Crispus, Caesar, 316-326. Solidus (Gold, 19 mm, 4.36 g, 6 h), Nicomedia, 324-325. FL IVL CRIS PVS NOB CAES Laureate bust of Crispus to left, heroically nude, wearing balteus around neck and holding spear and shield. Rev. VIRTVS CAESARI N / SMNP Crispus on horseback to right, holding lance in his right hand and shield in his left, spearing kneeling barbarian before him; below horse, a fallen barbarian and a shield. Depeyrot 35/6 var. (unlisted officina). RIC 84-85 var. (unlisted officina). Very rare. A superb, bold and impressive piece. A few light marks on the obverse and with light traces of mounting, otherwise, extremely fine.


Crispus' descendance from the obscure first wife (or concubine?) of Constantine, Minervina, did not hinder his raise to power: born in circa 300, he was the emperor's oldest son and hence of great value to the imperial domus as he demonstrated dynastic continuity at a time when the son of Licinius, Constantine's rival, was still an infant. Crispus was raised to the rank of Caesar on 1 March 317 and sent to Gaul by his father, where he successfully fought off Frankish and Alamannic invasions. In the civil war of 324, Crispus commanded his father's fleet and defeated Licinius' admiral Amandus (or Abandus) in the Battle of the Hellespont, which won Constantine the naval supremacy and opened Asia for invasion. In spring 326, however, Crispus and his stepmother Fausta were suddenly executed on charges of adultery, a dramatic event that has led some historians to believe that he had plotted against his father with the help of the emperor's young wife (see above, lot 1734). A damnatio memoriae was enacted and his name erased from all public records and inscriptions.