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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Roman Collector, post: 3768615, member: 75937&quot;]For more than a decade following the death of their father, Constantine I, on May 22, 337, his two oldest sons, Constantine II and Constantius II, issued an extensive posthumous coinage in his honor, styling him as &quot;Divus Constantinus.&quot; This should strike one as odd. As David Sear* explains:</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><p><i>The pagan practice of enrolling a deceased member of the imperial family amongst the gods would seem to be quite out of place in the case of the first Christian emperor and Constantine was, in fact, the last ruler to be so honoured.</i></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>Sear then notes that Constantine I&#039;s youngest son, Constans, being the most rigidly Orthodox of the family, refused to honor him in this way and notes that no consecration coins were issued at any of the mints under his control.</p><p><br /></p><p>The consecration issues consisted of a single gold solidus minted in Constantinople in AD 337 (RIC viii, pp. 446-7, no. 1) and a host of small billon (AE-3) reduced centenionales from numerous mints bearing several reverse types: AETERNITAS PIETAS, depicting Constantine in military attire standing left, holding globe and spear; IVST VEN MEM, depicting Justitia or Aequitas standing left, holding scales in left hand; IVST VENER MEMOR, depicting Justitia or Aequitas, winged, standing left, holding scales and transverse scepter; VM-MR flanking Constantine, veiled and togate, standing right; and an anepigraphic type depicting a veiled figure of Constantine in a quadriga galloping upwards to the right, extending his right hand towards the hand of God (<i>manus dei</i>), which emerges from a cloud, above.</p><p><br /></p><p>This particular coin is a new acquisition, purchased recently from our own [USER=82549]@gsimonel[/USER] . It hails from the Nicomedia mint and was minted more than a decade after Constantine&#039;s death. The VM MR on the reverse is an abbreviation for <i>venerabilis memoria</i>, &quot;revered memory.&quot; It was struck by all ten officinae at the Nicomedia mint and in three series, distinguished by the placement of dots in the exergue, either absent, after, or before and after the mint mark and officina mark.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>Post your consecration issues of Constantine I or anything you feel is relevant!</i></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1008358[/ATTACH]</p><p>Divus Constantine I, AD 307-337.</p><p>Roman billon reduced centenionalis, 1.69 g, 13.8 mm, 11 h.</p><p>Nicomedia, 4th officina, AD 347-348.</p><p>Obv: DV CONSTANTI-NVS PT AVGG, veiled and draped bust, right.</p><p>Rev: VN-MR either side of Constantine, veiled and togate, standing right; SMNΔ• in exergue.</p><p>Refs: RIC viii p. 475, 57; LRBC I 1155; Cohen 716; RCV 17469.</p><p><br /></p><p>~~~</p><p><br /></p><p>*Sear, David R. <i>Roman Coins and Their Values V: The Christian Empire: the Later Constantinian Dynasty and the Houses of Valentinian and Theodosius and Their Successors, Constantine II to Zeno, AD 337 - 491</i>, London, Spink, 2014, p. 116.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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