CONSTANTINE THE GREAT GOLD SOLIDUS – RARE AND HISTORICAL “VICTOR OVER ALL PEOPLE” EMISSION FROM NICOMEDIA – CHOICE AU NGC GRADED ROMAN IMPERIAL COIN (Inv. 17685)

$18,750.00

ROMAN EMPIRE. CONSTANTINE I, AD 307-337.
Gold solidus, 4.39 g, 20 mm. Issue of Nicomedia, ca. AD 324.
Obv. CONSTANT-INVS P F AVG, laureate head of Constantine right. Rev. VICTOR OMN-IVM GENTIVM (Victor over all people), Constantine, in cuirass and paludamentum, standing left, holding standard and shield, two figures in supplication before him, captive behind, SMNΓ (for Nicomedia, officina 3) in exergue.
RIC VII, 82; Adda, 592.
Ex Peus 329, 10/31/1990, lot 618.
NGC graded CHOICE AU, Strike 5/5, Surface 3/5, “light marks”, a rare emission with rich iconography. This impressive type was first struck at Trier ca. AD 313-314 a year after the victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge and kept reappearing on Constantine’s coinage throughout his reign. Presenting Constantine as “Victor over all people” this reverse type suggests the emperor’s consolidation of power and turn toward Christianity. It is interesting to note that the legend proclaiming Constantine as “Victor over all people” is paraphrased in the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea, Life of Constantine, 1.3-1.5, where Constantine is styled as champion of God’s will on earth: “Constantine, of all those who have ever wielded the Roman power, was the friend of God the Sovereign of all and was established as a clear example of a godly life to all mankind…. And being pleased to make him a representative of His own sovereign power, He displayed him as the conqueror of the whole race of tyrants and the destroyer of those God-defying giants of the earth who had madly raised their impious arms against Him, the supreme King of all.”

Published: Vilmar Fixed Price List IV, no. 125.