Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXIII 24-25 Mar 2022
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Magnus Maximus AV Solidus. London (as Augusta), AD 384. D N MAG MAXIMVS P F AVG, rosette-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust to right / VICTORIA AVGG, two emperors seated facing, together holding globe, Victory above, palm branch between; AVGOB in exergue. RIC IX 2b; Depeyrot 2/1. 4.42g, 20mm, 6h.
Good Extremely Fine; scattered marks. Extremely Rare; an issue of great historical importance.
From the David Miller Collection, collector's ticket included;
Privately purchased from C. J. Martins (Coins) Ltd., 17 April 2019 (£15,000);
Ex Baldwin's of St. James's, Auction 27, 13 January 2019, lot 11;
Ex Baldwin's of St. James's, Auction 22, 27 September 2018, lot 1008;
Formerly in the collection of a West Country gentleman, by descent.
The Spanish general Flavius Magnus Clemens Maximus was appointed commander of Britain in AD 380 under the rule of Gratian and Valentinian II. In AD 383, he led a rebellion against Gratian, who was quickly defeated, deposed and murdered at Lugdunum. Maximus proposed a three-way division of the empire with Valentinian II and Theodosius I which would leave him in control of Britain, Gaul, Germany and Spain. This uneasy equilibrium was short-lived; after Maximus began encroaching upon Valentinian II’s territory, and once Maximus had raised his son Flavius Victor to the rank of Augustus in AD 387 and invaded Italy, Theodosius, in a lightning-fast manoeuvre, defeated Maximus before he could fully martial his forces. He summarily executed both Maximus and his son Flavius Victor, restoring the rule of the Western Roman Empire to Valentinian II.
Minted a year into this unstable power-sharing agreement proposed by Magnus Maximus, this coin’s reverse type and legend VICTORIA AVGG already reflects tension by only explicitly acknowledging one other emperor, likely Theodosius I, seated beside Maximus in a type designed to emphasise unity and cooperation in the administration of the empire, symbolised by the globe they both hold.
The mintmark AVG (supplemented by the abbreviation OB for obryzum to indicate the purity of the gold) which adorns this issue has over the centuries divided scholarly opinion, in that its attribution to London was not always accepted. Sir Arthur Evans, Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, first posited this attribution in the Numismatic Chronicle 1915, but was countered by George Elmer (Numismatische Zeitschrift 1934) and Freidrich Mayreder (Numismatic Chronicle 1947), who both attributed the issue to Augustodunum in Gaul. However the Roman city of London was known as Augusta well before the date of this issue: historian Ammianus Marcellinus refers to a visit of Theodosius in AD 367 to “the old town of London which posterity has called Augusta” (Res Gestae XXVII.8.7). Opinions differ on the reason for this new name: Rivet and Smith (A. L. F. Rivet and C. Smith, The Place-Names of Roman Britain, p.260) deem it an honorific title, perhaps given during the reorganisation of Britain following its recovery under Diocletian in AD 296, while Frere associates it with the elevation to Augustus of Constantius II, who saved the city, in AD 305 (S. Frere, Britannia - A History of Roman Britain (3rd edn), p.199). It was a common epithet of provincial capitals during the later fourth century (such as Augusta Treverorum (Trier) in Germany, where Magnus Maximus resided after deposing Gratian), and it is reasonable to expect Magnus Maximus’ earliest coinage as Augustus to come from a British mint.
Good Extremely Fine; scattered marks. Extremely Rare; an issue of great historical importance.
From the David Miller Collection, collector's ticket included;
Privately purchased from C. J. Martins (Coins) Ltd., 17 April 2019 (£15,000);
Ex Baldwin's of St. James's, Auction 27, 13 January 2019, lot 11;
Ex Baldwin's of St. James's, Auction 22, 27 September 2018, lot 1008;
Formerly in the collection of a West Country gentleman, by descent.
The Spanish general Flavius Magnus Clemens Maximus was appointed commander of Britain in AD 380 under the rule of Gratian and Valentinian II. In AD 383, he led a rebellion against Gratian, who was quickly defeated, deposed and murdered at Lugdunum. Maximus proposed a three-way division of the empire with Valentinian II and Theodosius I which would leave him in control of Britain, Gaul, Germany and Spain. This uneasy equilibrium was short-lived; after Maximus began encroaching upon Valentinian II’s territory, and once Maximus had raised his son Flavius Victor to the rank of Augustus in AD 387 and invaded Italy, Theodosius, in a lightning-fast manoeuvre, defeated Maximus before he could fully martial his forces. He summarily executed both Maximus and his son Flavius Victor, restoring the rule of the Western Roman Empire to Valentinian II.
Minted a year into this unstable power-sharing agreement proposed by Magnus Maximus, this coin’s reverse type and legend VICTORIA AVGG already reflects tension by only explicitly acknowledging one other emperor, likely Theodosius I, seated beside Maximus in a type designed to emphasise unity and cooperation in the administration of the empire, symbolised by the globe they both hold.
The mintmark AVG (supplemented by the abbreviation OB for obryzum to indicate the purity of the gold) which adorns this issue has over the centuries divided scholarly opinion, in that its attribution to London was not always accepted. Sir Arthur Evans, Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, first posited this attribution in the Numismatic Chronicle 1915, but was countered by George Elmer (Numismatische Zeitschrift 1934) and Freidrich Mayreder (Numismatic Chronicle 1947), who both attributed the issue to Augustodunum in Gaul. However the Roman city of London was known as Augusta well before the date of this issue: historian Ammianus Marcellinus refers to a visit of Theodosius in AD 367 to “the old town of London which posterity has called Augusta” (Res Gestae XXVII.8.7). Opinions differ on the reason for this new name: Rivet and Smith (A. L. F. Rivet and C. Smith, The Place-Names of Roman Britain, p.260) deem it an honorific title, perhaps given during the reorganisation of Britain following its recovery under Diocletian in AD 296, while Frere associates it with the elevation to Augustus of Constantius II, who saved the city, in AD 305 (S. Frere, Britannia - A History of Roman Britain (3rd edn), p.199). It was a common epithet of provincial capitals during the later fourth century (such as Augusta Treverorum (Trier) in Germany, where Magnus Maximus resided after deposing Gratian), and it is reasonable to expect Magnus Maximus’ earliest coinage as Augustus to come from a British mint.