* Note: This photo from Victor Clark’s VCoins listing, also illustrated on his reference site, constantinethegreatcoins.com.
Return to: Barbarians, Captives & Enemies (to this coin). Return to: Provenance Coins V: Roman (to this coin). Return to: Provenance Glossary (to Dattari).
Constantine I Æ Follis (19mm, 3.7g). Antioch mint, 321-323 CE.
Obv: IMP C FL VAL CONSTANTINVS P F AVG. Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: IOVI CONSERVATORI / X II Γ (episemon) (right) / SMANTA (in ex.). Jupiter standing l., chlamys across l. shoulder, leaning on eagle tipped-sceptre and holding Victory on globe in r. hand; eagle with wreath to l. on ground; to r., captive.
Ref: RIC VII Antioch 34.
Secondary Ref: See Victor Clark, “Assorted Reverses, 2” (this coin illustrated).
Provenance: Ex Giovanni Dattari (1853-1923) Collection of Late Roman Bronzes; CNG e-Auction 473 (29 Jul 2020), Lot 367 (part); Victor Clark (Victor’s Imperial Coins, VCoins, 3 Aug 2024).
Numis. Note: The X/IIΓ on the reverse is usually taken to mean that this coin had been tariffed at 12 1/2 denarii communues, a reduction by half from the previous value of 25.
As Victor Clark explains, the last character may be better described as “episemon” than gamma. Quoting RIC below, he writes:
“The last sign is clearly an episemon, epigraphically employed for S(emis) also.” (RIC VII p. 12) Semis literally means half, and the semis coin was valued at half an as; so the mark on the reverse translates as “12 and a half”
The IOVI coins were issued as part of a coin reform by Licinius in his territories (mints of Heraclea, Nicomedia, Cyzicus, Antioch, and Alexandria) and were reduced in value from 25 to 12 and a half. The coins were worth less because they had little or no silver. He struck these in the names of all the rulers but these coins had no value outside his territory.