Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire

Valentinian III, 425 – 455. Solidus, Thessalonica 437-438, AV 4.42 g. D N PLA VALENTI – NIANVS P F AVG Pearl-diademed, helmeted, draped, and cuirassed bust r. Rev. FELICITER NVBTIIS Wedding scene with Theodosius II standing facing in centre, his hands on the shoulders of Valentinian III and his daughter Licinia Eudoxia, who are hand in hand; all three are nimbate and wear marriage robes. In exergue, COMOB. C –. RIC –. LRC–. Depeyrot –.
Of the highest rarity, only six specimens known. An issue of tremendous
fascination with a pleasant portrait and an interesting and appealing
reverse composition. Good extrememly fine

Ex Tkalec 29 February 2000, 452; Harlan J. Berk 116, 2000, 55; Triton V, 2002, 2227 and Triton VII, 2004, 1061 sales.
Royal marriages were events of great importance in the Roman world, especially in the Late Roman Empire, by which time royal women had assumed roles of great importance. Not only were they the biological continuators of the imperial dynasties, but royal ladies often were policy makers when emperors were young or incapable.
Here we have a superb 'marriage solidus' depicting the royal couple Valentinian III and Licinia Eudoxia accompanied by Theodosius II. The composition is carefully managed: the central, and tallest, figure is Theodosius II, who not only was the father of the bride, but as senior emperor in the East was the source of Valentinian III's authority in the West. A touch of humanity is lent to this austere scene by the fact that the royal couple joins hands as Theodosius II, in a show of support and unity, places his hands on their shoulders.
The newlyweds were distant relatives who shared Theodosius I as their great-grandfather. Dynastically, the bride was the more important of the two, for she was the direct descendant of the imperial couples Theodosius I and Aelia Flacilla, Arcadius and Aelia Eudoxia, and Theodosius II and Aelia Eudocia. A better pedigree did not exist in the 5th Century Roman world.
The wedding was held on October 29, 437, and it was an affair of great pomp. Afterward the newlyweds wintered in Thessalonica, where this solidus was issued in celebration. The coin shows all three figures nimbate, that is, bearing the radiant circle of light around their heads. Though the nimbus is often perceived exclusively in relation to Christ, it had been used on coins depicting emperors and empresses (albeit uncommonly) for nearly 125 years by the time this piece was issued.
Many scholars have rightly seen the nimbus as an alternative of the radiate halo of the sun-god Sol. Under the Illyrian emperors, notably Aurelian, the adoration of Sol Invictus (the 'unconquered sun') became fashionable. Many soldiers came to view him as the Summus Deus (the 'Supreme God') or the dominus imperii Romani (the 'heavenly lord of the Roman Empire'), and thus we need not seek a specifically Christian connection for the legacy of nimbate imperial portraits.