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NYINC Signature Sale 3071 6-7 Jan 2019
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Valentinian III, Western Roman Empire (AD 425-455). AV solidus (21mm, 4.41 gm, 6h). NGC Choice XF 4/5 - 3/5. Rome, October AD 435. D N PLA VALENTI-NIANVS P F AVG, rosette and pearl diademed half-length bust of Valentinian left, wearing jeweled mantle, mappa upward in right hand, cruciform scepter over shoulder in left / VOT X-MVLT XX, Valentinian in consular robes, wearing crown with pendilia, enthroned facing, mappa upward in right hand, cruciform scepter in left; R-M across fields, CONOB in exergue. RIC X 2034. Cohen 41. Depeyrot 42/1.
From the Morris Collection. Ex. Numismatica Ars Classica 21 (17 May 2001), lot 599.
Son of the brief-reigning Constantius III and the formidable Galla Placidia, daughter of Theodosius I, Valentinian III spent his early years under the protection of his cousin, the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II. After the death of Honorius in AD 425, the Western throne was seized by a military cabal who placed a relative nonentity, the Chamberlain Johannes, on the throne. Theodosius II found this intolerable and sent a military task force to install the six-year-old Valentinian III as West Roman Emperor, with Galla Placidia acting as regent. After a number of misadventures, the Eastern army succeeded and Valentinian was formally crowned in Rome on 23 October, AD 425. Valentinian would go on to "reign" for 30 years, although he grew into an ineffectual and pleasure-loving ruler who left the actual governing to a succession of court eunuchs while a series of powerful generals strove mightily, but in vain, against the slow disintegration of the West Roman Empire. This remarkable gold solidus was struck to mark the 10th anniversary of his accession in AD 435, and depicts the now 16-year-old Valentinian in the stiffly formal robes of a Roman consul, an office that long before had lost all real power but retained immense prestige.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 1000-1500 USD
Valentinian III, Western Roman Empire (AD 425-455). AV solidus (21mm, 4.41 gm, 6h). NGC Choice XF 4/5 - 3/5. Rome, October AD 435. D N PLA VALENTI-NIANVS P F AVG, rosette and pearl diademed half-length bust of Valentinian left, wearing jeweled mantle, mappa upward in right hand, cruciform scepter over shoulder in left / VOT X-MVLT XX, Valentinian in consular robes, wearing crown with pendilia, enthroned facing, mappa upward in right hand, cruciform scepter in left; R-M across fields, CONOB in exergue. RIC X 2034. Cohen 41. Depeyrot 42/1.
From the Morris Collection. Ex. Numismatica Ars Classica 21 (17 May 2001), lot 599.
Son of the brief-reigning Constantius III and the formidable Galla Placidia, daughter of Theodosius I, Valentinian III spent his early years under the protection of his cousin, the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius II. After the death of Honorius in AD 425, the Western throne was seized by a military cabal who placed a relative nonentity, the Chamberlain Johannes, on the throne. Theodosius II found this intolerable and sent a military task force to install the six-year-old Valentinian III as West Roman Emperor, with Galla Placidia acting as regent. After a number of misadventures, the Eastern army succeeded and Valentinian was formally crowned in Rome on 23 October, AD 425. Valentinian would go on to "reign" for 30 years, although he grew into an ineffectual and pleasure-loving ruler who left the actual governing to a succession of court eunuchs while a series of powerful generals strove mightily, but in vain, against the slow disintegration of the West Roman Empire. This remarkable gold solidus was struck to mark the 10th anniversary of his accession in AD 435, and depicts the now 16-year-old Valentinian in the stiffly formal robes of a Roman consul, an office that long before had lost all real power but retained immense prestige.
HID02901242017
Estimate: 1000-1500 USD