Diocletian Billon Follis About Extremely Fine

Diocletian was born of humble origin around A.D. 245 in Dalmatia near Split and rose through the ranks of the military to high command. He likely manoeuvred the murder of the emperor Numerian and defeated Carinus leaving Diocletian in undisputed control of the Empire. Realising it was too big for one person he appointed an old army colleague, Maximian, as co-emperor and settled the problem of succession by appointing two junior Caesars, bringing stability after 60 years of chaos. Diocletian spent much of his reign campaigning and did much to overhaul the tax system, reforming the coinage in an attempt to counter inflation. Unlike any emperor before or since he voluntarily abdicated in A.D. 305 and retired to his palace in Split. He died there in A.D. 311 a broken man, having watched his reforms trampled to death by the likes of Constantine the Great and Licinius. We recently bought a small group of high-grade Billon Silver Follis from a trusted dealer who had been slowly putting them aside for many years. Part of this group were 24 Follis of Diocletian in About Extremely Fine condition with various reverses. They are big, beautiful and they all have at least some of the ancient silvering showing on the surfaces.