It strikes me as unlikely that issuing a low-value coin for distribution to the plebs would be occasioned by the the Edict of Milan. Isn't religious tolerance a rather esoteric concept for the extremely uneducated, particularly at this point in time? I grant you that it makes more sense to celebrate an esoteric concept with a solidus which would have been directed at a different, more sophisticated audience...
I'm not sure if there's any real distinction, as an occasion, between 1) announcing/ratifying the
Edict of Milan, and 2) the marriage of Licinius to
Constantia which I think (but not 100% sure) also happened at Milian. Nowadays it's the edict that gets the attention, but the joint imperial visit and marriage must have been the real
event, and the sentiments of these fractions could really equally well apply to either - the two emperors joining forces for the common
good. The
Liberator Orbis coin
type, seems a more direct reference to freedoms granted, although that was
Rome only (although
Cohen claimed to have seen it from
Alexandria too), so not directly related to these
Rome+Trier fractions. So, I suppose better to regard the somewhat generic feel-good messages on these fractions as reflecting the new imperial partnership/ties rather than the edict.
If these low value coins were indeed thrown to the crowd as the
solidus depicts, then I guess it's more akin to throwing candy to the kids at a July 4th parade rather than what might be considered a distribution of cash. If you could grab a few then it wouldn't be totally insignificant (I think there'd been a time when a
nummus was a day's wages for a laborer), but really just something to jazz up the occasion.
Maybe confirming the
event as the joint imperial visit, there's the spectacular
Constantine+
Sol jugate "
Felix Adventvs Avgg NN"
medallion from
Ticinum (
RIC 111), and a perhaps related Licinius Profectio (departure)
aureus from
Siscia (
RIC 218), but no gold celebrating the edict itself unless we consider the
Arles Sapientia solidus as referring to it.
I
hope you're not having second thoughts about your chosen profession there, although presumably it must be a
bit depressing at times!