It's only May yet, but I expect this will be my coin of the year!
This is a
rare 1/8 fraction celebrating Constantine's 1st imperial
anniversary.
RIC VI Trier 746, 14x13mm 1.30g, ex. Dieter Alten.
The
reverse legend is "
PLVR NATAL FEL" - literally "many happy birthdays", but to be taken here to refer to Constantine's "Natalis Imperii" - the date of
his assumption of imperial power - rather than
his actual birth.
This
type was issued both for
Constantine as
caesar, as here, and also for
Maximianus, with the latter die linked to the
VOT XXX AVGG fraction issued for
Maximianus at the same time, alongside
VOT X CAESS for
Constantine. The occasion, and hence date, was almost certainly Constantine's 1st imperial
anniversary on July 25, 307, which as it happened was also almost (or maybe precisely)
Maximianus dies imperii (July 21 or 25). Another 1/8 fraction issued at the same time,
HAEC VOTA MVLT ANN (unlisted - recorded only as a
half-argenteus) underscores that the anniversaries being wished for are VOTA/imperial ones.
It would be a couple of months after this, c. September 307, that
Constantine would marry Maximian's daughter
Fausta and only then assume
his new title of
augustus - a joint celebration that is recorded in a panegyric.
The same "
PLVR NATAL FEL"
legend was also used later at
Rome almost certainly on the occasion of Constantine's vicenalia in 326, although
RIC misdates the
type (
RIC 321) to a few years later.
Ben
