question about abundance of Byzantine Syracuse AE

During the reigns of Constantine IV through Leo III, AE issues of Syracuse seem to far outstrip that of Constantinople. One might see a 40 Nummia of Justinian II (Constantinople) or Leo III maybe once a year, twice a year, if that, on vcoins. Espcially a coin on a round flan. I snapped up a fairly nice Justinian II in 2009, and haven't seen very many ones on vcoins since (although, admittedly, I didn't check every moment).

My question; can one infer that coins of Syracuse were minted in greater quantities, or is it because of a large hoard? Or was it because metropolitan coins of that period were overstruck so often, and thus there were less of them?

 

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I am by no means an expert, but I have a (probably wrong) opinion on this...Perhaps it is a bit of column A and a bit of column B with a smattering of column C...C being that not a lot of metropolitan coins were struck during the period because there was more than enough coinage moving around? Maybe I'm way off base.

And for fun, here is an overstruck Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine Follis from Sicily.

 

That's a pretty nice one. I'd like to get a nice one of S882, but opportunity cost comes up; for the same price, I can get a Seleucia or a rarer ruler, unless one finds 882 from the right dealer.

 

I paid $22.50 for that coin. Not too much.

 

A most excellent deal. I don't have Sear open for the exact number, but that is the smaller module issue, correct? 882 was the one on the big folles.

 

In my notes, I have it as 883. Counterstamped, re-used SB809 (large M) types. No legend, facing busts of Heraclius, with short beard, on left and Heraclius Constantine, on right, both crowned and wearing chlamys, cross between their heads, all within oval punch stamped over the reverse of the large M type coin SB 809; sometimes ANNO, regnal dates and mintmark CON are still visible no legend, Large SCL in circular punch over the lower parts of the figures of Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine (SB 809 obverse); no mintmark

 

Still, a heckuva good deal for 22.50. I bought a pretty nice one from Jon Subak years ago, IIRC, and picked some halfway decent ones from 1990s HJB junkboxes.

 

Or, are folles of Justinian II, Constantine IV and Leo III (the pre XXX/NNN Leos) being diverted to auction houses?

I'd guesstimate that SCL 40 nummia are outstripping CON Just. II/Leo (non XXX/NNN) by 50 or more/1 on vcoins.

 

While doing a search on acsearch.info, approximately 30 S 1260 (Justinian II, Constantinople) and 20 Leo III (1514) coins came up, covering about 20 years of auctions.

 

Another main question that I forgot to post; can one infer that Syracuse had a better economy than the capital during this period?

How far did they circulate? One hardly sees any other coins of Italian mints during this period.

I've always wondered, if in the unlikely event someone from Rome traveled to Constantinople, if the local AE would be good there.

 

Constans II 641-668 AD contemplated moving the capital from Constantinople to Syracuse. During his reign Egypt was lost, and the relative importance of the western portion of the Empire must have increased.