Licinius I, 308-324. Aureus (Gold, 18 mm, 5.32 g, 6 h), Nicomedia, 312. LICINIVS AVGVSTVS Laureate head of Licinius I to right. Rev. IOVI CONSER-VATORI AVGG / SMN Jupiter standing front, head to left, holding Victory on globe in his right hand and long scepter in his left; at his feet, eagle standing left, head to right and holding wreath in his beak. Calicó 5122. Cohen 106. Depeyrot 15/4. RIC 4. A sharply struck and lustrous coin with a particularly impressive portrait. A few tiny marks on the edge, otherwise, virtually as struck.



Dated here to 312 following Calicó and Depeyrot, this aureus was struck at Nicomedia at a time when the mint lay within the sphere of Maximinus Daia, although Licinius continued to be formally recognized there as Augustus. The reverse legend IOVI CONSERVATORI AVGG is particularly significant in this context: the plural AVGG preserves the language of collegiate imperial rule at a moment when the Tetrarchic settlement was rapidly disintegrating.