Rare Constantine silver ingot saved from illegal sale

Three Roman-era silver ingots bearing the image of Constantine the Great have been donated to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine after being saved from being illegally sold online. Only about 90 Roman silver ingots are known, and only 11 of them bear a mint mark. This is the first time these ingots have been found in Ukraine, and the only ones to have been found outside the borders of the Roman Empire. They are also the only ones to bear a mint mark on both the front and back.

The seller, a local resident of the Khust district of the Zakarpattia region in western Ukraine, claimed that the silver ingots had been stored in his home’s basement since they were discovered decades ago by his great-grandmother while gardening in the backyard. Apparently, he did not report it to the estate administration as required by Ukrainian law. Instead, he posted one of the ingots online, which caught the attention of staff at the National Museum, who immediately reported it to the police. Police searched the man’s home and found two more ingots. He was arrested for unlawful appropriation of a treasure of special historical, scientific, artistic or cultural value. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a fine, hard labor or up to six months in prison.

Each of the three ingots is made of 342 grams of nearly pure silver. They are in the shape of an elongated double-headed axe and are stamped with the gold solidus coins struck by Constantine the Great in 310 AD in the empire’s northwestern capital of Augusta Trevorum (now Trier, Germany). The ingots are stamped with a workshop mark to verify the purity of the silver. The mark indicates that the ingots were struck in the state mint on the emperor’s orders.

These double-headed axe-shaped ingots were produced for a brief period in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries. They were not intended for trade or exchange. They were originally gifts – usually royal gifts given to soldiers and courtiers to celebrate the emperor’s accession to the throne. They were sometimes distributed to a few people at triumphs, when a co-ruler was appointed, when an heir came of age, as a legacy after the emperor’s death, or used to bribe key figures when a legion was about to revolt.

In this case, Constantine minted gold coins to celebrate his victory over the Franks, but he could not distribute them yet because before the war with the Franks could be over, he had to suppress the rebellion of Maximian, the future emperor and father of the de facto co-emperor Maxentius. After striking down Maximian, Constantine had to face his son, a conflict that ultimately ended Maxentius’ fate with his fatal defeat at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in Rome in 313 AD.

Due to his busy schedule, Constantine probably did not receive the military donation until after the war was won and his throne was secure. Three gold ingots were tied together with silver thread and given to people of high status. Little is known about Transcarpathia in the 4th century, and certainly no one knows who might be important enough to receive such a donation.

The three gold ingots are currently on display at the National History Museum of Ukraine.