Watch List notes:

Valerius Valens, 316-317. Follis (Bronze, 21.5 mm, 3.91 g, 6 h), Alexandria, 2nd officina. IMP C AVR VAL VALENS P F AVG Laureate head of Valens to right. Rev. IOVI CONSERVATORI AVGG / ALE Jupiter, nude but for cloak over his shoulders, standing left, holding Victory on globe in his right hand and long scepter in his left; at his feet to left, eagle standing left with wreath in his beak, turning his head back to right; in field to left, K; in field to right, wreath over X over A (but mistakenly rendered as an R by the ancient die engraver - see below). RIC VII 19. Extremely rare. Sharply struck and clear. Scuff and remains of die rust on the obverse, otherwise, extremely fine.

When RIC VII was published in 1966 the only Alexandrine folles known to its author, P. Bruun, were those from officina A. As is well-known, forgeries were made of that type from officina A; they are among what are known as The Geneva Forgeries (see R. A. G. Carson in NC 1958). Subsequently, perfectly genuine Alexandrian issues of Valerius Valens from officina B turned up. The officina letter on this piece seems to be a corrected die engraver's mistake: he apparently started to make a die for officina B but then was ordered not to do so and modified his B into the required A!
After Licinius was defeated by Constantine in 316 at the battle of Cibalae (in present-day Croatia) Licinius elevated Valens, his general responsible for the Dacian frontier, to the position of Augustus. This so enraged Constantine that, after the subsequent peace treaty, which resulted in the elevation of Licinius's son and two sons of Constantine to the Caesarship, Licinius was forced to both depose and execute his "co-emperor" Valens. Valens' coinage, which was not very abundant to begin with (it is only known from the mints of Cyzicus and Alexandria), must have then been recalled and melted down, thus explaining its great rarity today.