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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;The Meat man, post: 25714084, member: 135271&quot;]<i>Salve</i>, my fellow forum members! I hope you all had a great week. Today I&#039;d like to present one of my latest coins - a very rare half-follis of Constantine I, not listed in RIC:</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]1643473[/ATTACH] </p> <p style="text-align: center"><br /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>CONSTANTINE I, AD 306-337</i></p><p><i><p style="text-align: center"><i>AE Half-Follis (16.72mm, 1.81g, 6h)</i></p></i></p><p style="text-align: center"><i><i>Struck AD 312-313. Rome mint</i></p></i></p><p style="text-align: center"><i><i>Obverse: FL VAL CONSTANTINVS AVG, laureate and draped bust of Constantine I left</i></p></i></p><p style="text-align: center"><i><i>Reverse: PACI P-ERPET, Pax, draped, standing front, head left, holding branch in right hand and standard in left hand; XII in left field, RQ in exergue</i></p></i></p><p style="text-align: center"><i><i>References: RIC VI 355 var. (bust left), RCV 16158 var. (same)</i></p></i></p><p style="text-align: center"><i><i>A very rare and apparently unlisted variant with a left-facing bust. The reverse design, proclaiming &quot;Eternal Peace&quot; was struck to celebrate the cessation of hostilities after Constantine&#039;s victory over Maxentius, and the establishment of a new alliance with his imperial colleague Licinius.</i></p><p></i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>RIC records this type only with a right-facing bust (RIC VII 355.) The left-facing variety is, as far as I&#039;m aware, unlisted in any standard reference work. In all of my extensive online researching I came across a grand total of just 6 other specimens, two of which are obverse die matches to mine.</p><p><br /></p><p>Aside from the rarity, I find the portrait style quite appealing, and the reverse type is interesting and somewhat unusual - as are those of all the other half-folles in this intriguing series. (Would make a great little sub-collection!) One particular point of interest on this coin are the Roman numerals XII in the reverse field. According to Sear, the significance of this has yet to be determined. I don&#039;t know if the RIC authors commented on this, but I believe [USER=10613]@Victor_Clark[/USER] has suggested that this is a mark of value, equivalent to 12 denarii. </p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks for looking, and please feel free to comment and/or post your own relevant coins![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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