There's a very interesting gold coin of
Constantius I (below) in the British Museum which seems to have slipped under the radar in modern times.
Obv: CONSTANTIVS PF AVG
Rev:
VICT CONSTANT AVGWt: 4.39g
Given Constantius's title of
augustus, the coin should nominally be dated to 305-306, and might be expected to be of
aureus weight, which it is not.
I found reference to this coin in two old
Numismatic Chronicle articles discussing the Arras
hoard. It is first mentioned in 1930 by Sir Arthur
Evans who, noting the
weight, used it to advance
his theory that the
solidus standard had been introduced by
Constantius I, not
his son
Constantine.
Evans references the coin to the
Thomas Pembroke
collection (citing a 1746 AD reference), and a later
catalog of the
collection dating to 1848.
The nature of the coin is revealed in a slightly later NC article from 1933 by Agnes Baldwin
Brett ("Miss Baldwin" to Sir
Evans), again discussing the Arras
hoard, and incidentally refuting Sir Evans'
solidus theory. She notes that the
style of the "
VICT CONSTANT AVG" coin ("the Pembroke
solidus in the BM") doesn't match the nominal 305-306 date, then makes the critical connection to the
VICTORIA CONSTANTINI AVG solidus of
Constantine (
RIC VII Ticinum 34) .... to which it is a die link !!!
Miss Baldwin's conclusion, which seems correct although surprising, is that the Constantius coin is in fact a postumous issue, issued by
Constantine at same time as
RIC VII Ticinum 34 (i.e. c.315 AD), at Constantine's prevailing
solidus standard. The somewhat curious, and curiously spaced "
VICT CONSTANT AVG"
legend was apparently deliberately done to allow the same die to then be recut as "
VICTORIA CONSTANTINI AVG".
I've only been able to find one specimen of
RIC 34 online, NAC 49 # 470 (below), but as luck would have it this specimen does indeed appear to be a die link to the other coin. It'd be interesting to know if there are other dies also.
The Constantius coin is BM 1889,0710.12, and sadly seems to have lost some of it's
provenance and any mention of this critical die link. The BM only notes the coin as having been acquired from Messrs W S
Lincoln & Son, in 1889, with no mention of the much earlier, apparently famous, Pembroke
collection. It was also somehow missed by the authors of
RIC VI.
The articles are:
SOME NOTES ON THE ARRAS
HOARD: INCEPTION OF
SOLIDUS STANDARD ON BRITISH MODEL IN MEDALLIONS OF CONSTANTIUS CHLORUS
Sir Arthur
EvansNumismatic Chronicle Vol. 10, No. 39 (1930), pp. 221-274
THE
AUREI AND SOLIDI OF THE ARRAS
HOARDAgnes Baldwin
BrettNumismatic Chronicle Vol. 13, No. 52 (1933), pp. 268-348
You can access both articles online via JSTOR, which now allows 99 articles
per month to be read for free.
The Sir
Evans article is a must read for anyone interested in the Arras
hoard, or in
roman coins at all for that matter. Sir
Evans acquired a number of the Arras coins himself, having heard of the find immediately and been at the discovery site same day as it was found. He provides a heartbreaking account of anecdotal reports of the destroyed medallions from the find - 100
aurei medallions as big as a saucer, with battle scene and
chariot reverses.
Ben