Roman coin of Constantius I as Caesar - From the Rauceby Hoard - Near EF

Constantius I, as Caesar, 293-305. Follis (Silvered bronze)
Size: 27 mm Weight: 9.92 grams
Minted: Ticinum, circa 300-303.
Obverse: CONSTANTIVS NOB CAES Laureate head of Constantius I to right. 
Reverse: SACRA MONET AVGG ET CAESS NOSTR / TT• Moneta standing front, head to left, holding scales in her right hand and cornucopiae in her left.

E. Ghey: Rauceby Hoard Catalogue, in: ibid. (ed.): Recent Discoveries of Tetrarchic Hoards from Roman Britain and their Wider Context. British Museum Research Publication 236. London 2024, p. 274, 782.2 and pl. 13.40, 782 (this coin, still uncleaned). RIC 46a. An exceptional piece, very well struck and perfectly centered and with an impressive portrait. Nearly extremely fine.

The Rauceby Hoard was discovered by a detectorist near Ancaster (Lincolnshire) in July 2017, close to Ermine Street, originally a Roman road leading from Londinium (London) to Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) and Eboracum (York). The hoard of over 3000 coins – all tetrarchic folles – was contained in a large ceramic vessel, itself buried at the center of an oval pit lined with quarried limestone. This betrays a deliberate act rather than haphazard burial in the face of danger and, quite possibly, the hoard was a votive offering to the gods. The youngest coin in the hoard was a reduced follis of Maximian, perhaps minted under Constantine I, but no coins of the latter as Augustus were found. This means the hoard was likely buried circa 307, amidst the events of Constantine I's acclamation as Caesar in Eboracum in 306 and his subsequent elevation to the rank of Augustus in December 307. The importance of the hoard further lies in its well-recorded find context and the fact that it is the largest recorded hoard from this period found in Britain to date.