Watch List notes:

Constantine II as Caesar, gold medallion of 2 solidi, Thessalonica, 327, CONSTANTINVS NOB C, diademed head right, gazing upwards, rev., VOTIS / X /CAES N / SMTS, 8.81g (RIC 166 (Berlin), same dies; C. 278; Gnecchi I, 26, 22, pl. 8, 8; Depeyrot (1995), p. 154, this piece published), some marks but extremely fine and of the highest rarity, one of only two known examples, the other in the Berlin cabinet Ex Nelson Bunker Hunt collection, Sotheby's New York, 21-22 June 1990, lot 871. Constantine II was the eldest son of Constantine the Great and his second wife Fausta, born in 316. Constantine, keen to establish his own dynasty, created him Caesar at the age of one. The present medallion marks his tenth anniversary or decennalia in 327 and his portrait gazing to heaven after a style first used by his father belies his young age. Medallions were donatives given out by the emperor or perhaps in this instance by the young child himself to high-ranking individuals. In the year 327 he was made commander of Gaul, replacing his half-brother Crispus who, along with Fausta were disgraced and put to death in the previous year in unclear circumstances.

Estimate: 50000 - 70000 GBP