RIC VII, TICINUM [after 34], CONSTANTIUS I, UNLISTED ISSUE [VICT CONSTANT AVG]

OBVERSE	CONSTANT-IVSPFAVG [CONSTANTIVS P F AVG]; head r., laur.
REVERSE	VICT-CONSTANT-AVG [VICT CONSTANT AVG]; Victory advancing l. between captives sitting on ground, holding wreath, palm branch. SMT in exergue.
NOT IN RIC	UNLISTED ISSUE. At first sight this coin seems to be minted during Constantius' I reign as Augustus (305-306). In fact it was struck posthumously by his son, Constantine I, simultaneously with his similar solidus RIC VII TICINUM 34 (NAC 49, lot 470; 4.38 g). As Agnes Baldwin Brett writes: "But curiously enough the style of this coin is clearly much later [cf. Constantius' portrait on RIC VI TICINUM [before 49a]] [...] Furthermore, the reverse die actually occurs in series of commemorative issues struck by Constantine [...] That is to say, the Victory figure was used on two issues, one with the inscription, Vict Constant Aug, spaced about the type, coupled with an obverse of Constantius and his name, and the other with the same reverse inscription expanded to Victoria Constantini Aug, coupled with the obverse of Constantino. This is obvious both on account of the identity of die of the Victory figure on both reverses, and of the otherwise unusual spacing of the shorter inscription on Constantius' coin. The details of the lettering on both coins prove that both reverses emanate from on die" (Agnes Baldwin Brett, "The Aurei and Solidi of the Arras Hoard", Numismatic Chronicle 1933, p. 271). Coin should be listed in RIC VII after TICINUM 34.

NOTES

Solidus. Weight 4.39 g. From the British Museum Collection (reg. no. 1889,0710.12).