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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Severus Alexander, post: 2968488, member: 84744&quot;][ATTACH=full]727866[/ATTACH]</p><p>Constantine I AE follis, Constantinople, issued 327. CONSTANTINVS MAX AVG, laureate head right / SPES PVBLIC, chi-rho atop standard of 3 medallions impaling snake, A to left, CONS in ex. RIC VII Constantinople 19. 18mm, 2.96g.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="color: #ff0000">IMPORTANT EDIT: THIS COIN HAS BEEN DETERMINED TO BE A FAKE! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie3" alt=":(" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> It was successfully returned to the seller and removed from the market. See: <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/laziest-forgers-ever.319177/#post-3122374" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/laziest-forgers-ever.319177/#post-3122374">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/laziest-forgers-ever.319177/#post-3122374</a></span></p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m almost never prepared to pay 4 figures for a coin, but this type was a rare instance where I would have been.&nbsp; Even so, I doubted whether I&#039;d <i>ever</i> get one with a decent reverse.&nbsp; I was thrilled when I managed to snag this one without adding that 4th figure!&nbsp; True, the obverse is a bit sketchy, but the reverse is where most of the action is.&nbsp; (With an obverse of the same quality, this coin would have cost me thousands.&nbsp; Even so, I think I got a great deal.)</p><p><br /></p><p>This type was issued very briefly in 327 while Constantine was rebuilding Constantinople to take over the role as the empire&#039;s capital.&nbsp; It is one of the earliest issues of the new mint, and the first issue to pronounce Constantine as &quot;the Great&quot; (MAX AVG).&nbsp; But more importantly, it is the <i>only</i> explicitly Christian coin type that he ever issued!&nbsp; (Other Christian symbols on his coins appear only as control marks or flexible details, like on the shield of my #4.&nbsp; That Crispus is both earlier and rarer than this coin.)&nbsp; Apparently the type didn&#039;t go over too well, or was only planned as a limited release, because there are very few of them extant.&nbsp; This, the first issue, RIC lists as R4, while the second issue, with Constantine&#039;s bust looking skyward and wearing a diadem, is R5.</p><p><br /></p><p>The interpretation of the type&#039;s symbolism is somewhat uncertain.&nbsp; Clearly the labarum is explicitly Christian, but is the dying snake?&nbsp; Does it represent evil, and/or the devil?&nbsp; Another possibility, which seems to be favoured by the experts, is that the snake represents Licinius, Constantine&#039;s principal earthbound enemy, who had been defeated and executed just a couple of years previously (ironically after having made his last stand in Byzantium, now Constantinople).&nbsp; In my view, the type is intentionally imbued with multiple layers of symbolism.</p><p><br /></p><p>There&#039;s no question in my mind that this coin is my #1 from 2017!&nbsp; Thanks everyone for your comments, and your patience. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />&nbsp; And here&#039;s to a coinjoyful 2018!! <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie83" alt=":singing:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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