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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
379, Lot: 385. Estimate $150.
Sold for $300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Helena. Augusta, AD 324-328/30. Æ Follis (17mm, 2.87 g, 6h). Thessalonica mint. Struck circa AD 318-319. Draped bust right / Star of eight rays within laurel wreath. RIC VII 48 var. (with mintmark); LRBC 820. EF, dark green and brown patina with green deposits. Boldly struck. Rare.


From the Delbert Carl Highlands Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 66 (19 May 2004), lot 1631; Coin Galleries (7 November 1990), lot 475.

The coinage of Helena as Augusta commenced with her elevation to full imperial status in AD 324 and continued until her death five years later. Preceding these issues, however, was a remarkable series struck circa AD 318 at Thessalonica on which both Helena and her daughter-in-law Fausta are accorded the lesser title of Nobilissima Femina (N F). Both ladies had borne this rank for a considerable time, Helena since her son's elevation to imperial status in AD 306, Fausta since her marriage to Constantine in March of the following year. The significance of this anepigraphic reverse remains uncertain, though it presumably contains some reference to divine providence and destiny.