396, Lot: 580. Estimate $200. Sold for $220. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Helena. As nobilissima femina, AD 306-324. Æ Follis (18mm, 3.21 g, 12h). Thessalonica mint. Struck under Constantine I, AD 318-319. HELE NA N F, draped bust right / Eight-pointed star within wreath; TSA. RIC VII 48 corr. (mintmark as •TS•A•); LRBC 821. Good VF, brown surfaces. Rare.

Ex Gorny & Mosch 142 (10 October 2005), lot 2979.

A remarkable series of bronzes was struck circa AD 318 at the Thessalonica mint on which both Helena and her sister-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 Constantine'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.