CNG 112, Lot: 657. Estimate $500. Sold for $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Diocletian. AD 284-305. AR Argenteus (19mm, 3.20 g, 12h). Rome mint. 1st emission, circa AD 294. Laureate head right / Four tetrarchs sacrificing over tripod before city enclosure with six turrets. RIC VI 27a; Jeločnik 40b; RSC 516†a. Lovely iridescent cabinet toning over lustrous surfaces. EF. Well struck from fresh dies. A fabulous coin.

Ex Peus 271 (25 November 1969), lot 396.

Circa AD 293, Diocletian and his imperial colleagues introduced a new coin of good silver the same size and weight as the Neronian denarius struck 230 years earlier. The new coin, apparently called the argenteus nummus, was a critical part of Diocletian’s plan to restore confidence in the economy and government. The new silver piece was issued with the names and portraits of all four rulers of the First Tetrarchy—the senior emperors (Augusti) Diocletian and Maximianus, and the junior emperors (Caesars) Galerius and Constantius Chlorus. Rendered in the “hard” artistic style of the time, the portraits appear very similar, emphasizing the government’s unity, although there are subtle differences that distinguish the four rulers. Reverses stressed the Empire’s new status as a secure fortress under permanent siege, showing either the four Tetrarchs sacrificing before a circuit of walls, or a military camp gate surmounted by turrets. The argenteus was struck at mints throughout the Empire, with the mint cities sometimes indicated by a letter or letters on the reverse.