Why I love Byzantine coins

[Al Kowsky]

15 hours ago, Simon said:

Honestly, the way I picked Eastern Roman was by need , so many collectors of Greek , Roman Imperial,  is just felt I was always walking in some one else's foot prints.  The beauty of of what I collect ( 12th century Byzantine) is we are still adding to a field that has only been seriously examined in the past 50 years. Myself and many other collectors have made so many discovery's in the last 20 years that we are still writing the numismatic history. 

I started with the coppers, now I have worked my way to the gold because the hard part of the coppers was done. 

Here is a small group of SBCV-1931 , All Alexius I but weights across the board and we have no idea why.  These coins got from 2.5 gm to 6gm . None of these are indications of being imitative. 

 

Here is the only perfect example I have ever seen. Very happy to have it in  my collection.  The legend is complete, the example is beautiful. 

This example really opens the door, a coin that fits the description as SBCV-1910 more than likely is another example of of SBCV-1931 overstruck on an anonymous follis of an earlier rule. 

 

The point I am making is we know so little of this denomination its hard to believe these are all categorized as the same coin. We need to know more and that to me makes Eastern Roman coinage so interesting. The road less traveled. 

 

 

 

Simon, this is an impressive group of small bronze coins, & congrats on pioneering the study of these coins 🤩! Unless some period documentation on these coins surfaces, & that seems unlikely, we'll probably never know what the denominations are 🧐. Keep in mind that rarely are ancient Roman & provincial coins marked with a denomination, but documented research has identified most of them.

[Edessa]

I like it when they can even make Christ look pissed off...

Michael VII Doukas, AD 1071-1078. AV Histamenon Nomisma (29mm, 4.41g, 6h). Constantinople mint. Struck AD 1071-1078. Obv: Bust of Christ facing, wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium and colobium, raising right hand in benediction, book of Gospels in left; IC-XC across fields, double border. Rev: + MIX-AHΛ RACI-Λ O Δ; Bust of Michael VII facing, bearded, wearing crown with pendilia and loros, labarum in right hand, globus cruciger in left; double border. Ref: DOC 2a; SB 1868. Extremely Fine. Ex Stephen Album 37 (12 Jun 2020), Lot 31.

[quant.geek]

1 hour ago, Edessa said:

I like it when they can even make Christ look pissed off...

Michael VII Doukas, AD 1071-1078. AV Histamenon Nomisma (29mm, 4.41g, 6h). Constantinople mint. Struck AD 1071-1078. Obv: Bust of Christ facing, wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium and colobium, raising right hand in benediction, book of Gospels in left; IC-XC across fields, double border. Rev: + MIX-AHΛ RACI-Λ O Δ; Bust of Michael VII facing, bearded, wearing crown with pendilia and loros, labarum in right hand, globus cruciger in left; double border. Ref: DOC 2a; SB 1868. Extremely Fine. Ex Stephen Album 37 (12 Jun 2020), Lot 31.

🤣 When I showed some of my coins to my Catholic friends, they thought Christ looked "creepy". Almost like Rasputin:

 

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

The snarling Michael Ducas is pretty awesome.  I'm not sure if mine is scowling.  Mine's more gold-toned; was it a trick of the light?

There's a contractor at work who has a Heraclius beard.

I can certainly understand the allure of the late 11th-12th century precious metal coinage.  I love those!

[Simon]

Thanks Al but they are tetartera, as for my collection of tetartera, it is complete, i have every known type from Alexius I to Alexius III. Most cases many examples and on some of the rarest i found one or two extra. 

To complete the collection i need a few trachea from Alexius and a few gold of several rulers. 

The question now is the tetarteron a weight based denomination under Alexius and John II? Until something is translated that tells us we will never know for sure. 

[Al Kowsky]

20 hours ago, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

BYZANTINE: Heraclius, AD 610-641, Syracuse, AE Follis (32mm, 13.28g). Really nice example with brown and crayon green patina. Ex Laurel Certified coins, S844,

from collection of: Rodolfo Spahr (1894-1981), author of important book on Byzantine coins of Sicily (among others): Le Monete Siciliane, dai Bizantini a Carlo I d' Angio (582 - 1282). (Graz, 1976). (excerpted from CT).

This is one of my favorite Byzantine types.  I had a nice example of the smaller kind, but not this.  It's hard to top this one.  It's more of a glossy, jade green patina.

It also proves that coins of Anastasius through Justinian (pre-reform) were still circulating, or in storage somewhere.

 

Nero., That's a lovely example of Sicilian counterstamps on a follis. The only Byzantine coin still on my want list is a large follis with counterstamps as bold as the ones on your coin ☺️.

[Al Kowsky]

I began selling most of my Byzantine coins a decade ago when the market was HOT for these coins. The market did cool-off since then but began surging again when the Covid 19 pandemic hit us 😷. I did keep about a dozen Byzantine favorites in my collection ☺️. Pictured below are some of the coins I had Heritage auction for me along with the prices realized.

$960.00

$375.00 April 25, 2012

$1,020.00 The star designation * helped boost the price on this common coin 😉.

$960.00  I don't know why this coin got a star designation considering I've got a superior example without the star 🤔?

$4,900.00 😲!  At least two bidders must have been drunk or high on something to bid-up this coin 😂.

$488.75 April 2012  This coin is very heavy for an A2 example.

[Svessien]

On 8/20/2022 at 5:26 PM, Nerosmyfavorite68 said:

I started collecting for real in about 1993, and started collecting Byzantines soon after that. And thus began my on again, off again Byzantine collecting journey.  There would be phases where I would heavily be into Byzantine and years where I'd completely collect Roman or Hellenistic coins.

My mom began to call Byzantine AE, 'slag heaps'. While she's right in a sense, virtually none of them were as artistic as the best-done Roman or Hellenistic coins, these slag heaps are endearing. Some of them exude a dignity or even majesty.

My favorite periods are from 539-630, 668-c.720 and 1092-1204. My favorite mints are Rome and Ravenna, but since I don't have Bill Gates' type money, I only have a few of these, and no AV from these mints.  Ravenna made my favorite gold issues, but alas, I can only gaze at those in references.  It's a bucket list goal to obtain a Ravenna Solidus with an annular border.  Who knows?  I never thought I would get a Heraclius 'Jerusalem', but one popped up at a coin show.  A finder's gash, thankfully only affecting a couple letters of the beginning of the obverse legend, made it affordable.    At the same show, I also remember looking at a tray of 7th century Pegasi Ravenna AE and my eyes popping out when I saw $700 price tags.  More than my 'Jerusalem' cost.

After a collecting lull from 2014-2022 (I was still interested in coins throughout), I jumped back in, and with a bigger budget than before.  Maybe 70% of my purchases this year have been Byzantine.  The 'History of Byzantium' podcast was the main culprit in reviving my interest.

Byzantine coins are also one of the most 'affordable' realm of gold coins.  I can at least afford to slowly pick off a few of the emperors that way.  It's the most satisfying way to get a Leo or Zeno (I know, they're not 'Byzantine.').

My favorite affordable type; the large post-reform facing 40 nummi of Justinian I (although I also like collecting Justinian II).  Oh, and I'd like to find a nice VF example of the two bust Heraclius Seleucia 40 nummi. And perhaps a first-reign bearded Christ Justinian II Solidus.  I find the beardless second reign version kind of weird-looking.

My frustrating incompetence with coin photography has prevented me from photographing anything which doesn't have a dealer's picture. I can only share pics of coins which you've mostly witnessed previously.

I know, this one is ad nauseum, but it's my favorite buy of the year.  A lucky shopping accident and Dr. Haymann's patience enabled me to buy this Tiberius Apsimar (another bucket list emperor).  While the picture doesn't show it, it's by far my most lustrous gold coin.  The event also helped me trust DHL Express more. It's my second most expensive coin ever, although I feel I got a good deal on it.

 

While the AE and billon of the post 1092 reform don't do much for me, I rather love the scyphate gold.  And since gold has largely become too expensive for me, there's the electrum Trikephalon.

Easily my second favorite buy of this year, a John II electrum Trikephalon:

While I find some of the immediate post-1204 history interesting, I find the late, late period much too personally depressing to collect (not meant as an insult, just a personal preference).  There's many people here with magnificent late collections. 

Oh, it also didn't hurt that noted Byzantine collector Mike Braunlin was my college librarian.  That really helped fuel my Byzantine kick.

My collecting goes in phases. I'll probably soon return to Roman, but Byzantine will always have a place in my collection.

Please feel free to post Byzantine, especially coins from Rome or Ravenna, the huge Constantine IV folles, nice pre-1204 Hyperpyra, or Heraclius from Seleucia.

Great post and coin, Nero’smyfav. I have stayed away from Byzantine coins most of my collecting years (started in 2003), but got bit by the bug two years ago. I’m also slowly picking up the solidii, starting with Zeno and Anastasius. I recently bought Heraclius, and only lack Justin II and Tiberius Constantine among the easy early ones. 
 

I have a question: The auction house stated this coin as Sear 291, Rome mint (DOC 320e). I didn’t fully trust that, but haven’t been able to rule it out either. It’s either Sear 291 (Rome) or the far more common Sear 140. I notice there is a 6-pointed star (as described in Sear 291), but Sear doesn’t say how many points the star on 140 has….. Sear also describes the Rome mint as “more spread fabric”, but I haven’t seen enough of these to discern different fabrics. What do you think?

 

[Prieure de Sion]

1 hour ago, Al Kowsky said:

I began selling most of my Byzantine coins a decade ago when the market was HOT for these coins. The market did cool-off since then but began surging again when the Covid 19 pandemic hit us 😷. I did keep about a dozen Byzantine favorites in my collection ☺️. Pictured below are some of the coins I had Heritage auction for me along with the prices realized.

1st one Anastasius - wow - like it! 😍

[azeusa]

I can't put it better than John Julius Norwich - whom I first read after a wonderful trip to Istanbul many years ago:

"In the beginning was the word - surely one of the most magically resonant place-names in all history. Even had its Empire never existed, even had there been no W.B. Yeats to celebrate it, even had it remained what it was at the outset - a modest Greek settlement at the furthest extremity of the European continent, without pretensions or ambitions - Byzantium would surely have impressed itself upon our minds and memories by the music of its name alone, conjuring up those same visions that it evokes today: visions of gold and malachite and porphyry, of stately and solemn ceremonial, of brocades heavy with rubies and emeralds, of sumptuous mosaics dimly glowing through halls cloudy with incense."

It's rich, ornate, stylised stuff - one is either into it or not, I think. 

Here are a couple of coins I'm fortunate to own - pre-Anastasius, but I think few would object given that they were minted in Constantinople (I'm horribly incompetent at photography, so auction photos will have to do for now):

Leo I Solidus

Zeno Solidus 

Edited August 23, 2022 by azeusa
typo

[Hrefn]

Love looking at the great coins posted thus far.  Since we are defining the Byzantine era very generously, I can contribute a few Rome and Ravenna coins.  

The first is a solidus of Anthemius from Rome.  The reverse features Anthemius (467-472 AD) standing with Leo, supporting a rather oval globus cruciger.  Between their legs is an abbreviation of ROMA.  Although the flan looks small, the die size was proportionate, and the coin is full weight at 4.43 grams.  Purchased from Harlan Berk in 1994.  The second coin is of Valentinian III (425-455 AD), of Ravenna.  Purchased from L + L Scholing in Boston in 1993.  

The next coins are a bit of a mystery to me.  They are solidi of Tiberius II Constantine (578-582 AD).    I thought both were from Constantinople, but I have recently seen coins with the beaded cross attributed to Rome.   The obverse of the coin on the left is in higher relief than usual, as well.  However, the Roman coins reportedly have DN TIB CONS, and both of these have DM TIB CONS.  The right hand one is (I believe) from Constantinople.  Interestingly, it shares the obverse die with a coin from the New York Sale XIV, lot #487, which is a lightweight solidus with an OB+* reverse, and was attributed in that auction to Thessalonica.  The beaded cross coin is from Harlan Berk purchased in 2001 and attributed to Constantinople at that time.  The second coin was purchased at a coin show in Boston in 2001, also. I find the style of the obverses of these two coins to be almost identical,  with the exception of the lower relief on one.   So I am undecided on the Rome attribution for the beaded cross variety, much as I would like it to be true  

Lastly, these are two solidi of Heraclius (610-641 AD) with his son Heraclonas.  The first is from CNG electronic auction 55 lot #168 purchased in 2002.  It is from Constantinople.  The second is from Harlan Berk, purchased 6/93.  This is from Ravenna and features the characteristic broad annulus on the reverse.  Not only are the portraits on the Constantinopolitan coin superior, but the Latin epigraphy is as well, which seems odd as the Ravenna celator seems more likely to have been a native speaker. 

[Prieure de Sion]

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus and Romanos II Porphyrogenitus

Solidus of the Byzantine Macedonian dynasty 950/955 AD

Material: Gold

Diameter: 20.00mm

Weight: 4.42g

Mint: Constantinopolis

Reference: Sear 1751

 

Obverse:

Crowned facing busts of Constantine VII (on left), bearded, wearing loros, and Romanus II (on right), wearing chlamys pinned at right shoulder, jointly holding patriarchal cross with globular terminus between them. The Inscription reads: + COҺSTAҺT CЄ ROMAҺ AЧGG Ь R.

 

Reverse:

Half length bust of Christ Pantokrator facing, wearing nimbus cruciger with two pellets in each limb, pallium and colobium, right hand raised in benediction, book of Gospels cradled in left; single border. The Inscription reads: + IҺS XPS RЄX RЄGNANTIЧM.

 

 

I got this lovely pair today...

[Prieure de Sion]

Theophilos

Solidus of the Byzantine Isaurian dynasty 830/840 AD

Material: Gold

Diameter: 20.00mm

Weight: 4.30g

Mint: Constantinopolis

Reference: Sear 1653

 

Obverse:

Facing bust of Theophilos, crowned and wearing chlamys, holding patriarchal cross in his right hand, akakia in his left hand. The Inscription reads: x*ΘЄOFI - LOS bASILЄΘ.

 

Reverse:

The facing busts of his son Constantine and died father Michel II, each wearing crown and loros, pellet between their heads, above, cross. The Inscription reads: +mIXAHL S COnSTAnTIn.

 

 

 

My latest acquisition 🙂 

[Finn235]

For more or less arbitrary reasons, I opted to extend my Roman collection to extend through Justinian, although I will sometimes keep later Byzantine emperors that come my way or that I feel I can get a good deal on. Like some of the others mentioned, Byzantine politics just failed to excite in the same way that those of ancient Rome did. I suspect when I'm feeling the squeeze and down to only the $3,000+ usurpers for my Roman set, I may eventually find the urge to continue as close to Constantine XI as possible.

I managed to get most of my Byzantine gold for what was then peanuts above melt (prior to COVID, now it'd be a little under melt)

Zeno

 

Anastasius

I really loved the style on this Justin - it's like the engravers at Thessalonika didn't get the memo that they were in the dark ages and it wasn't the 380s anymore!

Justinian

Phocas

Constantine IV

And a nice anonymous follis for good measure

[Prieure de Sion]

Romanus III Argyros

Histamenon Nomisma of the Byzantine Macedonian dynasty 1028/1034 AD

Material: Gold

Diameter: 25.4mm

Weight: 4.41g

Mint: Constantinopolis

Reference: Sear 1819, DOC 1d

 

Obverse:

Christ enthroned facing, wearing nimbus crown, pallium and colobium, raising right hand in benediction and holding book of Gospels in left. The Inscription reads: + IhS XIS REX REGNANTInm.

 

Reverse:

The Virgin, nimbate on right, and Romanus, bearded to left, both standing facing; the Virgin wears pallium and mophorium, and with her right hand crowns the emperor, who wears saccos and loros, and holds globus cruciger in left hand; MΘ between their heads. The Inscription reads: ΘCE bOHΘ RωmAnω.

 

Though of no great importance as a ruler, Romanus III produced one of the more attractive Byzantine gold coins, depicting a regal seated figure of Christ Pantocrator backed with his own portrait receiving a blessing from the Virgin Mary. The design proved highly influential and was copied by future emperors down to the 13th century. 

 

I love this style!