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Showcase Auction 61288 18 Sep 2022
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Ancients
Constantine I the Great (AD 307-337). AV solidus (21mm, 4.35 gm, 6h). NGC Choice VF 5/5 - 2/5, ex-jewelry, marks. Constantinople, AD 336-337. CONSTANTI-NVS MAX AVG, rosette-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust of Constantine I right, seen from front / VICTORIA CONSTANTINI AVG, Victory seated right on shield and cuirass, shield in right hand inscribed VOT / XX / XX supported by Genius; CONS in exergue. RIC VII 108. Depeyrot 7/14. Rare; eight examples on CoinArchives. An attractive portrait from the twilight of Constantine's reign.
From the Historical Scholar Collection
Much of the scholarship on Constantine's reign focuses on his earlier and mature years - the dramatic victory at Milvian Bridge, the Council of Nicaea, and the founding of Constantinople. As he celebrated thirty years on the throne in 336, Constantine, like many Roman emperors near the end of their lives, was planning a campaign against Persia. Responding to claims (which were truthful) of Sassanid persecution of Christians in Armenia, a Roman client state, Constantine launched a campaign in 336 that can be called the first Christian holy war. Constantine certainly thought of it as such, proclaiming the war to be a crusade to his troops and ordering his tent to be fashioned in the shape of a church. Even the largely pagan Roman officer corps bought in to Constantine's framing of the war as a struggle between good and evil. However, his plans were cut short by illness, which overtook him the following year. Contemporary Christian writers lamented the fact that the Persians had not been punished for their sins in persecuting Christians, a view that was even shared by Constantine's pagan nephew Julian. On his deathbed, he was baptized by Eusebius of Nicomedia, a prominent Arian bishop. The fact that Constantine accepted baptism from a supporter of such a divisive heresy has given scholars reason to believe that Constantine may have been at least sympathetic to Arianism, a sect he condemned but did not persecute during his lifetime. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles in the new capital that bore his name, alongside the relics of the Twelve Disciples of Christ. Immortalized in death, Constantine became the archetype for future Roman and Byzantine emperors, the one true Christian emperor ruling the one true Christian empire.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/roman-imperial/ancients-constantine-i-the-great-ad-307-337-av-solidus-21mm-435-gm-6h-ngc-choice-vf-5-5-2-5-ex-jewelry-m/a/61288-95279.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-61288-09182022
HID02906262019
© 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Constantine I the Great (AD 307-337). AV solidus (21mm, 4.35 gm, 6h). NGC Choice VF 5/5 - 2/5, ex-jewelry, marks. Constantinople, AD 336-337. CONSTANTI-NVS MAX AVG, rosette-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust of Constantine I right, seen from front / VICTORIA CONSTANTINI AVG, Victory seated right on shield and cuirass, shield in right hand inscribed VOT / XX / XX supported by Genius; CONS in exergue. RIC VII 108. Depeyrot 7/14. Rare; eight examples on CoinArchives. An attractive portrait from the twilight of Constantine's reign.
From the Historical Scholar Collection
Much of the scholarship on Constantine's reign focuses on his earlier and mature years - the dramatic victory at Milvian Bridge, the Council of Nicaea, and the founding of Constantinople. As he celebrated thirty years on the throne in 336, Constantine, like many Roman emperors near the end of their lives, was planning a campaign against Persia. Responding to claims (which were truthful) of Sassanid persecution of Christians in Armenia, a Roman client state, Constantine launched a campaign in 336 that can be called the first Christian holy war. Constantine certainly thought of it as such, proclaiming the war to be a crusade to his troops and ordering his tent to be fashioned in the shape of a church. Even the largely pagan Roman officer corps bought in to Constantine's framing of the war as a struggle between good and evil. However, his plans were cut short by illness, which overtook him the following year. Contemporary Christian writers lamented the fact that the Persians had not been punished for their sins in persecuting Christians, a view that was even shared by Constantine's pagan nephew Julian. On his deathbed, he was baptized by Eusebius of Nicomedia, a prominent Arian bishop. The fact that Constantine accepted baptism from a supporter of such a divisive heresy has given scholars reason to believe that Constantine may have been at least sympathetic to Arianism, a sect he condemned but did not persecute during his lifetime. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles in the new capital that bore his name, alongside the relics of the Twelve Disciples of Christ. Immortalized in death, Constantine became the archetype for future Roman and Byzantine emperors, the one true Christian emperor ruling the one true Christian empire.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/roman-imperial/ancients-constantine-i-the-great-ad-307-337-av-solidus-21mm-435-gm-6h-ngc-choice-vf-5-5-2-5-ex-jewelry-m/a/61288-95279.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-61288-09182022
HID02906262019
© 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved