Magnentius. Centenionalis; Magnentius; 350-353 AD, Rome, c. 2nd half of 351 AD, Centenionalis, 4.57g. RIC-220 (R4). Obv: D N MAGNEN - TIVS P F AVG Bare-headed, draped, cuirassed bust r., seen from front, G in l. field. Rx: [VICT] DD NN AVG ET CAES Two Victories holding wreath, within which VOT / V / MVLT / X, [R*P?] in exergue. According to RIC VIII and Bastien's monograph on the coinage of Magnentius, the G behind portrait on our coin was used only at the mint of Rome and requires that there should be a star on the reverse, either in the lower field between the two Victories or in the exergue as part of the mintmark R*P (-Z). There is definitely no star in the reverse field of our piece, so the star should appear as part of the mintmark in the exergue, though unfortunately our exergue is largely off flan, making the mintmark illegible. This issue with star in mintmark is very rare, unknown to Bastien in any actual specimen, so omitted from his catalogue, and reported by Kent only from Voetter's Gerin Catalogue of 1921, officina P for Magnentius and officina S for Decentius (RIC 220-1), though neither of these coins were in the Gerin Collection itself but were just noted in the catalogue by Voetter from other, unspecified, sources. Our coin seems to confirm the existence of this rare issue, though the emergence of other specimens with legible mintmarks would of course be very welcome.. EF
($550)