Ancient Coins

ROMAN IMPERIAL COINS, Roman Imperial Coins, Test piece in silver-plated copper for a previously unknown gold multiple of apparently Constantinople, c. 330-3 (?), fl ivl constantivs nob c, laureate and cuirassed bust right in paludamentum seen from front, rev. gloria exercitvs, two standards between two soldiers, 5.77g/6h. Good very fine with dark brown patina and traces of silvering; apparently unpublished, UNIQUE (£1,000-1,500)

Silver or silvered-copper trial pieces for gold dies are known for this period, but this item would appear to be a novelty and, if correctly dated to about 330, would represent the sole survivor of a coinage intended to introduce the common billon nummus type of 330-5 in noble metal (cf. RIC VII, p.579, 61). The portrait, however, is perhaps to be dated to about 333, the time of the elevation of Constans to the Caesarship