Constantine I, AV Solidus, 327, Nicomedia
CONSTANTI_NVS MAX AVG
Rosette-diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right
CONSTAN_TINVS AVG
Victory advancing left, trophy in right hand, palm in left
SMNC in exergue
21mm, 4.27g
RIC VII 139 (this coin); Depeyrot 40/1 (this coin)
Ex Schulman, October 21, 1935, Lot 48

Grade: EF, light scratches and marks

A coin of unusual style, atypical of the normal Nicomedia issues. RIC footnotes on p.622-3 "Crude work, the portrait particularly looks odd with its straggling hair and the globular ends of the individual curls, m.m. crudely engraved. The rev. legend suggests a date before the tricennial year as in Antioch, but the rev. type does not fit into the Nicomedian gallery of images. Hesitantly the present writer accepts these coins as genuine. Similar coin struck with m.m. SMTS but with bust E4 without obv. legend; Hirsch coin noted on the plate as silver, in the catalogue as gold; the weight 4.27 gm. indicates solidus standard."

The Hirsch specimen in the footnote is Hirsch xxxiv, 1558. Depeyrot evidently considered it genuine as he included it in his work.

Note - I do not know if the Hirsch specimen is from the same dies.