Jovian. AD 363-364. Æ (28mm, 7.75 g, 6h). Thessalonica mint, 2nd officina. D N IOVIANV S P F PP AVG, laurel and rosette-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / VICTORIA ROMANORVM, Jovian standing right, holding in right hand vexillum emblazoned with Christogram and, in left, Victory on globe; TESB. RIC VIII 235; LRBC –. Dark green patina, small pit on obverse. EF. Bold details on reverse.
The billon and bronze coinage of the mid-fourth century AD presents a rather confusing picture as several regimes attempted “reforms” that rapidly fell victim to familiar patterns of debasement. Julian II (AD 360-363) introduced a large billon coin, perhaps a revival of the Tetrarchic follis, in the last year of his reign. The silver content seems to have been somewhat less than 2%, equivalent to the late folles issued 50 years before, the but the surface was originally brightly silvered, though most surviving examples have acquired a dark patina. Sometimes referred to as a maiorina or double maiorina, its relationship to the gold, silver and smaller bronze coins in circulation at the time is uncertain. His Christian successors, Jovian, Valentinian and Valens, continued to strike the large billon piece for a few years, replacing Julian’s vaguely pagan bull reverse with an image of the emperor in military garb holding a vexillum, usually emblazoned with the overtly Christian chi-rho symbol, or Christogram, as seen on this specimen. It was discontinued circa AD 364 and was the last billon coin struck by the Roman state.
