DIOCLETIAN, as Senior Augustus. 305-306 AD. Æ Follis (9.62 gm). Cyzicus mint. D N DIOCLETIANO BAEATISSIMO SEN AVG, laureate and mantled bust right, holding olive branch in right hand, mappa in left / PROVIDENTIA DEORVM QVIES AVG, Providentia standing right, extending right hand to Quies standing left, holding branch and leaning on sceptre; S F/KS/PTR. RIC VI 674 var. (K only, no S) (incorrectly attributed to Treveri). VF, dark brown patina. $225.
This is perhaps one of the most unusual issues in the entire follis series. It is nearly always attributed to Trier (Treveri), but a comparison of portrait styles and an examination of follis hoards reveals that this issue was not struck in Trier but in Cyzicus. Two officinae struck this issue, and the KS in the field between the two figures is actually the mintmark, not the PTR. A look at the coins of Cyzicus (RIC 22-23) shows that the same two officinae struck this issue without the PTR also. The Senior Augustus issues of Diocletian and Maximianus were struck at every mint currently in operation. Apparently, the first coins of this type were prepared at Trier and examples were sent to the various mints for the individual mints to copy. At Cyzicus, the die engravers copied everything, including the Trier mintmark and put their own mintmark in the field. Eventually someone soon realized the mistake and new dies were prepared with the mintmark in its proper location.
