Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire

Constantius I Chlorus augustus, 305 – 306. Aureus 305-306, AV 4.94 g. CONSTANT – IVS P F AVG Laureate head r. Rev. VIR – TVS – AVGG Constantius Chlorus and Galerius, draped, cuirassed, riding r. over fallen enemy. C –. RIC 114 (this coin). Depeyrot 13/2 (this coin). Calicó 4877 (this coin). Biaggi 1854 (this coin).
Apparently unique. A very interesting and fascinating reverse type. Surface somewhat
porous and minor marks in field and on edge, otherwise good very fine
Ex Sotheby's sale 19-20 June 1991, Hunt part IV, 917. From the George C. Hopkins collection.
On May 1, AD 305, the unthinkable happened. The senior emperors of the tetrarchic system, Diocletian and Maximian, officially retired from power, passing on the title of Augustus to their Caesars, Constantius Chlorus ("the Pale") in the West and Galerius in the East. The political machinations of Galerius forced Constantius to appoint Valerius Severus, a friend of Galerius, as his Caesar rather than his own son Constantine. Nevertheless, when Constantius set out on a new grand campaign against the Picts of northern Britannia, it was Constantine who joined him as his lieutenant. Together they advanced further north into Britannia than any Roman army had gone in decades, crossing the Antonine Wall and inflicting major defeats on the foe. In recognition of these victories, Constantius Chlorus accepted the honorific titles of Britannicus Maximus II (he had previously received the title for defeating the usurper Allectus in AD 296). This apparently unique aureus was probably struck as a donative paid out to the army in the context of the victory celebrations. The reverse type depicts Constantius and Galerius on horseback, although perhaps some might have read the image as representing Constantius and Constantine. Together they charge right, trampling a fallen enemy to the right. The enemy in question seems likely to be a Pict. He is nude or seminude and seems to have a rather spiky hairstyle. This appearance matches ancient reports describing Pictish warriors going into battle with little or no clothing, painted blue with woad (the Latin word pictus means painted) and with their hair spiked up with lime in order to make them look more terrifying. Constantius planned to press on even further in the north and perhaps might even have earned the title of Britannicus Maximus III if not for the fact that he fell ill at Eboracum in the summer of AD 306 and died. Constantine was acclaimed as the new Augustus by the army in complete defiance of the Tetrarchic system devised by Diocletian to guarantee the smooth transition of power. A new war was coming and it was not going to be against the peoples of northern Britannia.