A friend of mine has just made a spontaneous purchase of a Byzantine half-follis. I know little about these coins, except that this one is possibly Anastasius I (?) and apparently a scarcer variety due to the star present on the bust's shoulder. Control marks on reverse indicating third officina of the Constantinople mint? Weight is about 8g. Would really appreciate some help from more experienced members, as this is way out of my comfort zone. I cannot find many similar pieces online - but the seller referenced this as a variant of BCV 25.
As far as I know 126a is the only one with a star on the shoulder and only sometimes occurs. I could be wrong. https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=385954
Thanks for that - food for thought! I found this one online and felt it was a decent match... https://www.vcoins.com/cn/stores/ma..._follis__star_on_shoulder/437139/Default.aspx
The standard reference for Byzantine coins is the Dumbarton Oaks series. If you don't have an extra $1000 to spend on hard copies, you can download the complete set in PDF format for free at the Museum's website. Their publications search is a bit tricky. Here's the link to volume one: https://www.doaks.org/resources/pub...collection-and-in-the-whittemore-collection-1
