CNG - Vetranio. Centenionalis. Scarce! EF
$160.50
01/12/00
cngcoins

     Vetranio. 350 AD. Æ Centenionalis (5.14 gm). Siscia mint.
     Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right; A behind and star
     before / Vetranio standing facing, head turned left, holding
     standard in either hand; A/•GSIS•. RIC VIII 285; LRBC 11720. EF,
     dark brown patina. Scarce! Obverse a little lightly struck.
     718163.

     Following the overthrow and death of Constans early in 350 AD his
     successor, the usurper Magnentius, was prevented from extending
     his rule any further east than Italy by the elevation of a rival
     emperor, the elderly general Vetranio, by the army of Illyricum
     (March 1). Throughout his brief rule Vetranio steadfastly
     maintained that he was acting solely in the interests of the
     ruling dynasty and that he had no personal imperial ambitions.
     The truth of this claim was ultimately proven by his abdication
     in the presence of the eastern emperor Constantius II after a
     reign of less than ten months (December 25). The ex-emperor then
     retired from public life and lived out his remaining years on an
     estate at Prusa in Bithynia granted to him by the grateful
     Constantius. The coinage of Vetranio was all produced at the
     Balkan mints of Siscia and Thessalonica and substantial issues
     were made in the name of his eastern ‘colleague’ Constantius.