Constantius I, as Caesar BI Nummus. AD 293-305. Heraclea mint. 4th officina.

IMP PROB-VS P F AVG, laureate and cuirassed bust to left, Medusa head and aegis on cuirass, holding spear over far shoulder / VBIQVE PAX, Victory, holding olive branch in right hand and reins in left, driving fast biga to right. RIC V.2 139; Estiot, L’atelier de Rome au début du règne de Probus pl. 12, 67.3 (D15/R28); Biaggi -; Calicó 4209; Hunterian -; Jameson -; Mazzini -. 6.69gr, 21mm, 6h.

Good Extremely Fine. Well-centred and wonderfully lustrous. Very rare; only very few specimens are known.

Ex Leu Numismatik AG, Auction 13, 27 May 2023, lot 348. Acquired on the UK coin market. From the private coin collection of a West London, UK, gentleman.

From Leu Numismatik note: VBIQVE PAX, 'peace everywhere'! - this is what the reverse of this beautiful aureus boldly proclaims. Yet while Roman authorities, like most governments, had a tendency of exaggerating successes and sugar-coating defeats, the message delivered to the public with this very rare emission was not entirely off the mark. Up to this date, Probus and his army had constantly been in the field, fighting off barbarian incursions into the empire, local unrests, and internal revolts alike. However, with the rebellions in Britain, Gaul, Germany, and Syria crushed and the frontiers secured for now, the emperor had every right to be proud of his achievements, and he consequently celebrated a well-deserved triumph in Rome in late 281. It is on this occasion that our coin was issued, and probably handed out to the troops or important officials, forming a beautiful testimony to the highly sophisticated Roman political iconography of the period. Unfortunately for the emperor, however, it was reportedly the very peace he had achieved that would, in a strange twist of fate, lead to his downfall the next year, when he was assassinated by a gang of bored and frustrated legionaries.

IMP C POSTVMVS P F AVG, radiate, draped and cuirassed bust to right / PAX AVG, Pax advancing to left, holding olive branch in right hand and long sceptre in left. RIC V.4 217; AGK (corr.) 51; Cunetio 2405; Elmer 333. 2.56gr, 22mm, 7h.

Very Fine.

Property of a Cambridgeshire, UK, gentleman.

IMP CAESAR TRAIANVS HADRIANVS AVG P M TR P COS III, laureate head right with slight drapery on left shoulder / MONETA AVGVSTI, Moneta standing to left with scales and cornucopiae; S C across fields. RIC 586c; Cohen 974; BMC 1196. 26.16gr, 33mm, 6h.

Near Very Fine.

From UK private collection. Property of a London, UK, antiquarian.