Sale: CNG 69, Lot: 1734. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 8 June 2005.  Sold For $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MAXIMIANUS. 286-305 AD. Æ Double Radiate Fraction (6.00 gm, 12h). Cyzicus mint. Struck circa 298-299 AD. Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind / Maximianus standing right, holding sceptre, receiving Victory on globe from Jupiter standing left, holding sceptre; KD//•. RIC VI 13; Cohen 50. Good VF, green patina. Extremely rare. ($1000)

This peculiar denomination appears only at the mint of Cyzicus, and only at this time (mid-late 290s AD). The principal minor denomination in use contemporaneously was the follis (or nummus) introduced by Diocletian in his overall coinage reform of 294 AD, with the occasional appearance of fractions, the half and the quarter. The follis weighed approximately ten grams and had a trace amount of silver in the alloy, along with a thin silver wash. The so-called radiate fraction seems to have served as a stop-gap denomination, bridging the changeover from the devalued antoninianus to the reformed Diocletianic coin, and was only struck until 299 AD. It was bronze with a weight of around three grams, equivalent to the latest antoniniani, but lacking any silver content. The present coin can only be termed a double radiate fraction and must have been a brief experiment in introducing a large-size pure bronze denomination. Putting a more precise date to an issue within such a short time frame is difficult, but the suggestion is offered that this transitional issue was struck near the end of the radiate fraction period, circa 298-299 AD, intended to replace the silver alloy follis. Its extreme rarity further suggests the experiment was a dismal failure.