Constantine I, 307/310-337. Follis (Bronze, 19 mm, 3.10 g, 12 h), Constantinopolis, 328. CONSTANTI-NVS MAX AVG Diademed head of Constantine I to right.
Rev. CONSTANTINI-ANA DAFNE / CONS Victory seated left on decorated cippus, head turned right, holding laurel branch in her right hand and palm frond in her left; at her feet, shield; to left, trophy; before, captive kneeling left, head turned right; in field to left, Δ. RIC 30 var. (unlisted officina). Very rare. Somewhat rough and with minor smoothing on the obverse
, otherwise, good very fine.
From the collection of Dr. L. Ramskold, formed since 1969.
The arrangement of the 'DAFNE' issues in RIC VII does not reflect modern research, and much of the confusion was sorted out by Speck and Huston in 1992. More recently, Ramskold published a resume of the various types (Ramskold, Constantine's SPES PVBLIC coins (2020a), Table 2). This example shows the so-called ladder-shaped diadem, one of the early types of diadems with which Constantine experimented during 327 and early 328, before ending up with the proper rosette diadem.
