I thought I would post this handsome (if modest) recent acquisition:
Obverse: FL
VAL CONSTANTINVS N C, laureate, draped and
cuirassed bust right
Reverse: VO / TIS / X in three lines within
wreath15.5 mm
RIC VI 750 (Trier)
ex.
Morris Collection (Phil Peck)
I believe RIC lists this as having been struck in summer 307 (I don't have my copy of RIC handy to confirm). It looks to have been struck at Trier as
part of a series of votives issued for the other rulers at the time. Interestingly, a stylistically similar fraction exists featuring
Constantine as
Augustus:
RIC VI 906 (Trier). RIC apparently lists that coin as having been struck 310-311. The second image is the only example I've located online.
I'm not sure how to reconcile the dating of my coin versus the similar version featuring
Constantine as
Augustus. I would tend to presume that both coins were struck in the summer of 307, with my coin struck immediately prior to Constantine's elevation and the other coin struck immediately after elevation.
The coin is sufficiently
rare that I would not be surprised to find die matches. A quick review of a few examples on
Not in RIC (thanks Lech!) yields a few examples which are very close but no cigar (at least to my eyes):
http://www.notinric.lechstepniewski.info/6tre750cor.html. Interestingly, at least one of Lech's examples features an identical die clog (in the 'V') as my own.
The coin also raises a general question about the purpose of fractional coins during this period. With the majority of coinage at this time consisting of folles, I'm not sure what role a
quarter follis would actually play in daily life, apart from propaganda. Approximately the same question was raised in a recent
thread featuring a lovely
Titus quadrans belonging to David Atherton. Any thoughts?
Evan