As I have mentioned elsewhere I am currently revising
Huvelin’s paper and I thought it might be useful to outline a few thoughts here. Dane also produced an English translation of the introductory text of
Huvelin’s original paper and I’ll check with her if we could make that available somehow. My revision should be available in three or four months.
The left
star issue is actually two issues as during this mark the
weight and die size was
reduced to 1/96 (3.36 g.
average) and 19mm and, according to
Bastien, this took place in the middle of AD 313. This differentiation was not noted in
RIC VI.
Huvelin leaves out the
reduced weight types, that were all
standard GENIO,
MARTI or SOLI
types. These should really have been included at the beginning of
RIC VII which commences with this
weight reduction at other mints.
The earlier unreduced left
star issue was certainly
still being issued towards the end of 312 as several
types refer to the return of
Rome after the battle of the Milvian Bridge (FELICTAS, ROMAE
AETER,
ROMAE RESTITVTAE, SECVRITAS). The issue continued into 313 until the mid-year
weight reduction. As to when that issue began,
Lafaurie is probably too early with May 311,
Huvelin could be nearer with September 311. So for the left
star issue we have a window of late 311 to mid 313 when the
reduced weight issue commenced. However it is unlikely that a
COS II type would be issued late in 312 or afterwards as
Constantine’s 3rd Consulship was about to begin (AD 313). So this coin
type was probably issued before mid 312.
The Right
star issue includes a variety of
types with consular busts (virtually unknown in the left
star issue) and one assumes that these were issued at the end of 311 or the beginning of 312 to mark the second consulship. Recently a number of coin
types have come to light that combine a consular
bust obverse with
ADVENTVS reverses. It has been speculated in the past that
Constantine may have visited
London at this time. I would suggest that these new coin
types add
weight to that argument. The possibility that
Constantine visited
Britain to recruit troops for
his forthcoming campaign against
Maxentius prior to
his recruiting visit to the Rhine frontier is very likely. This would mean a visit in late 311 or early 312. The
SPES REIPVBL
types of this issue with
ADVENTVS style reverses may have alluded to the forthcoming return of
Rome to the “true emperor”.
Previous speculation about
Constantine’s visit to
Britain can be summarized as:
Casey suggested summer 312, Barnes suggested late 310, the historical window is late summer 311 to summer 312 and numismatic evidence now suggests late 311 or early 312.
So, in summary we have the right
star issue ending at the very end of 311 or, more likely, early to mid 312 and the unreduced left
star series starting in late 311 or early 312, probably including some overlap to allow for a surge in the production of “commemorative” and “recruitment” issues.
Sorry if this is going slightly off-topic but I think it important to put Nicola’s coin in context as it is an important piece of numismatic and historical evidence for the period. I would be most grateful for any comments on the above.
Well done and keep it safe Nicola
