| Author |
 Replies: 10 / Views: 2,361 |
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
I have been looking for a byzantine half follis for some time. My preference was to a Maurice Tiberius (or another uler that I don't own) but it seems that many of these coins are badly beaten, worn, mis-shapen or just downright ugly! On the lookout for such a thing I spotted this coin, a half follis of Justin and Sophie (Whom I already own a nice follis from) and with a price tag of less than £20 I thought it was a good enough example of a smaller denomination coin. So I added it to my collection. It does however have very little in the way of attribution, I will add the size and weight when it arrived but any information on the mint or catalogue number would be gratefully received.  |
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
I note that to the right of the K is usually the year of their reign - but I have no clue to the date of this IIU means nothing to me in terms of Roman numerals, if it is meant to be 3 then why not III?
|
|
Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
It's a very nice example, most of the time these small coins lack a lot of detail, but this one is very nice. I wish the reverse was a little cleaner though. From the picture the ANNO looks more like ANS which would be very odd. So it's most likely just covered buy dirt and is ANNO. The IIU is the year 7, the U was used to indicate the number 5. There is no mint mark but there is the officinae B. I believe the coin is SB-361 struck at Constantinople from the 2nd officinae in the year 573-74. Now here is where it's gets a little confusing. The number on the coin indicates 7 but the actual regnal year is 9. Dating on these coins were a bit strange. Regnal years 1 and 2 of his rule were indicated by the numbers 14 & 15, it was not until year 3 of his rule that the coins started to somewhat show the right order. So regnal year 3 is dated on the coin with a 1. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
Thanks for the information... I too thought it odd that ANNO looks like ANS and could find no other coins sharing this characteristic. I will comment further when the coin is in hand as to whether it says ANS or ANNO (Though it seems from the photo that it clearly says ANS)
Also very odd what you said about the regnal year, I never would have worked that out without your help.
I spotted the coin on Vcoins "new listed items" and there was also a Maurice Tiberius but it was listed as barbarous imitative half follis. I wouldn't have known it was an imitation, but this declaration was the only thing that put me off the second coin (also reasonably priced) - would there be any reason to think that this coin is imitative also?
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
701 Posts |
Ron, SB 361 is Thessalonica. It looks like the officinae letter could be a P with a bent shaft making it Antioch - SB 381, you got a bargain if so  As for the strange looking ANNO and vertical shaft of the K, could it be struck over another coin ? I have 3 but they are all from Thessalonica. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
I couldn't help myself, I had wanted to get a half follis and a Maurice Tiberius in the same coin, having got the half follis I thought I may as well add a second coin to cross Maurice Tiberius off my list as well ^^  Thanks for the input Tenbobbit, if you have 3 you must be quite a fan of these coins. Edited by DavidUK
09/26/2015 09:31 am
|
|
Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
Not according to Sear, 361 is from the Constantinople mint, 366 is from the Thessaloncia mint. As far as the mint mark or officiane it looks like a B to me, but the reverse could use a little more cleaning to say for sure. I would agree that if it is a P than it would be from Antioch and be SB 381.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
701 Posts |
Wildwinds letting me down again Ron, I should know better  |
|
Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
No worries, Wildwinds is great and I use it all the time, but when it comes to Byzantine coins I always use the book.  |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
4971 Posts |
two very nice byzantine coins DUK, lovely patina! i did recently get a maurice tiberius and a half follis on the same coin...by mistake.  |
|
Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
I would have loved to find that coin in slightly higher grade Chris, it seems that these coins must have seen heavy circulation or not stood up to the test of time though because despite there being numerous examples for sale they just don't seem to come in mint condition very often.
In the case of your coin Chris do you think the officiane mark is a P or a B? Thinking it is a P shows me that with the font used mine could very well be a P too.
|
| |
Replies: 10 / Views: 2,361 |
|
Posted 09/26/2015 08:29 am
