I am currently working on the late folles of Maurice Tiberius, particularly from the turbulent last year of his reign, year 20. I have posted the folles of Antioch, regnal years 20 and 21 in an earlier thread. Today, from Roma, a RY 20 follis of Constantinople arrived, along with a follis of Phocas. This coin, a follis of Maurice Tiberius wearing a consular robes, was lot 1518 of E-Sale 96. Maurice Tiberius Æ 40 Nummi. Constantinople, dated RY 20 = AD 601/2. D N mAVR TIbЄR P P A, crowned bust facing, wearing consular robes, holding mappa and eagle-tipped sceptre / Large M; ☧ above, ANNO to left, XX (date) to right, CON in exergue. MIBE 68D; DOC 44-5; Sear 495. 12.14g, 33mm, 7h. Yesterday another Constantinople follis of Maurice Tiberius arrived. I am not sure if this follis has a regnal year of 20 or 21, so any help in this area would be much appreciated. Unlike the the first coin, this one has him helmeted, draped and cuirassed, which I have seen with some of his earlier folles from this mint. Did Constantinople produce folles of Maurice Tiberius in both consular robes and helmeted, draped and cuirassed in year 20? The coin itself is not in the best shape, unevenly struck and with deposits and some corrosion on the reverse. Could there be a I under the last X of the regnal year? It is hard to determine because it is in an area of weak strike with some deposits, but there seems to be a vertical thick line next to the base of the M. Also the positioning of the two Xs seem positioned higher, compared to the first coin, to accommodate the I? There is also an odd cross bar in the M, extending from the right side to just above the middle. The significance of this design (it is not a deposit), I am not sure of. 12.42 grams The other two coins, from Roma are folles of Phocas and an earlier one of Maurice Tiberius, with a nice provenance. In addition to a strong portrait of Phocas, this coin is an overstrike, quite common with his bronze coins. The overstruck coin appears to be one of Maurice Tiberius, with part of the legend appearing on the reverse. The legend itself is muddled, but I have seen this appearing on some of his other folles. This coin was lot 1526 of Roma E-Sale 96. Phocas Æ 40 Nummi. Nicomedia, year 5 = AD 606/7. D M FOCA PЄR AVς, bust facing, wearing crown with pendilia and consular robes, holding mappa and cross / ANNO above large XXXX, Ч(date) to right; NIKOB in exergue. MIBE 69b; DOC 57b; Sear 659. 10.74g, 31mm, 6h. Finally, this an earlier follis of Maurice Tiberius, RY 5, from Roma E-Sale 95, lot 1487. Maurice Tiberius Æ 40 Nummi. In the name of Tiberius II. Theoupolis (Antioch), dated RY 5 = AD 586/7. Blundered legend, crowned facing bust, wearing consular robes, holding mappa and eagle-tipped sceptre / Large M; cross above, ANNO to left, Ч (date) to right, ƮHЄUPO' in exergue. MIBE 95Ab; DOC 156; Sear 532. 12.60g, 31mm, 6h. From the Vitangelo Collection, collector's ticket included. According to Sear, the trefoil ornament on the crown of the emperor distinguishes this coin from the issue of the previous emperor, Tiberius II Constantine. Under Maurice Tiberius this issue continued to be struck in the name of Tiberius II albeit with badly blundered inscriptions.
robinjojo, You added 4 excellent 40 nummi coins to your collection ! By the late reign of Justinian I, these hefty bronze coins were showing serious shrinkage & loss of quality . About a year ago I scored a well struck 40 nummi of Justinian I from Nicomedia, Year 31. Unfortunately it had a lot of die rust & some hard green corrosion. Problem free coins this late are nearly impossible to find... Justinian I, AD 527-565 (struck Year 31, AD 557/8). Nicomedia Mint. AE 40 Nummi: 18.43 gm, 33 mm, 6 h. Sear 201. Ex Peter J. Merani Collection, purchased from The Time Machine (Mark E. Reid), December 6, 1998.
The green deposits don't bother me in the least. I give these coins a lot of latitude due to their age. That's really an excellent example of Justinian I's late coinage!
Very nice, @robinjojo - I really like folles of this era and you got some handsome ones there. Here are two Maurice Tiberius folles from Antioch: Maurice Tiberius Æ Follis Year 8 (589-590 A.D.) Antioch (Theopolis) Mint Garbled legend, crowned, mantled bust facing, holding mappa and eagle-tipped sceptre / large m, ANNO left, III/Ⴏ right, cross above, ƮHЄႯP´ in exergue SB 532; MIB 95. (12.29 grams / 29 mm) eBay Oct. 2021 Notes: Full garbled obverse legend: ΠITNTLIΩ NTΛTA(P retrograde)VЄ Here's a slightly later one, with a somewhat less blundered legend: Maurice Tiberius Æ Follis Year 16 (597-598 A.D.) Antioch (Theopolis) Mint DN MA[V G I CN] P AVT (should be G), crowned, mantled bust facing, holding mappa and eagle-tipped sceptre / Large M, ANNO left, cross above, X/μI right, Γ below, THEUP´ in ex. SB 533; DO 168b. (10.86 grams / 27 mm) A-Z Nov. 2, 2019 The only photo of a Nicomedia Phocas I could find was this half follis: Phocas Æ Half Follis Year 2 (603-604 A.D.) Nicomedia Mint [DN FOCAS] PERP AVG, crowned, mantled bust facing, holding mappa and cross / XX, cross above, regnal year II right; mintmark NIKOB in exergue. SB 663; MIB 731-b. (5.69 grams / 20 mm) eBay July 2018
Attribution: Sear Byzantine 665 KYZB (Cyzicus) mint Date: 608 AD Obverse: DN FOCAS PERP AVG, crowned, mantled bust facing, holding mappa and cross, cross in left field Reverse: Large XXXX, ANNO to left, regnal year to right, mintmark KYZB Size: 30.16 mm Weight: 11.4 grams
Cool pickups. You might also want to see if Allen Berman is still doing business (I heard he was still doing coin shows). Many of my favorite Byzantine coins came from him.
Thank you all for posting some wonderful folles of Maurice Tiberius and Phocas. It seems that these emperors play second fiddle to Justinian I, whose reform folles, especially the early one seem to attract high bids at auction or strong prices on price lists. Does anyone have a photo of a Maurice Tiberius follis of Constantinople, year 21? I know that this RY exists for this mint, but my searches online have been fruitless so far. Thanks!
IIRC, I have a pretty nice Constantinople follis (unphotographed) from A.B. It's probably not 21, though. I really like the enigmatic bucket head military mint (Grierson's Rome style) 40 nummi. I only have one of those. Also ex AB.
There are three pictured in Early Byzantine Copper Coins, which I find a very useful resource for this period. Here are a couple: I think that book might be able to help with some of your other questions too: Yes, as you can see from the Maurice Constantinople chapter. You can also see that the positioning of the numerals on some of the year 20 coins is quite similar to yours. In addition, there aren't any year 21 coins with the helmet (as opposed to crown with cross), nor does DOC list any. So I think the betting is that yours is a year 20, though it's not impossible for it to be year 21. I have only one Maurice follis from Constantinople, a year 8 overstruck on an earlier Justinian(?):
Thank you so much! It is interesting, but perhaps not terribly unusual, for both a crowned and a helmeted portrait is issued by a mint for the same year, but I think perhaps the upheaval at that time might have been part of the reason for doing this. That odd horizontal bar in the M on the reverse is interesting. I don't recall seeing it in other folles. That's a really nice follis. The under coin makes it really interesting. It's either Justinian I or Tiberius II Constantine. Both of their obverse legends end with PPAVI, which is very bold on the obverse of your coin. I have a follis of Tiberius with the legend appearing to end PPAVY. I don't know if this is an error or an alternative letter. The Y was engraved horizontal to the legend due to space limitations. The coin, from Antioch, year 6 (587/8 AD) has several hard green deposits, but the strike is pretty decent. 15.69 grams
