Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIV 21 Sep 2017
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Constans AV Multiple of 1 1/2 Solidi. Treveri, AD 342-343. FL IVL CONSTANS P F AVG, laurel and rosette-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right / GLORIA EXERCITVS, emperor standing left in military dress, holding trophy in right hand, left resting on shield set on ground; TR in exergue. RIC -; cf. 120; Gnecchi -; Depeyrot -. 6.71g, 21mm, 6h.
Good Extremely Fine. Apparently unique and unpublished.
This previously unpublished multiple, forms part of an extremely rare series issued at Treveri in AD 342/3. It formerly was known from only two unique specimens: one issued in the name of Constantius II (in Bonn) and one other in the name of Constans (in Berlin, with different obverse legend).
Following the death of Constantine II in 340 after a botched invasion of his brother Constans' Italian territories, Constans inherited all of the western territories: Hispania, Britannia and Gaul, as well as the African provinces, which his elder malcontent brother had been so dissatisfied with. Assuming his dead brother's duties, in 341/2 Constans led a victorious campaign against the Franks, and in the early months of 343 he crossed to Britain, for which visit our source Julius Firmicus Maternus does not provide a reason, but it has been suggested that this was to repel an invasion by the Picts (Ammianus 20.1.1). The mint at Treveri, now under Constans' control had not struck any multiples under Constantine II. Thought not securely datable, it seems probable that this extremely rare multiple solidi series honouring the two remaining Augusti (and now according Constans the laurel and rosette diadem denied him by his brother) was struck in a celebratory first issue. This year also coincided with Constans' decennalia, for which a very rare gold and silver issue is known. Interestingly the Treveri mint (an important centre of coinage production in the West) appears to have struck no billon coinage from the point at which it came under Constans' control until about 347/8.
Though his reign began promisingly with a righteous victory over his covetous and aggressive brother Constantine II, and victories against the Franks and (possibly) Picts, Constans appears to have quickly slipped into less virtuous ways. The historian Eutropius tells us that "when he fell prey to ill-health and associated with rather depraved friends he turned to serious vices, and when he became intolerable to the provincials and unpopular with the soldiers he was killed by Magnentius' faction."
Good Extremely Fine. Apparently unique and unpublished.
This previously unpublished multiple, forms part of an extremely rare series issued at Treveri in AD 342/3. It formerly was known from only two unique specimens: one issued in the name of Constantius II (in Bonn) and one other in the name of Constans (in Berlin, with different obverse legend).
Following the death of Constantine II in 340 after a botched invasion of his brother Constans' Italian territories, Constans inherited all of the western territories: Hispania, Britannia and Gaul, as well as the African provinces, which his elder malcontent brother had been so dissatisfied with. Assuming his dead brother's duties, in 341/2 Constans led a victorious campaign against the Franks, and in the early months of 343 he crossed to Britain, for which visit our source Julius Firmicus Maternus does not provide a reason, but it has been suggested that this was to repel an invasion by the Picts (Ammianus 20.1.1). The mint at Treveri, now under Constans' control had not struck any multiples under Constantine II. Thought not securely datable, it seems probable that this extremely rare multiple solidi series honouring the two remaining Augusti (and now according Constans the laurel and rosette diadem denied him by his brother) was struck in a celebratory first issue. This year also coincided with Constans' decennalia, for which a very rare gold and silver issue is known. Interestingly the Treveri mint (an important centre of coinage production in the West) appears to have struck no billon coinage from the point at which it came under Constans' control until about 347/8.
Though his reign began promisingly with a righteous victory over his covetous and aggressive brother Constantine II, and victories against the Franks and (possibly) Picts, Constans appears to have quickly slipped into less virtuous ways. The historian Eutropius tells us that "when he fell prey to ill-health and associated with rather depraved friends he turned to serious vices, and when he became intolerable to the provincials and unpopular with the soldiers he was killed by Magnentius' faction."