Hi. Beside its rhombus shape and long letter M, this Byzantine coin shows a crocodile on obverse that seems carrying somebody and opening its jaws to devour someone else. The coin weighs just 4 grams . I always appreciate your comments. Thanks..
I think it's Constans II because there is part of the legend "NIK" which is part of the full legend on other coins "EN TVTO NIKA". I'm not 100% certain, nor have I found a obverse match. It is a follis. This should be a starting point for you for research.
yeah, that sounds correct GG. rotate your obverse pic one time clockwise. the circle at the "top" is a globus cruciger in his left hand...you can see the top with the cross to the right.
I think it's Arab-Byzantine, the mint name is at the bottom, the right says "durrib 'a" whic means "made at." See Walker's book.
Thanks. I believe jcm is right. I've corrected the position of the obverse, and it's clear now that the famous globus cruciger ( spherical globe bearing a cross ) is there. You can watch it in this new scan above. That was a Byzantine coin by origine. Emperor Constans II died at the age of 38 in the year 668. He was organizing the defenses of the West against the Muslims. There were no Arab or Islamic coins yet. The question remains of how the image of the Calif replaced the image of the Christian or Byzantine Emperor. Was the coin tooled ? Or over struck or what? Then the the mint " Duriba " is at the bottom of obverse ( Calif ) or the bottom of reverse " M " ? Here is the new scan..
