Aristocratic Collector’s Mark
Constantius II. AD 337-361. AV Solidus (21.5mm, 4.37 g, 12h). Sirmium mint. Struck AD 351-355. FL IVL CON STANTIVS PERP AVG, diademed, helmeted, and cuirassed bust facing slightly right, holding shield with horseman motif on left arm and shouldering spear held in right hand / GLORIA REI PVBLICA, Roma seated facing and Constantinopolis seated slightly left, with foot on prow, each holding scepter and supporting shield between them inscribed VOT/XXX/MVLT/XXXX in four lines; *SIRM*. RIC VIII 8; Depeyrot 16/1. Edge bend, small die crack, slightly worn reverse die. Collector’s countermark of a dolphin and letters I / A applied in right obverse field. Near EF.
Ex Leu Numismatik 2 (11 May 2018), lot 329.
The tiny, artfully executed countermark in the right obverse field was likely applied by an aristocratic collector in the 17th or 18th centuries. Stamping coins with a countermark, sometimes with silver inlay, was common practice among the great collecting families of Europe after the Renaissance, including the D’Este Collection curated by the Gonzagas of Mantua. This nicely shaped countermark bears a dolphin twined through the letters I and A.
