Extremely Rare and Unpublished Variety
Diocletian. AD 284-305. AV Aureus (18.5mm, 5.30 g, 6h). Consular issue. Antioch mint. Struck circa AD 296-circa 299/302. DIOCLETIA NVS AVGVSTVS, laureate head right / CONSVL VI P P PROCONS *, Diocletian standing left, laureate and togate, holding globe in outstretched right hand and short scepter in left; *|–//SMA(Σ retrograde). Cf. RIC VI 13 and 22 (for similar issues of COS VI and COS VII respectively); cf. Depeyrot 12/1 and 16/1 (same); cf. Calicó 4440 and 4441 (same); cf. Biaggi 1699 and 1700 (same). Some luster. Near EF. Extremely rare and unpublished variety.
Ex MACM inventory MMoCA52C; Classical Numismatic Group 82 (16 September 2009), lot 1062.
While the mint mark with the star at end of the legend paired with SMAΣ is known for Diocletian during his sixth consulship (RIC VI 13), the addition of the star in the left field (RIC 22) is known only for the seventh consulship. On this coin, one finds the far rarer mint mark of RIC 22 paired with the reverse legend of Diocletian’s sixth consulship of AD 296-297.
