Constantine I, 307/310-337. Follis (Bronze, 18 mm, 2.22 g, 12 h), Cyzicus, February 326. Laureate head of Constantine I to right. Rev. CONSTAN/TINVS / AVG / SMKЄ in four lines; above, laurel wreath. RIC 30 var. (differing wreath on obverse). Ramskold, Constantine's vicennalia (2013), p. 420, fig. 3A (this coin). Extremely rare, one of two known examples and the only one in private hands. Very well struck and with a beautiful reddish-brown patina. Extremely fine.


This type, with Constantine I wearing a triple row wreath, was included by Bruun in RIC VII 30 but is regarded here as a separate type. The triple row wreath was typical for some eastern mints, in particular Nicomedia, long before they were taken over by Constantine I. It is sometimes described as a triple row pearl diadem, but as already clarified by Bruun in his notes to RIC VII Cyzicus 24-27 (the emission before the dynastic bronzes), this was due to engraving style, and wreaths were intended by the engraver, not pearl diadems. The triple row wreath is also rarely found among the dynastic bronzes in the earliest emissions from Antioch under Constantine I.