Bought a lot of lower-grade Byzantines. They didn't look anything special and I would have passed them by had this not been among them. It looks like a normal late Roman AE4 but I think this could possibly be the rare usurper Johannes. Evidence being what looks to be a beard (he had one on his coins) and more importantly, a possible E on the upper right hand side of the obverse (Johannes name usually had a break before the E). His bronze issues were the Victory dragging captive type, also struck in the name of Theodosius II at the same mint, Rome, in the same time frame, which is the cause of the my wondering who this is. It doesn't help that Honorius produced a similar AE type just before he kicked the bucket. It doesn't help either that the seller didn't have reverse photos of the coins including this one (perhaps not one of my best bidding decisions?). I already have Johannes but couldn't pass possibly getting one for much lower than he usually goes for. If it is him I'll probably keep the better looking one of the two and sell the other. Here is the original seller's photo: Here is my edited version of the seller's photo to highlight the details I am referring to: A clear as day Johannes from WW: A Theo II (from VCoins):
Well from what little I can see from those small pics, the most important letter does look more like an E than a V, and the bust does indeed appear to be bearded. It'll be good to see better images once you have it in hand.
Thanks guys. And I agree, bacon is awesome I've sent an email requesting a reverse photo of the coin, hopefully it will help at least a bit. In the meantime, I'll post my only Johannes (who ruled in the West 423-425 AD), in all its late Roman beauty:
A bio of him: http://jaysromanhistory.com/romeweb/empcont/e250.htm Kind of sucks what happened to Johannes in the end. He wasn't a bloodthirsty, vicious ruler. He just PO'ed the wrong guy, the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius II, with his usurpation (which probably wasn't even his idea to begin with). Eastern forces led by generals Ardaburius and Aspar swept into Italy, then...
It got shipped almost right after I sent the email, so most likely I won't be getting that reverse photo. Now to wait a couple of weeks...
I finally got it in hand today, and so snapped up my own photos of the obverse. What do you all think of the coin with these new photos? Johannes or no?
Jango, that's awesome that your new coin arrived ... ummm, but where is the bacon? Obviously, just a bad joke => congrats!! .... ummm, but sadly I dunno?
