Constantius II AR Reduced Siliqua Arles AD 355-363. D N CONSTAN-TIVS P F AVG, pearl diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right. VOTIS-XXX-MVLTIS XXXX within laurel wreath. RIC VIII Arelate 261. EXCELLENTLY DETAILED AND LUSTROUS EXAMPLE. Despite being chipped, this specimen is a wonderful example of the type with a sharp portrait and much mint luster remaining; it is difficult to match this to the correct RIC number as there are 8 separate entries, differentiated only by weight; as our example is chipped, it weighs 1.06g thus making it nearly a 100% matched for the later, reduced siliqua’s minted after the defeat of Magnentius; earlier issues weighed nearly 4g or triple the weight of our specimen. As stated, it is quite unfortunate that this siliqua is chipped as it is otherwise a very fine example of Late Roman silver; the reverse of this coin celebrates an event that was rarely seen in the Roman world, the QUADRAGENNALIA of Constantius II, or a hope for 40 years of rule; as he was named Caesar whilst still nearly an infant, much in the way of Theodosius II in the 5th Century, it should be no surprise that he was able to almost make it to 40 years. Constantius was still a young man when he died in AD 361, just five days shy of his 45th birthday, on route to the West to put down the rebellion/usurpation of Julian II; one wonders what might have been had Constantius not died, as the Battle of Mursa against Magnentius a decade earlier was remembered as the bloodiest and most hard fought engagement of century up to that point; thus, had Julian and Constantius come to blows, with Sharpur waiting in the East… One wonders if the Empire would have survived or if perhaps fallen back into a situation similar to the Crisis of the Third Century? Interesting to think on, to say the least, but I digress as usual! All coins are authentic and from my own personal collection. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Over the coming weeks I will be adding more fixed price listings of Late Roman Bronze Coins so please check back with me. If there is any specific type you are looking for let me know. I have an extensive Late Antique collection with AE and some AR issues dating from the mid 3rd Century AD to the 8th Century AD. I strive to make accurate impressions of the coins I list, thus my listings tend to have a multitude of photos, taken under different light sources and from different angles, as there is nothing worse (in my opinion) than purchasing a coin and having it arrive looking nothing like the photo!