7-599

RIC VII, NICOMEDIA 164, CONSTANTINE I, Æ TRIAL PIECE [FORGERY]

  

OBVERSE

CONSTANT-INVSAVG [CONSTANTINVS AVG]; head r., with plain diadem, looking upwards.

REVERSE

[no legend]; Emperor stg. facing, head l., in quadriga, raising r. hand, eagle-tipped sceptre in l. hand.

NOT IN RIC

Æ TRIAL PIECE. Allegedly a trial piece of AV medallion. Similar to NICOMEDIA 164 (Gnecchi I, plate 8, no. 9; 4.93 g, 21 mm; cited in RIC) or CONSTANTINOPLE 1 (Hirsch, auction 8, plate XIII, no. 2675; cited in RIC) which probably is the same as NICOMEDIA 164. Note that RIC gives for NICOMEDIA 164 obv. legend break T-I (correctly) anf for CONSTANTINOPLE N-T (erroneously).

In fact, this coin is a modern forgery from the infamous Bulgarian Lipanoff Studio. See: Lars Ramskold, "Constantine's Vicennalia and the Death of Crispus", Niš and Byzantium XI, 2013, p. 435-437. The reverse is die-linked to another Æ trial piece with Constantius I (sic!) obverse.

The gold coins die-linked to this specimen are also known, but it is not cleear if all of them are forgeries. See CONSTANTINOPLE 1 (NAC 49, lot 475, 5.36 g), CONSTANTINOPLE 1 (Rauch 82, lot 611, 5.32 g) and CONSTANTINOPLE 1 (Gorny & Mosch 215, lot 1096, 5.57 g).

See also:
NICOMEDIA 164, CONSTANTIUS I (sic!), Æ TRIAL PIECE

NOTES

Weight 8.37 g. Sold on The New Yor Sale XX (lot 455) in January 2009 for USD 3,500.


NOT IN RIC © 2004 Lech Stępniewski