Cleaning an Ancient Roman Coin: Constantine The Great and the First Christian Coin

While it is the intent of this channel to not promote religious views of any flavor, the historical importance and impact of the reign of Constantine I on Christianity is undeniable. And since in Roman times coins were a tool well suited and oft-used for propaganda, it should come as no surprise that they were also used in promoting the first Christian emperor’s views on, well, Christianity. Indeed, by pure luck, the coin featured in this video turned out to be one such example. In fact, it is generally agreed by historians and numismatists that coins bearing the VICTORIAE LAETAE PRINC PERP (VLPP) inscription on the Reverse legend (meaning Joyous Victory to the Eternal Prince) were the first to feature the symbols of Christianity, the Christogram and crucifix. For all we know, this coin carrying a small cross on the altar, minted in Ticinum circa 318-319 AD, could very well have been the first. And if that were not enough to make this coin special, the Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC) Rarity scale ranks it as an R3, meaning that at the time it was catalogued, only 4-6 such examples were known to exist. Not bad for a dirty old coin. ------------------ Full Coin Attribution: Roman Imperial Coinage (RIC) Vol. VII Emperor: Constantine I No. 86 Mint: Ticinum, Second Officina (S) Struck Circa 302-303 AD Obv Legend: IMP CONSTANTINVS MAX AVG Rev Legend: VICTORIAE LAETAE PRINC PERP Mintmark: ST Denomination: AE Follis Size: 18mm Weight: g Rarity: R3 ------------------ TIMECODES 0:00 Intro 0:04 Coin overview 0:30 Cleaning the Obverse 1:42 Coin bust starts to show 7:26 Coin Obverse fully cleaned 7:40 Cleaning the Reverse 7:51 Guessing what the Reverse might be 9:19 Coin Reverse Identified 11:02 Coin Reverse fully cleaned 11:09 The Reveal 11:37 Reading the mintmark 11:55 Meaning of the VLPP Reverse 12:03 VLPP: The First Christian Coins 12:32 Coin Attribution and Rarity: RIC VII Ticinum 86 S 12:43 Outro ------------------ For more on the historical perspective of Constantine’s views and impact on Christianity, Mike Duncan’s excellent Podcast, The History of Rome, provides an unbiased account in Episode 137: The Christian Emperor ------------------ Music Credits Track 1: Midnight Sun — Broke In Summer [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: Free Download / Stream: Track 2: Mid Summer — Broke In Summer [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: Free Download / Stream: Track 3: Coastline — Broke In Summer [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: Free Download / Stream: ------------------ #thisancientcoin #numismatics #coincollecting