★ Ex Bank Leu 13, 1975 ★

Constantine I 'the Great' AV Solidus. Ticinum, AD 324-325. Head of Constantine to right, wearing plain Hellenistic-style diadem, gaze uplifted / CONSTANTINVS AVG, Victory seated to left on shield, holding Victory on globe in outstretched right hand and cradling cornucopiae with left; SMT in exergue. RIC 179; C. 102; Depeyrot 18/1; Alföldi 42. 4.40g, 19mm, 1h.

Near Mint State; pleasant light reddish toning. Extremely Rare; no other examples offered at auction in the past 2 decades.

From the Long Valley River Collection;
Ex Aurora Collection, Baldwin’s Auctions Ltd - Dmitry Markov Coins & Medals - M&M Numismatics Ltd, The New York Sale XXXII, 8 January 2014, lot 54 (hammer: USD 35,000);
Ex Numismatica Ars Classica AG, Auction 38, 21 March 2007, lot 233;
Ex Bank Leu AG, Auction 13, 29-30 April 1975, lot 494.

Constantine gazes heavenward on this extremely desirable anepigraphic type, his beautifully engraved portrait larger and more impressive than those of Crispus and the Caesars Constantine and Constantius on parallel coin types (cited in L. Ramskold, Constantine’s Vicennalia and the Death of Crispus, in Miša Rakocija (ed.), Niš and Byzantium Symposium XI, 2013, p.434). The interpretation of Christian theologian Eusebius infuses this obverse type – developed from AD 324 - with a religious dimension: the emperor looks “upwards in the manner of one reaching out to God in prayer”, and is elevated as a divinely inspired ruler in a state of prayer (VC 4.15.1). According to Sutherland and Carson, ‘the less known the ruler, the more explicit was the legend’ (RIC VII, p.27), and the lack of inscription grants even greater prominence to this striking portrait of Constantine, ruling over a united empire by the time of minting. The varied depictions of male family members on obverse busts following the Battle of Chrysopolis makes the unified dynastic series of Constantine and his imperial household wearing matching band-diadems, as on this type, a rare and notable occurrence (RIC 108-13 Nicomedia; RIC VII, p.35). The band-diademed portrait, an innovation in imperial portraiture, was apt in the context of Constantine’s vicennalia celebrations (starting in July AD 325). Such a development also followed in the wake of the decisive victory at Chrysopolis in September AD 324: this ‘holy war’, so termed by C. Odahl (Constantine and the Christian Empire, 2010, p.177), was fought and won on a huge scale, even accounting for exaggeration by Zosimus who numbers Constantine’s army at 120,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry (Hist. Nova, II.22.1-2).

The prominent use of Victory herself holding in her hand a small Victoriola is certainly a thinly veiled reference to Constantine’s triumph over his rival Licinius in the Civil War of AD 324, and perhaps alludes specifically to the Battles of the Hellespont and Chrysopolis. Eusebius later rejoiced that “with the impious defeated and the gloomy cloud of tyrannic power dispersed, the sun once more shone brightly” (VC, II. 19) and this present type was minted in that celebratory context, heralding the inception of a shining new era.

The following year in 326, Constantine would celebrate his vicennalia, a considerable achievement given the record of short-lived emperors of the late third and early fourth centuries. However what should have been the gleaming pinnacle of his reign to that point ended in turmoil rather than triumph, with the executions of Crispus and Fausta upon Constantine’s orders reflecting disruption within the imperial family (discussed by L. Ramskold, “Constantine’s Vicennalia and the Death of Crispus,” 2013, pp.409ff).