My friend at the show had this Justin II and Sophia or sale. (details from Wildwinds Justin II & Sophia AE Half Follis. 565-578 AD. Thessalonica mint. D N IVSTINVS P P AVG, Justin at left, Sophia at right, seated facing on double-throne, both nimbate, Justin holding cross on globe, Sophia holding sceptre;/ large M, ANNO to left, cross above, officina letter below, mintmark NIKO. SB 369, MIB 46 a,b. 66 combinations known.
NIKO makes it Nicomedia mint. TES would be Thessalonica but Sear does not list any folles from there for Justin and Sophia, just halves with the K reverse. This is a year 5 workshop B.
Would the site (wildwinds) have the wrong image up or are they referring to the coin in general terms rather than identifying it specifically? Thank you for the correction, Doug!
http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/byz/justin_II/t.html I assume the reference followed was the SB369 on the page above where the term 'half follis' is used in the information at the left but the text on both coins show labels them as 'follis'. I see nothing about Thessalonica mint on this but the odd comment on 66 combinations is there. I assume they refer to the date and workshop combinations but I fail to come up with 66 any way I count it. Wildwinds is prone to errors. The listings are from sales including eBay which can be very wrong but this one lists Triton sales which are right making me suspect it was confused in a transfer to their database. There was a point you could report errors but I do not know the current procedures.
Tracing this a little more I'll link one of the coins to its sale where it is correctly described. The other coin in that box is a different date (a nine 6+1+1+1) so posting them together seems odd. They were not sold together. http://cngcoins.com/Search.aspx?IS_...1&SEARCH_IN_CONTAINER_TYPE_ID_2=1&VIEW_TYPE=0 I'm posting this here asking anyone interested to compare the OP coin which is year 5 and the Triton coin which is year six. At this time the six was not done with a VI but using a separate character like the u shaped 5 but with the left arm curved over rather than pointing straight up. Even more odd is the fact that seven was then made by adding a single I to the six mark so many beginners will misdate a 7 coin as a six. If you gather the whole series of this issue you will not find one with four I's since nine only requires three and the six mark while ten uses the normal X. For comparison I'll offer a Cyzicus mint half (I do not have a Nikomedia Justin) dated year 8 made by a curved top 6 and two ones.
One of the things some of us have trouble accepting is that Byzantine values don't play by the same rules as Roman. Some of the most valuable Byzantine coins are plain old ugly, crude, scrappy and next to impossile to read. With Romans there is a real bias toward high grade coins but many Byzantine coins are not available in high grade. The OP coin here is exceptionally high grade with full faces on both figures and worth more than my weak example. These are common coins. The rare things can be hard for beginners like me to recognize let alone justify spending thousands to buy. A savvy Byzantine student could find a great rarity previously unrecognized but I doubt any of us will be finding a EID MAR Brutus that the seller didn't know.
This is great information! I've been perusing various sites but I get sidetracked easily when I see some of the incredible ancient coins that are out there. I really appreciate the time you put into my threads, Doug and it doesn't go unnoticed. I've learned more in two of your posts than I have in an evening of scouring other sites. Thank you! Speaking of values..... I paid about $34 for this one at the show. He had this and one other but this was in much better condition and $10 more than the other. In the ballpark?
I'm not one to ask about prices since I am famous for being cheap and passing on coins sold over what I consider appropriate when I figure the opportunity will come again. I believe this is a nice coin for $34 based on the face details but I suspect you will find lesser coins for twice the price. I also suspect you would have trouble selling the same coin for that price to dealers willing to sell it for a much higher price simply because it is not a high demand item and dealers prefer to tie up their money in things that will resell quickly or make a higher profit percentage. What is a coin worth? I rarely know.
I asked because "ancients" are a whole new world to me and I've been making purchases more by the imagery than the potential resale value. As long as I'm not paying $30 for a $10 coin, I'm happy. If I'm paying $30 for a $20 coin, so be it because it's going to remain in my collection for the duration of my lifetime unless I find better examples. I have about three dozen identified coins plus a handful that I still have to study and identify. It's interesting because unlike the modern coins, when I hold a 2000+ year old coin in my hand, my imagination conjures up images of what the particular coin may have purchased or in whose hands it may have passed. Just fascinating!
