CONSTANTIUS I SILVER ARGENTEUS – ISSUE OF TICINUM WITH AMAZING IRIDESCENCE – CHOICE AU STAR 5-5 5-5 NGC GRADED ROMAN IMPERIAL COIN (Inv. 19699)

$5,000.00

19699. ROMAN EMPIRE. CONSTANTIUS I, AD 305–306.
Silver Argenteus, 2.85 g, 18 mm. Issue of Ticinum, ca. AD 294, struck as Caesar.
Obv. MAXIMIANVS CAESAR, laureate head right. Rev. VIRTVS MILITVM, four tetrarchs sacrificing in front of fortified city walls.
RIC VI 19a var (with different legend break).
Ex Künker 257, 10/10/2014, lot 9095.
NGC graded as CHOICE AU STAR, Strike 5/5, Surface 5/5, multicolored iridescence throughout.

By the late third century AD, the silver antoninianus (overvalued since its introduction in AD 215) had been debased to the point that it had essentially become a bronze coin. In an attempt to turn around the faltering Roman economy and restore confidence in the coinage in AD 295, Diocletian introduced a new silver denomination known to numismatists as the argentius (literally “[coin] of silver”) and struck to a similar weight and fineness as the denarius under Nero. Unfortunately, by AD 310 it was necessary to abandon the denomination as its high quality made it disappear into hoards or out of the empire through international trade.