Constantine as FIL AVG

247, Lot: 340. Estimate $150. Sold for $480. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Constantine I. As Filius Augustorum, AD 309-310. Æ Follis (23mm, 7.61 g, 11h). Alexandria mint. Struck AD 309-310. FL VAL CONSTANTINVS FIL AVG, laureate head right / Genius standing facing, head left, holding patera and cornucopia; K-A/P//ALE. RIC 99b; P. Bruun, “The Negotiations of the Conference of Carnuntum,” QT 8 (1979), pl. I, 8. EF. Rare issue as FIL AVG.

This follis was struck while Constantine was recognized by Galerius with the novel title Filius Augustorum. Galerius had offered this title to Constantine and Maximinus II Daia after the conference of Carnuntum in November AD 308, but both rejected it. For Constantine, it was a demotion, as he had already claimed the title Augustus in AD 307, while Maximinus thought he deserved elevation to Augustus following the death of Severus II, and the new title was below that rank. Accordingly, none of the coins struck at the mints under Constantine and Maximinus, all western, featured this title; only the mints in the east under Galerius used it. Eventually, in AD 310, Galerius relented, and recognized both of them as holding the rank of Augustus.