Here's another Barry Murphy coin.. This guy had some creeper eyes...not Barry.. Constans ll 641 -668..AD. AE half Follis.. Ob. Crowned bust facing, holding globus cruciger.. Rev. Large XX, cross between, CRTS.. Carthage mint.(643-647)..AD..
John, congrats on the pick up. Interesting reverse. Do you know anything about the significance of the XX? And you have the mintmark wrong I think. It looks like CRT (?).
Well, then we'll wait. I'm just not familiar enough with Byzantine coinage. I only own maybe three or four.
I went and Googled Constan ll, we should do a thread on how many of these Emperor die at the hands of people next to them...:rollling: he died while taking a bath..
Nice coin eng, liking the reverse and bust details! Makes me want to get another Byzantine coin to add to my measly collection of them (only 4 coins).
Sorry I have not been visiting these threads every hour but Dionysos is certainly right about XX. Roman numeral denominations started being common with Focas and were used alongside the Greek (this would be a K) according to the mint. The coin has an obvious bit of the S on CRTS. You must never think something is missing from an ancient coin when there is another answer and small flans are the most common other answer. For comparison I'll offer a Focas (earlier) when the mintmark was KRTS. We can't get too upset over things like the confusion of C and K since English today still has not settled that one for good. At the time these coins were made, Greek and Latin were beginning the process of morphing into what we now have as modern languages. Also we, today, are still in a time that values consistent spelling for every word that has not been characteristic of every period n history. If a collector wanted to buy only from one dealer and wanted that dealer to be as knowledgeable and helpful as they get, Barry Murphy would be an excellent choice.
Carthage Mint... :thumb: Finding I like Carthage in every period... I didn't know it was refounded by the Romans until resently..
