RIC VI, IANTINUM, DIOCLETIAN, UNLISTED ISSUE [VIRTVS AVGG]

OBVERSE	DIOCLETIA-NVSPAVG [DIOCLETIANVS P AVG]; head r., laur.
REVERSE	VIRTVS-AVGG [VIRTVS AVGG]; Hercules lifting Antaeus to strangle him. IAN in exergue.
NOT IN RIC	UNLISTED ISSUE. Pink ("Die Goldprägung des Diocletianus und seiner Mitregenten", Numismatische Zeitschrift 1931, p. 38) and later Bastien ("The Iantinum Mint", American Numismatic Society Museum Notes, 25, 1980, pp. 77-85, plates 9-11) suggested that extremely rare gold issue with IAN in exergue was minted by a transitory mint at Ianticum (now Meaux in France). Listed in Depeyrot (p. 41, no. 1A/1). The Iantinum mint is not attested in RIC V/2 and RIC VI. If its short activity preceded the establishment of the mint at Treveri, these coins belong to pre-Reform coinage. However, there is a strong evidence that "the gold coins struck at Iantinum reuse obverse dies that were first used at Treveri". See: Sylviane Estiot, Pierre Zanchi, "De Lyon à Trèves. L’ouverture de l’atelier de Trèves à l’époque tétrarchique et ses premières émissions : monnaie radiée et monnaie d’or (293-295 apr. J.-C.)", Revue Numismatique 2014, pp. 247-296. Also, David Woods, "The Alleged Tetrarchic Mint at Iantinum", Numismatic Chronicle 2022, pp. 199-204. See also: IANTINUM, DIOCLETIAN, UNLISTED ISSUE [HERCVLI VICTORI] IANTINUM, MAXIMIAN HERCULIUS, UNLISTED ISSUE [IOVI FVLGERATORI]

NOTES

Aureus. Weight 5.28 g. From Bastien's article (plate 9, no. 4). Other specimens: - from: Ivana Popoviæ et al., Felix Romuliana - Gamzigrad, Institute of Archaeology, Belgrade 2011, p. 153, figure 122; weight 4.86 g; diameter 17.7 mm; found in funerary complex at Magura [click for picture].