Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 1245. Estimate $25000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $18000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LICINIUS II. Caesar, 317-324 AD. AV Aureus (5.32 gm, 12h). Nicomedia mint. Struck 320 AD. D N VAL LICIN LICINIVS NOB C, facing bare-headed, draped, and cuirassed bust; wearing sideburns / IOVI CONSERVATORI CAES, Jupiter seated facing on throne set on base inscribed SIC•V•/SIC•X•, holding Victory set on globe in extended right hand and long sceptre in left hand; eagle standing left on base, head right, holding wreath in beak; SMNG. RIC VII 42; Depeyrot 31/2; Hunter -; DOC -; Calicó 5151. FDC. ($25,000)

This facing portrait of Licinius II, along with a parallel issue for his father, was the first frontal representation of an emperor, a presentation that would become standardized in the late Roman and Byzantine periods.