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CICF Signature Sale 3032 10-12 April 2014
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Magnentius (AD 350-353). AV solidus (23mm, 4.54 gm, 6h). Trier, AD 350-352. IM C MAGN-ENTIVS AVG, bareheaded, draped and cuirassed bust of Magnentius right, seen from front / VICTORIA • AVG • LIB ROMANOR, Victory (on left, standing right) facing Roma (standing left), holding between them a military trophy on a jeweled staff, TR in exergue. RIC VIII 247. Bastien 5-7. A lovely coin, well struck with nearly flawless surfaces. NGC (photo-certificate) Choice AU 5/5 - 3/5. From The Andre Constantine Dimitriadis Collection. Ex Dreesmann Collection (Spink London, 13 April 2000), lot 200. Born around A.D. 303 to parents of barbarian stock, Flavius Magnus Magnentius showed enough talent and initiative to rise high in the Roman army during the reigns of Constantine the Great and his son, Constans I, emperor of the West. In the 340s, Constans appointed Magnentius as commander in his personal guard, the Protectores. Whatever his merits, gratitude does not seem to have been among them, for in A.D. 350 he began plotting the overthrow of his benefactor. At a birthday party for a government minister, Magnentius walked in wearing an emperor's purple cloak and was immediately hailed by all the soldiers present. Constans, who had made himself unpopular with the army, attempted to flee to his brother Constantius II, emperor of the East, but was overtaken and executed. After putting down the usurper Nepotian in Rome, Magnentius solidified his rule in the West and appointed his brother Decentius as Caesar to fight the Germans on the Rhine. He also attempted to enter into negotiations with Constantius, but the eastern emperor would hear none of it and vowed to avenge his brother's murder. However, he was preoccupied fighting the Persians and had to disengage before he could turn his army against the west, which took more than a year. Constantius finally struck in the summer of AD 351, but Magnentius defeated his initial thrust into Italy and quickly went on the offensive, seizing the strategic town of Siscia and forcing a major engagement in the Balkans. The clash at Mursa on September 28, AD 351 proved one of the costliest battles in Roman history, leaving the ground strewn with 55,000 dead. Magnentius fared much the worse and retreated back into Gaul. Constantius took his time in pursuit, invading Italy the following year and methodically tightening the noose around Magentius, who was forced to take refuge in the city of Lugdunum. Rather than surrender, Magnentius fell on his sword in August of AD 353. Decentius followed suit a few days later. Magnentius posed as a champion of the common people, a role reflected in this gold solidus, where he is usually shown without a diadem or other trappings of royalty. The reverse legend also carries a populist message, best interpreted as "The Victory of our Emperor brings Liberty to the Roman People."
Estimate: 7500-9500 USD
Magnentius (AD 350-353). AV solidus (23mm, 4.54 gm, 6h). Trier, AD 350-352. IM C MAGN-ENTIVS AVG, bareheaded, draped and cuirassed bust of Magnentius right, seen from front / VICTORIA • AVG • LIB ROMANOR, Victory (on left, standing right) facing Roma (standing left), holding between them a military trophy on a jeweled staff, TR in exergue. RIC VIII 247. Bastien 5-7. A lovely coin, well struck with nearly flawless surfaces. NGC (photo-certificate) Choice AU 5/5 - 3/5. From The Andre Constantine Dimitriadis Collection. Ex Dreesmann Collection (Spink London, 13 April 2000), lot 200. Born around A.D. 303 to parents of barbarian stock, Flavius Magnus Magnentius showed enough talent and initiative to rise high in the Roman army during the reigns of Constantine the Great and his son, Constans I, emperor of the West. In the 340s, Constans appointed Magnentius as commander in his personal guard, the Protectores. Whatever his merits, gratitude does not seem to have been among them, for in A.D. 350 he began plotting the overthrow of his benefactor. At a birthday party for a government minister, Magnentius walked in wearing an emperor's purple cloak and was immediately hailed by all the soldiers present. Constans, who had made himself unpopular with the army, attempted to flee to his brother Constantius II, emperor of the East, but was overtaken and executed. After putting down the usurper Nepotian in Rome, Magnentius solidified his rule in the West and appointed his brother Decentius as Caesar to fight the Germans on the Rhine. He also attempted to enter into negotiations with Constantius, but the eastern emperor would hear none of it and vowed to avenge his brother's murder. However, he was preoccupied fighting the Persians and had to disengage before he could turn his army against the west, which took more than a year. Constantius finally struck in the summer of AD 351, but Magnentius defeated his initial thrust into Italy and quickly went on the offensive, seizing the strategic town of Siscia and forcing a major engagement in the Balkans. The clash at Mursa on September 28, AD 351 proved one of the costliest battles in Roman history, leaving the ground strewn with 55,000 dead. Magnentius fared much the worse and retreated back into Gaul. Constantius took his time in pursuit, invading Italy the following year and methodically tightening the noose around Magentius, who was forced to take refuge in the city of Lugdunum. Rather than surrender, Magnentius fell on his sword in August of AD 353. Decentius followed suit a few days later. Magnentius posed as a champion of the common people, a role reflected in this gold solidus, where he is usually shown without a diadem or other trappings of royalty. The reverse legend also carries a populist message, best interpreted as "The Victory of our Emperor brings Liberty to the Roman People."
Estimate: 7500-9500 USD