Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XXVII 22-23 Mar 2023
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Leo I, with Patricius (or Leo II?), as Caesar, AV Solidus. Constantinople, AD 470-471 or 474. D N LEO PERPET AVG, pearl-diademed, helmeted and cuirassed bust of Leo (I or II?) facing slightly to right, holding spear and shield decorated with horseman motif / SALVS REIPVBLICAE C, Patricius (or Leo II?), nimbate and wearing imperial mantle, standing facing, holding globus cruciger; star in right field, CONOB in exergue. RIC X 802 (Leo II - R4); DOCLR 532 (Patricius) var. (step on rev.); MIRB 11b (Leo II); Depeyrot 91/1 (Leo I); NAC 29, 670 var. (same). 4.47g, 22mm, 6h.
Extremely Fine; minor scratches to rev., boasting lustrous metal. An exceptionally rare and enigmatic issue, one of only 8 known; potentially of great numismatic significance.
This coin published in I. Vecchi, R. Beale and S. Parkin, The Mare Nostrum Hoard (forthcoming);
From the Mare Nostrum Hoard (1954).
Grierson and May date this issue to AD 470/1, asserting that the terminating 'C' on the reverse inscription is an abbreviation for 'Caesar' and that the standing figure depicted is Patricius, who briefly assumed the role in the 470/1 under Leo I. A son of Asper - himself a prominent patrician and magister militum who had exerted considerable influence over the Eastern Empire since the days of Theodosius II - Patricius was promoted to the rank of Caesar amid a protracted power struggle between his father and the similarly ambitious Isuarian general (and future emperor) Zeno. This conflict appears to have escalated yet further after the ascension of Patricius and evidently caused Zeno great insult, as Asper was assassinated on his orders and the new Caesar swiftly deposed before the conclusion of 471.
Conversely, Kent (RIC X) attributes this solidus to circa January-February of 474, during the brief reign of the 6-year-old Leo II, son of Zeno and grandson of his predecessor, Leo I, who had died at some point in late 473/early 474. A third possibility also exists, ostensibly first posited by the cataloguer of the 2005 NAC specimen, which amalgamates both theories. It proposes that this issue may have been struck during 473, when Leo I, at this stage frail and without a Caesar after the removal of Patricius, appointed Leo II to the rank of Caesar, a position the boy would have occupied for but a few months before his premature promotion. Adopting this interpretation allows the 'C' on the reverse to still be viewed to signify 'Caesar', as Grierson and May contend, but refers to Leo II as opposed to Patricius.
An agreement on the authority is unlikely until a comprehensive die study is completed and the complicated years of 473-4 - which saw numerous ascensions, deposals, deaths and four emperors – are better understood. As it stands, the prospect of this being the sole issue featuring the figure of Patricius remains a tantalising one.
Extremely Fine; minor scratches to rev., boasting lustrous metal. An exceptionally rare and enigmatic issue, one of only 8 known; potentially of great numismatic significance.
This coin published in I. Vecchi, R. Beale and S. Parkin, The Mare Nostrum Hoard (forthcoming);
From the Mare Nostrum Hoard (1954).
Grierson and May date this issue to AD 470/1, asserting that the terminating 'C' on the reverse inscription is an abbreviation for 'Caesar' and that the standing figure depicted is Patricius, who briefly assumed the role in the 470/1 under Leo I. A son of Asper - himself a prominent patrician and magister militum who had exerted considerable influence over the Eastern Empire since the days of Theodosius II - Patricius was promoted to the rank of Caesar amid a protracted power struggle between his father and the similarly ambitious Isuarian general (and future emperor) Zeno. This conflict appears to have escalated yet further after the ascension of Patricius and evidently caused Zeno great insult, as Asper was assassinated on his orders and the new Caesar swiftly deposed before the conclusion of 471.
Conversely, Kent (RIC X) attributes this solidus to circa January-February of 474, during the brief reign of the 6-year-old Leo II, son of Zeno and grandson of his predecessor, Leo I, who had died at some point in late 473/early 474. A third possibility also exists, ostensibly first posited by the cataloguer of the 2005 NAC specimen, which amalgamates both theories. It proposes that this issue may have been struck during 473, when Leo I, at this stage frail and without a Caesar after the removal of Patricius, appointed Leo II to the rank of Caesar, a position the boy would have occupied for but a few months before his premature promotion. Adopting this interpretation allows the 'C' on the reverse to still be viewed to signify 'Caesar', as Grierson and May contend, but refers to Leo II as opposed to Patricius.
An agreement on the authority is unlikely until a comprehensive die study is completed and the complicated years of 473-4 - which saw numerous ascensions, deposals, deaths and four emperors – are better understood. As it stands, the prospect of this being the sole issue featuring the figure of Patricius remains a tantalising one.