Byzantine: Whose coin is it? Is it a coin?

[Rand]

I got this item a few years back, hoping to identify it. I failed after shortlisting some candidate rulers (and later lost interest in the period).

Pale gold. 1.94 g. - underweight semissis?
Dies were designed for a bigger flan or the coin was clipped.
Initial thoughts were of south Italy, but could not link it to any issues.
There was no old ticket included.

I would be grateful for the forum's thoughts.

Cayón Subastas. Subasta extraordinaria Noviembre 2013. 30/11/2013

[AussieCollector]

Looks like an Eastern imitation to me. Not that this comment narrows it down much...

P.S. in terms of dating, I'd say it looks like a mish mash of 7th century style semissis coin and a solidus (aHeraclius and Heraclius style solidus come to mind on the observe, along with a cross on globe style semissis reverse).

Edited March 31, 2023 by AussieCollector

[John Conduitt]

10 hours ago, AussieCollector said:

Looks like an Eastern imitation to me. Not that this comment narrows it down much...

P.S. in terms of dating, I'd say it looks like a mish mash of 7th century style semissis coin and a solidus (aHeraclius and Heraclius style solidus come to mind on the observe, along with a cross on globe style semissis reverse).

Yes I thought the same about it being an imitation in the solidus style. The complete lack of legends or monograms is odd. Perhaps it has been heavily clipped, given the weight.

[Rand]

20 hours ago, AussieCollector said:

Looks like an Eastern imitation to me. Not that this comment narrows it down much...

P.S. in terms of dating, I'd say it looks like a mish mash of 7th century style semissis coin and a solidus (aHeraclius and Heraclius style solidus come to mind on the observe, along with a cross on globe style semissis reverse).

 

10 hours ago, John Conduitt said:

Yes I thought the same about it being an imitation in the solidus style. The complete lack of legends or monograms is odd. Perhaps it has been heavily clipped, given the weight.

Thank you. Easter imitation is a good thought, which I did not consider and thought of a later period due to the loros clothes. The Heraclius period was turbulent enough for local production.

It is certainly very underweight and likely heavily clipped, but I could not find anything as a prototype. It is odd in many ways and does not have a feel of Byzantine coins in hand. Still, it is certainly minted.

The only hope to assess its nature seems to wait for another more complete item.

[DLTcoins]

Being that it was sold by Cayón, I wouldn't rule out an Iberian or African origin.

[AussieCollector]

The style is definitely not Byzantine (I've seen thousands and thousands of Byzantine coins, and this isn't a Byzantine coin). It is an imitation. So, my advice is to start researching different types of imitations.

P.S. no hits on this search, but this is the kind of research you should do on this coin:

https://www.coinarchives.com/a/results.php?search=byzantine+imitation+semissis&s=0&upcoming=0&results=100

 

P.P.S. this is getting closer to what you're looking for:

https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=Heraclius+imitation+&category=1-2&lot=&date_from=&date_to=&thesaurus=1&images=1&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&currency=usd&order=1

Edited April 1, 2023 by AussieCollector

[Rand]

18 hours ago, DLTcoins said:

Being that it was sold by Cayón, I wouldn't rule out an Iberian or African origin.

This a very interesting consideration! I initially dismissed Iberian origin, thinking of a later period and Italian/Sardinian import.

However, considering the time of Heraclius, there was a window between Cartagena's loss and the loss of the last towns by Byzantines in 624 (e.g., Malaga). 

North West African coast imitation: Carthage loss to Arabs before the completion of the North African conquest could lead to local production (not that I am aware of any known).

Edited April 1, 2023 by Rand

[AussieCollector]

9 hours ago, Rand said:

This a very interesting consideration! I initially dismissed Iberian origin, thinking of a later period and Italian/Sardinian import.

However, considering the time of Heraclius, there was a window between Cartagena's loss and the loss of the last towns by Byzantines in 624 (e.g., Malaga). 

North West African coast imitation: Carthage loss to Arabs before the completion of the North African conquest could lead to local production (not that I am aware of any known).

Yep, in terms of the searches I did yesterday, North African imitations came the closest.