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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;gsimonel, post: 3192581, member: 82549&quot;]As Doug said, the reduction from two to one standard was to denote the reduction in the size of the coin that occurred around 335 C.E. The size of the follis (or nummus) declined steadily throughout Constantine&#039;s reign, from around 27 mm at the beginning . . .</p><p><img src="http://feltemp.com/Images/2.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>(Ticinum mint, A.D. 306</p><p>RIC 75</p><p>Obv: CONSTANTINVS NOB CAES</p><p>Rev: VIRTVS AV-GG ET CAESS NN - Helmeted Mars, advancing right, with transverse spear and holding trophy over shoulder</p><p>ST in exergue; [dot] in left field</p><p>27mm, 10.6 g)</p><p><br /></p><p>. . . to around 15-16 mm by the time of his death:</p><p><img src="http://feltemp.com/Images/96.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>(Heraclea mint, A.D. 335-337</p><p>RIC 150</p><p>Obv: CONSTANTI-NVS MAX AVG</p><p>Rev: GLOR-IA EXERC-ITVS - Two soldiers with spears and shields; one standard between them</p><p>SMHA in exergue</p><p>16 mm, 1.4 g.)</p><p><br /></p><p>The earliest appearance of Christian imagery on a coin of Constantine that I know of is a silver medallion from Ticinum in 315 C.E.:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]824543[/ATTACH]</p><p>If you draw a line from Constantine&#039;s mouth through his nose and all the way up to his helmet you will see a Chi-Rho in a circle. (This is not my coin or my photo. I found this picture on the internet.) This was a special presentation piece and was not intended for circulation. The first appearance on circulating coinage was the cross on the reverse of this coin from 316 A.D., also from Ticinum:</p><p><img src="http://feltemp.com/Images/56.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Ticinum was a minor mint, so it seems unlikely that either of these coins reflects the will of Constantine to officially promote Christianity. A more likely explanation is that the celator who carved the dies was a Christian who was celebrating the official end of the persecution of the Christians and felt free to incorporate Christian symbolism in the design and control marks of the coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have a web page showing a lot of the different types of bronzes struck during the reign of Constantine. It is by no means complete, but it does give of good idea of the variety of coins struck over this 30=year period:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://feltemp.com/Constantine_1.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://feltemp.com/Constantine_1.html" rel="nofollow">http://feltemp.com/Constantine_1.html</a></p><p><br /></p><p>And don&#039;t forget to check out [USER=44316]@Valentinian[/USER]&#039;s site that Gavin Richardson mentioned.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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