I had to do this

[JeandAcre]

This is likely to be the last thing I buy in this sort of price range for a considerable while.  But, with cordial thanks to @Tejas and @quant.geek, I was looking at the last opportunity I might see.  Cf. the thread, initiated by @Tejas in the other forum: 

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/coins-of-the-kievan-rus.394099/ , and their (/your, especially) aggregate erudition, regarding everything from attribution, to rarity, to the staggering prices in better grades.

Here we go.  From the last Naumann auction.  ...Starting to think I'll miss the money.  But it seriously needed doing.

Thank you, Kievan Rus'; Vladimir I, 980-1015.  The first Christian Grand Duke of Kiev, evoking his late contemporaries, Olaf I and II, kings of Norway.  Except that here, the Byzantine, correspondingly Greek Orthodox influence is very apparent.  

...You really need @Tejas's thread, with @quant.geek's posts, linked above.  For this minute, though, I'm going to shamelessly (...?) copy the listing from Naumann.

RUSSIA. Kievan Rus. Vladimir I Svyatoslavich the Great (980-1015). Srebrennik. Type I.

Obv: Bust of Christ Pantocrator facing.
Rev: Half-length facing bust of Vladimir, holding cross-tipped sceptre; trident to right.  [Embarrassingly, this is from English-language Wiki: "colloquially, the tryzub (Ukrainian: Тризуб), the insignia derives from the seal-trident of Volodymyr, the first Grand Prince of Kyiv."]

Sotnikova & Spasskij type I.

Rare

Condition: Fine.

Weight: 1.18 g.
Diameter: 22 mm.

...Thanks Lots, @Tejas and @quant.geek.  I for one can't overemphasize how great it would be if either or both of you saw fit to repost some of your previous work in this forum.

...And to this day, all I have for the history (...yep, in English) is the old translation of Vernadsky.  Past that, there are fleeting mentions in this or that general history or atlas of the Vikings.  Along with Vasiliev, and the operant volume of Norwich, on the Byzantines.  If either of you, or anyone, could help out with any other references, that wouldn't be academic, out of print, and correspondingly stratospheric where the price was concerned, you would get my summary, profound gratitude.

Edited July 6, 2022 by JeandAcre

[seth77]

It did cost a pretty penny that's for sure.

[quant.geek]

Outstanding! I totally missed that one 😢, but glad you picked it up...Now, I have to hunt for another one...

[JeandAcre]

Thanks, @quant.geek. ...Honest, I feel your pain.  Serious, Main best wishes about finding another one.

Edited September 1, 2022 by JeandAcre

[Severus Alexander]

Awesome coin, @JeandAcre!!  The closest thing I have to show is this third miliaresion of Romanus IV Diogenes (of Manzikert infamy) which is iconographically related, I suppose.  Pretty distant connection though!

[JeandAcre]

Thanks for checking in, @Severus Alexander!  The ikonography definitely translates, pretty neatly across a century, never mind the legends (Slavic vs. Byzantine Greek).

[Hrefn]

The Christ portrait reminds me of this solidus of Constantine VII whose reign ended in 959 AD, even to the big jewels on the Gospel book.  

[John Conduitt]

On 7/6/2022 at 6:19 AM, JeandAcre said:

Vladimir I, 980-1015

I always favourite any of these when they come to auction. I never have anywhere near enough money, but I'm always ready, just in case 😂

Edited July 9, 2022 by John Conduitt

[JeandAcre]

Well, for what it's worth, @John Conduitt and @quant.geek, I wish both of you the best of luck.

...I never imagined I could wind up with anything from this reign.  Paid too much, from here, too, but it was jeeeeYust doable.

[John Conduitt]

18 minutes ago, JeandAcre said:

Well, for what it's worth, @John Conduitt and @quant.geek, I wish both of you the best of luck.

...I never imagined I could wind up with anything from this reign.  Paid too much, from here, too, but it was jeeeeYust doable.

I don't think you paid too much. These usually go for double to ten times what you paid, albeit in better condition (although still worn with chipped and broken flans that more resemble cornflakes). Buying one of these is very much a trade off between exponential cost increases and small incremental improvements, but always for a hugely imperfect coin.

The auction estimate was laughable - they might as well not bother.

[JeandAcre]

Thanks again, @John Conduitt.  ...There are days when I wish there was the option of reacting with more than one emoticon (...sp? still don't have that stuff figured out).

[VD76]

Kievan Rus 11th Century .  Chernigov imitation of Byzantine follis . 
2.1 g.

1.2 g.

1.8 g.

2 g.

1.8 g.

 

[JeandAcre]

@VD76, please receive my profound apologies for not responding to your post any sooner. 

(Here, it wasn't so much a case of life imitating art, as of it getting in my face to the extent of summarily and, thank you, that arbitrarily ruling it out.)

Those are All Brilliant.  And, Thank you, Completely alien to my frame of reference.  ...But I Need it that the Kievan Rus' were imitating Byzantine folles.  (Right, this early.)  It does make immediate, intuitive sense.  You're due equally belated, and cordially emphatic thanks.

Edited September 1, 2022 by JeandAcre