GALERIUS SILVER ARGENTEUS – VICTORIA SARMAT ISSUE OF SISCIA WITH BLUE-GREEN IRIDESCENCE – CHOICE AU STAR NGC GRADED ROMAN IMPERIAL COIN (Inv. 19698)

$3,800.00

19698. ROMAN EMPIRE. GALERIUS, AD 305–311.
Silver Argenteus, 3.61 g, 19 mm. Issue of Siscia, ca. AD 294, struck as Caesar.
Obv. MAXIMIANVS CAESAR, laureate head right. Rev. VICTORIA SARMAT, four tetrarchs sacrificing in front of fortified city walls.
RIC VI 42b.
NGC graded as CHOICE AU STAR, Strike 5/5, Surface 4/5, with blue–green iridescent toning.

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.