Constantine II caesar, 316 – 337.
Medallion of 2 Solidi, Thessalonica 327, AV 8.84 g. Diademed head of Constantine II r., looking upward. Rev. VOTIS / X / CAES N / SMTS. C–. Gnecchi –. Toynbee –. Bastien, RBN 1958, pp. 35-43 and pl. I, 6. (this coin). RIC 167 (this coin). Apparently unique. A spectacular medallion with a very interesting portrait perfectly struck on a full flan. An unobtrusive mark on cheek, otherwise good extremely fine Ex NAC sale 114, 2019, 892. Privately purchased from Florenge Ciani in 1956. From the Pierre Bastien collection.

Graded AU* Strike 5/5 Surface 3/5, NGC certification number 6030740-004.

Roman gold medallions such as this extremely rare piece struck in the name of Constantine II as Caesar (AD 317-337) were produced primarily to make donative payments to the army. From the point of view of the soldiery such payments, often associated with the renewal of imperial vows at the New Year festival or special occasions in the lives of the emperor and the imperial house, were critical since the silver coinage was largely debased and could not hold value as did gold. Donative payments were also crucial to the emperor as there is no greater danger to a ruler than to lead a disgruntled army into battle. The third century AD is littered with examples of emperors who fell under the swords of their own men because they were unsatisfied with their earnings and Constantine the Great was not about to let that happen to the dynasty he had established. Indeed, this particular piece belongs to a larger series that advertises the dynasty in beautiful gold. Constantine the Great appointed Constantine II as his Caesar in the western portion of the Roman Empire at the ripe age of one year old. However there is no evidence to suggest that he did any campaigning or had any impact on the administration there until he was seven and participated in his father's war against the Sarmatians in AD 323. At the age of ten, in AD 327, Constantine II was made commander of Gaul in order to replace his disgraced and executed half-brother Crispus. This medallion, which was struck in the same year was probably intended to celebrate this elevation at the same time it advertised Constantine II as a legitimate heir of Constantine the Great in the same way that other issues of the same period presented his brothers, Constantius II and Constans. The line of Constantine the Great and Fausta was to be the only source of legitimate rulers and the coinage was used to emphasize this fact. The portrait of the ten-year-old Constantine II is remarkable here as he is represented with an elevated gaze and wearing a plain diadem rather than the usual laurel wreath normally worn by Caesars as a sign of their status in the third and fourth centuries. The portrait of Constantine the Great is depicted in similar fashion on other coins where the elevated gaze is often considered to indicate a focus on the divine informed by his support for Christianity. However, in light of the plain diadem rather than the jewelled diadem normally worn by the Augustus it seems more likely that this portrait type was intended to cast the Emperor as a latter day Alexander the Great. Alexander was known, not only for wearing a plain diadem, as was the custom for kings of the Hellenistic age, but for his longing gaze. If the portraits of Constantine the Great were indeed intended to compare him to the Macedonian conqueror then we can only assume that when the same portrait style was deployed for Constantine II there was a similar intent. Unfortunately, as it turned out Constantine II was no Alexander, nor was he even Great as was his father. After the death of Constantine the Great, Constantine II soon quarrelled with his brothers over his allotment of the Empire. Quarrelling turned to warfare in AD 340 and Constantine II was killed in an ambush.