremely rare, apparently the second known.

Weighing in at 2.21 grams, this piece is clearly a half-solidus or semissis, which stood in rather awkward relation to another gold fraction, the 1.5 scripulum or 9-siliqua piece, typically weighing about 1.6 grams. Constantius II seems to have struck the semissis infrequently and none are recorded in RIC or other reference works for Constantinople.