151, Lot: 262. Estimate $100. Sold for $311. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Antoniniani set of the First Tetrarchy. AD 293-305. Antoninianii. All coins: Antioch mint. Radiate, draped and/or cuirassed bust right / Jupiter standing right, holding globe and scepter, receiving Victory from Hercules standing left, holding club and lion skin. RIC V 323 (Diocletian), 622 (Maximianus), 673 (Constantius I), and 719 (Galerius). EF, all with some silvering remaining. A wonderful set commemorating the new Tetrarchic system. LOT SOLD AS IS, NO RETURNS. 4 coins in lot.

Diocletian's tetrarchy system was devised to replace the unstable system of family dynasties which was greatly responsible for the military chaos of the previous century. Central to this system was the founding two imperial houses, each with an Augustus and Caesar, which would oversee respective portions of the empire. Diocletian modeled the imperial houses upon the Romans' religious pantheon. As the senior Augustus and Caesar, Diocletian and Galerius comprised the ‘Jovian’ house, and thus enjoyed the protection of Jupiter, the chief deity of the Roman pantheon. Maximianus and Constantius were the members of the 'Herculian' house, and had the protection of Hercules, who was the "right-hand" lieutenant to Jupiter. The present set of coins were part of a massive issue of antoniniani that propagandized this new system. The reverse type depicts Tetrarchs’ divine patrons, and the legends ask for their divine protection: IOV(I) ET HERCVL(I) CONS(ER) AVGG (or CAES).