Cross above head - my small but growing collection

[ela126]

First off, I want to say I was first informed and inspired to start collecting these coins after reading @Valentinian‘s website which has a very detailed and well assembled review of an impressive collection of these.
 http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ByzCross/Cross-above-head.html

These coins are specialized obverse dies with a prominent cross on the top of the diadem. After somewhat seriously collecting in this area for I’d say 2 years now, I’m even more impressed by that collection, some of these coins are very scarce. My recommendation for any collector of Byzantine is if you come across these at a reasonable price, get them.

I won’t go into the details or background on the coins as Warren has done a much better job already, but I did want to show them as I recently acquired 2 of the 3.

the sand patina one is not “new”. Acquired 5-6 months ago, an Anastasius 1 from Antioch, SB 47. The best of the bunch though.

the 2 news ones are:

Anastasius 1

Follis

Antioch

17.11g

SB 48- Take note of the crescent on the right of reverse, this is what makes it different, and more rare, than the SB 47.

 

Anastasius 1

Pentanummi

Antioch

2.86g

SB53A This coin, while not super pretty is special, not just because of the cross on the obverse, but due to the placement of the A and Z inside the E on the reverse, instead of outside, flanking the officina letter, which a standard SB 53 has.

I'm going to continue my searches for these as they are rare and interesting pieces. 

If you have any of these special coins with crosses, please share!

[Valentinian]

I made the website with these "cross-above-head" types for the collection of my friend Dan Clark (It has since been disbursed). It has many linked pages with information about them. Not much is known about them, but I can confirm they are uncommon. 

You can find some obscure thing about ancient coins that interests you (such as cross-above-head types) and make a significant and interesting collection out of the specialty. Don't think you have to collect what everyone else collects!

Here is one from my own collection. I bought it from Frank Robinson in 2008 and discovered it had been in Seaby, June 1976, lot 343. Even better, it is the plate coin in MIBE (Hahn) Justin I, plate 9, 61a. 


Justin I, 518-527
Struck at Antioch (note the creative mintmark across the cross)
A   N
T   X    ["X" is a Greek chi for our "ch"]
Sear 104. 
 

[ela126]

A new acquisition came in, purchased from a fellow Byzantine collector, Steve Santore. Now that im attuned to them, im finding they’re a little more common than I did a few weeks ago. Could be due to the high volume of lower end offerings in Biddr these days.

Justin 1 - Follis - Nikomedia - SB 84 -14.6g. Not an impressive specimen but the cross is quite prominent. My first Justin 1 specimen

[DigginSicilia]

Nice coin! Did you find this while metal detecting?

 

[Tejas]

This feature, i.e. a cross above the emperor's head, also appears on Ostrogothic silver coins. The coin below was minted in the name of Anastasius at the mint of Milan, with the monogram of Theoderic on the reverse. The cross also appears on Quarter-siliquae of Totila/Baduila from Ticinum.

 

[ela126]

@Tejas Very cool, never saw one of these before.

@DigginSicilia No, it's just a dirty coin. some poeple like them this way, i'm more of a cleaner, so it's currently soaking in some DI. i'll probably remove the dirt and wax it next week

Edited March 1 by ela126

[Valentinian]

52 minutes ago, ela126 said:

i'll probably remove the dirt and wax it next week

22 hours ago, ela126 said:

Justin 1 - Follis - Nikomedia - SB 84 -14.6g.

If you are writing about this Justin, I think it looks as good as it ever will with the light cover it now has. The cover serves to highlight edges that would be less visible if the surface were uniform.  I would not "clean" it (nor wax it). 

[ela126]

1 hour ago, Valentinian said:

If you are writing about this Justin, I think it looks as good as it ever will with the light cover it now has. The cover serves to highlight edges that would be less visible if the surface were uniform.  I would not "clean" it (nor wax it)

This is true, I have to look at it again. The previous cleaning wasn’t done well so I may do some minor fixes at least.