Constantine I the Great (AD 307/310-337). AV solidus (22mm, 4.40 gm, 11h). NGC Choice AU S 5/5 - 4/5....
(click for full-size image)
|
| Show/Booth: |
ANA Money Show
/
Convention Center
|
| |
(Item is available at this booth)
|
|
|
|
|
Constantine I the Great (AD 307/310-337). AV solidus (22mm, 4.40 gm, 11h). NGC Choice AU S 5/5 - 4/5. Antioch, late AD 324-early AD 325. CONSTANT-INVS P F AVG, laureate head of Constantine I right / SOLI COMI-TI AVG N, Sol standing right (on left), nude save for chlamys hanging behind and over left arm, presenting Victory standing right on globe to Constantine I standing facing (on right), laureate head left, in military dress; SMAN star in exergue. RIC VII 49. Depeyrot 41/2. Incredibly eye appealing example of this extremely rare issue. RIC only notes one example (Hunterian Museum) and Depeyrot notes one in the Leningrad Museum. No examples in sales archives. From the Randy & Nancy Best Collection. Constantine I is most well known for his tolerance toward Christianity in the Empire and for founding Constantinople, but his reign also marks a key turning point from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. Constantine was raised in the days of the tetrarchy and was intended to take over his father's position as one of the junior emperors; instead, he took power as the sole emperor through a series of civil wars. He attributed his success to his piety, as Roman emperors tended to do - but he was the first emperor to profess Christianity as his religion and the cause of his success. He ushered Rome into a new era by ending the Praetorian Guard and moving the capital city to the East. In his final years, Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the Empire and himself as the defender of all Christians; thus, he waged war against the Sasanians in retaliation for their persecution of Christians in Armenia, a Roman client state. In AD 309, he replaced the aureus with the solidus, which remained the standard gold coin in the late Roman and Byzantine Empires until it was replaced by the histamenon nomisma over 600 years later. HID07901242017 www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice
|
Enter the message you would like to email to this Dealer
(click for full-size image)
(click for full-size image)
(click for full-size image)
(click for full-size image)
|
|