Superb Pedigreed Constantine

CNG 112, Lot: 661. Estimate $15000. Sold for $18000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Constantine I. AD 307/310-337. AV Solidus (21mm, 4.45 g, 6h). Tricennalia issue. Nicomedia mint, 2nd officina. Struck AD 335. CONSTANTI NVS MAX AVG, rosette-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right, viewed from front / VICTORIA CONSTANTINI AVG, Victory seated right on shield and cuirass, holding wreath or shield enclosing VOT/ XXX in two lines; wreath supported from underneath by winged Genius standing left; SMNC. RIC VII 178; Alföldi 616; Depeyrot 44/2; Biaggi 2017 var. (officina); Jameson –; Mazzini 615/a var. (same). Lustrous, a few faint hairlines in the field on obverse, traces of deposits. Superb EF. Exceptional strike from fresh dies.

Ex Dr. Klaus Berthold [“Friend of the Romans”] Collection (Munzen und Medaillen AG 92, 22 November 2002), lot 304; Munzen und Medaillen AG FPL 573 (March 1994), no. 53; Munzen & Medaillen AG FPL 566 (June 1993), no. 35; Numismatic Fine Arts XXIX (13 August 1992), lot 438.

Constantine I “the Great” was one of only three Roman Emperors to ever celebrate a Tricennalia marking 30 years of rule, an event celebrated by the issuance of this gold solidus type from the mint of Nicomedia in AD 335. Constantine had completely revolutionized the Roman world during his long and eventful reign, reunifying the empire after decades of internal division, moving the imperial capital to his own city Constantinople (the renamed Byzantium), and, most importantly, changing Christianity from a small, persecuted sect to the most favored religion of a huge multinational state. Even the visual iconography of coinage saw radical change: Here Constantine adopts an elaborate jeweled diadem in place of the former simple wreath worn by Roman rulers, and his long, carefully arranged hair presages the coiffeurs of medieval kings to come. However, Constantine was at pains to show some adherence to Roman tradition: The figure of Victory accompanied by a small winged Genius on the reverse does show continuity with the pagan past.