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Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 1249. Closing Date: Jan
10, 2005. CONSTANTINE I. 307-337 AD. AR
Medallion (17.56 gm, 6h). Constantinople mint.
Struck circa 11 May 330 AD. Estimate $25000 Sold
For $32500
CONSTANTINE I. 307-337 AD. AR Medallion (17.56 gm,
6h). Constantinople mint. Struck circa 11 May 330
AD. Head of Constantine right, wearing jeweled
diadem / D N CONSTANTINVS MAX TRIVM F AVG,
Constantinopolis, turreted and veiled, seated
right, head facing, right foot on prow, holding
short sceptre in right hand and cornucopiae in
left; MCONSE. Gnecchi pg. 588, 11-13 and pl. 28,
11-13 var. (officina); Alfdi pl. 18, 225. EF,
lightly toned, hairline flan crack. Extremely
rare, one of eleven known (all but five in museum
collections), and the only one from officina E.
($25,000)
On 11 May 330 AD, after almost six years of
transformation from the ancient city of Byzantium,
Constantinople, the new eastern capital of the
Roman Empire, was formally dedicated. Celebrated
with forty days of festivities, it culminated with
a final dedication ceremony occurring in the
newly-enlarged Hippodrome.
To commemorate the dedication, silver
five-siliquae multiples were struck which were
presented to the new city痴 elite in the emperor's
presence. They were minted with two reverse types:
the well-known seated Constantinopolis, struck at
six different officinae, and the very rare seated
Roma, struck only at officina S. Their
anepigraphic obverse with the large head of
Constantine right and the vertical placement of
the reverse legend on either side of the figure
are reminiscent of Hellenistic royal tetradrachms.
Ten other specimens of this type have been
recorded; of these, six are in public collections:
two in Berlin (offinae B and Z); one in Copenhagen
(officina D); one in Rome (also officina D); one
in Milan (listed as officina V); and one in Trier
(officina Z). Those in private collections
include: Leu 22 (8-9 May 1979), lot 383 (officina
Z); Berk 100 (29 January 1998), lot 684 (no
officina mark); Tkalec (18 February 2003), lot 247
(officina IA); and Berk 138 (1 June 2004), lot 364
(officina Q).
Copyright ｩ CNG 2002
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