Calicó Plate Coin
Constantine I. AD 307/310-337. AV Aureus (20mm, 5.25 g, 12h). Antioch mint. Struck AD 311. CONSTAN TINVS P F AVG, laureate head right / CONSVL P P PROCONSVL, Constantine (or Maximinus II?) standing left, holding globe in right hand and scepter in left; (crescent)SMAΣ*. RIC VI 127b; Depeyrot 26/3; Calicó 5159 (
this coin illustrated); Biaggi 1963 (same obv. die). Some light hairlines, slight die shift on reverse. Choice EF. High-relief portrait of artistic merit. Very rare.
Ex Áureo & Calicó 300 (9 November 2017), lot 197; Imagines Imperatorum (Áureo & Calicó 241, 8 February 2012), lot 336 (hammer €60,000).
Constantine I’s elevation from overlooked prince to the rank of Augustus took place against the backdrop of a crumbling Tetrarchic regime, frantic negotiations between rival contenders for power, and multiple civil wars. This superb gold aureus of Constantine provides key evidence that Constantine sought, and gained, support from Maximinus II Daza, who ruled in the Roman East and controlled the crucial mint of Antioch. Like Constantine, Maximinus had been Caesar in the short-lived Third Tetrarchy, and he was passed over for elevation at the Conference of Carnuntum in 308, with the previously unranked Licinius being raised to Augustus over them at the behest of the “senior” Augustus Galerius. Both Constantine and Maximinus were angered at this settlement and, in mid-AD 310, mutually recognized each other as Augusti. This aureus, struck in early 311, styles Constantine as P F AVG and depicts him in late Tetrarchic style, with his distinctive “fringe” haircut and a vestigial beard and mustache. The reverse depicts either Constantine or Maximinus in consular robes (the portrait more closely resembles Maximinus) and lists the titles of Consul, Proconsul and Pater Patriae; Maximinus was Consul for the second time in 311, while Constantine had served two years previously and would do so again in 312. Though Constantine had already introduced the lighter gold solidus at mints under his direct control, this issue of Antioch was struck at the weight of a Tetrarchic aureus. The mark of value Σ in the exergue indicates it was struck at a weight of 60 to the Roman pound, theoretically 5.46 grams but in practice typically a bit lighter.
