Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 2087. Estimate $2500.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $3250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ROMAN IMPERIAL. 4th century AD. Lot of five hundred Constantinian Reduced Folles. Constantine I and his family, types struck in the 320's and 330's. Jupiter, Victories, campgate, wreath, Constantinopolis and two soldiers with standards types. Visible mint signatures appear to be mostly Antioch, with a lot of Nicomedia and Cyzicus, with other mints ranging from Thessalonica to Alexandria. Coins are in original uncleaned state, but careful cleaning should reveal most to be EF or better. LOT SOLD AS IS, NO RETURNS. Five hundred (500) coins in lot. ($2500)

The lastest types in this hoard appear to be GLORIA EXERCITI, two soldiers with two standards, struck between 330-335 AD. Their state of preservation suggests the hoard was buried very close to the latter date, and the prevalence of eastern mints places the deposition of the hoard somewhere in Asia Minor. It is likely that the burial and loss of this hoard are associated with the rise of tensions between Rome and Persia over the question of Armenia in 334-335 AD. Persian aggression against the Armenians was the catalyst for Roman maneuvers in the east; Constantius Caesar was sent to Antioch to prepare for the operation. In early 335 Constantius and the newly appointed comes orientis, Felicianus met the Persian army moving through Mesopotamia and defeated them. The Persians retreated, and Hanniballianus was appointed King of Armenia, placing the kingdom under Roman protection. It seems likely this hoard was hidden away in the early phase of the conflict in the east, and Fate did not permit its owner to reclaim it.