Nomos 11

Arcadius, 383-408. Solidus (Gold, 21mm, 4.50 g 1), Constantinople, 7th officina, c. mid 380s - 387, or in the early 390s. D N ARCADI - VS P F AVG Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust of Arcadius to right. Rev. CONCORDI - A AVGGGGΖ / CONOB Constantinopolis seated facing on low throne with lion heads, her head turned to the right, holding globe in her right hand and long scepter in her left; prow under her right foot. RIC IX, 46f3. A very unusual coin, possibly extremely rare. Some areas struck slightly flat but, otherwise, lustrous and extremely fine.

This coin is apparently most curious. It would seem to be a normal piece struck between January and August 383, when the four recognized emperors were Gratian, Valentinian II, Theodosius I and Arcadius (the four G’s on the reverse) except that the portrait shows him as an adult. He was, of course, a child of around five when he was raised to the throne, and the early solidi struck in his name do show him as a child (as Leu 86, 1040-1041). Of course, this coin could have been produced during the period when Magnus Maximus was somewhat uneasily recognized as an official emperor by Theodosius; thus, four G’s. Or it could be nothing more than an old, unused reverse die being re-used without change in the 390s.