Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIX 26-27 Mar 2020
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Maximinus II Daia, as Caesar, AV Aureus. Treveri, AD 306 - autumn 307. MAXIMINVS NOB C, laureate head right / SOLI INVICT CONSERVAT AVGG ET CAESS NN, Sol standing to left, radiate, nude but for chlamys draped over left shoulder, raising right hand and holding globe in left; TR in exergue. Bastien & Metzger 433 (same dies); RIC 631; C. 177; Depeyrot 11B/14; Calicó 5036. 5.60g, 18mm, 11h.
Good Extremely Fine; minor marks, wonderful red-blue 'Beaurains' toning. Extremely Rare; only one other example offered at auction in the past 20 years.
From the Brian Henry Grover Collection;
Ex Bank Leu AG, Auction 22, 9 May 1979, lot 377;
Ex 'Arras Hoard': found in a field in Pouvoir Dhée, near Beaurains lès Arras, on 21 September 1922.
This coin was struck to commemorate the foundation of the Second Tetrarchy on 1 May AD 305. Born of Dacian peasant stock to the sister of Galerius, Maximinus rose to high distinction in the army thanks to his uncle's influence as Caesar under Diocletian. In 305, according to Lactantius, Galerius forced Diocletian to abdicate, and through coercion and threats convinced Diocletian to fill the two vacated positions of Caesar with men compliant to his will. Thus, with the abdication of Diocletian and Maximianus, Galerius was raised to Augustus and immediately appointed his nephew Maximinus to the rank of Caesar along with an old friend, Severus. Portrayed by contemporary writers as vulgar, cruel and ignorant, Maximinus II gained eternal notoriety for his persecution of Christians in open defiance of the Edict of Toleration issued by Galerius.
In 313, having imprudently allied himself to Maxentius, the enemy of Constantine and Licinius, Maximinus found himself at war with Licinius, who marched against him and defeated him in a decisive battle at Tirizallum, despite Maximinus' army being a veteran force that outnumbered Licinius by more than two to one. Pursued and besieged by Licinius, he poisoned himself at Tarsus in Cilicia in AD 313, eight years after being named Caesar, and five and a half after assuming the purple. His children were put to death and his wife was thrown into the Orontes at Antioch where by her orders a great number of Christian women had been drowned.
This extremely rare coin shows Maximinus before he had revealed his cruel and tyrannical nature, and gives him the stern countenance of one of the tried military emperors into whose company he was being elevated.
Good Extremely Fine; minor marks, wonderful red-blue 'Beaurains' toning. Extremely Rare; only one other example offered at auction in the past 20 years.
From the Brian Henry Grover Collection;
Ex Bank Leu AG, Auction 22, 9 May 1979, lot 377;
Ex 'Arras Hoard': found in a field in Pouvoir Dhée, near Beaurains lès Arras, on 21 September 1922.
This coin was struck to commemorate the foundation of the Second Tetrarchy on 1 May AD 305. Born of Dacian peasant stock to the sister of Galerius, Maximinus rose to high distinction in the army thanks to his uncle's influence as Caesar under Diocletian. In 305, according to Lactantius, Galerius forced Diocletian to abdicate, and through coercion and threats convinced Diocletian to fill the two vacated positions of Caesar with men compliant to his will. Thus, with the abdication of Diocletian and Maximianus, Galerius was raised to Augustus and immediately appointed his nephew Maximinus to the rank of Caesar along with an old friend, Severus. Portrayed by contemporary writers as vulgar, cruel and ignorant, Maximinus II gained eternal notoriety for his persecution of Christians in open defiance of the Edict of Toleration issued by Galerius.
In 313, having imprudently allied himself to Maxentius, the enemy of Constantine and Licinius, Maximinus found himself at war with Licinius, who marched against him and defeated him in a decisive battle at Tirizallum, despite Maximinus' army being a veteran force that outnumbered Licinius by more than two to one. Pursued and besieged by Licinius, he poisoned himself at Tarsus in Cilicia in AD 313, eight years after being named Caesar, and five and a half after assuming the purple. His children were put to death and his wife was thrown into the Orontes at Antioch where by her orders a great number of Christian women had been drowned.
This extremely rare coin shows Maximinus before he had revealed his cruel and tyrannical nature, and gives him the stern countenance of one of the tried military emperors into whose company he was being elevated.