Byzantine Sicily: Nicephorus & Stauracius Follis (SB 1612 = this coin)

Well, after years of waiting, two in a month: Sear Byzantine Coins and Their Values "plate coins," both from Byzantine Sicily, of types I was looking for anyway.

CNG's photo:

Nicephorus I & Stauracius Æ Follis (20mm, 3.34 g, 6h), Syracuse c. 803-811.
Obv: N-I/K/H. Crowned bust of Nicephorus, wearing loros, holding cross potent.
Rev: C-T/A/Y. Crowned bust of Stauracius, wearing chlamys, holding globus cruciger.
Refs: DOC 10; Anastasi 465; SB 1612 (this coin illustrated).
Prov: Ex CNG EA 550 (15 Nov 2023), 678.​

Please let me know if anyone notices I have any of the details below wrong:

The most interesting thing about Nicephorus, to me, is what's known as the Zweikaiserproblem (I love German compound words!) or "two Emperors problem":

The religious rift between Rome and Constantinople was already well-established, but the political conflict came to a head when Irene overthrew her son Constantine VI in 797 (blinding and sending him into exile to die). Being a woman, the Papacy would not recognize her as the legitimate ruler.

In 800, Charlemagne was proclaimed Holy Roman Emperor, coronated by Pope Leo III. There were negotiations to marry Irene and Charlemagne through 802, but they failed. (It seems Irene refused.) At that point, her Treasurer, Nicephorus, overthrew the unpopular Empress. (She soon died in a monastery much as her son had.)

With Nicephorus' accession, there were now Emperors in both Rome and Constantinople, and it became clear that the two could not be reconciled, dashing hopes for a reunited Roman Empire.

He co-ruled with his son, Stauracius, until 811, when he was killed in battle with the Bulgars. (Krum, the Khan of Bulgaria, was said to have kept the skull and used it as a drinking vessel.) Stauracius escaped, severely wounded, but was deposed and died months later.

*​

Stauracius' portrait isn't perfect, but it's hard to find these ones with such complete legends. (All four characters are visible on each side.) As @Valentinian writes on his middle-Byzantine pages:

"Most of the flans are too small for the dies and little of the legend, if any, is visible."
-- Byzantine Emperors on Coins, AD 491-c.1118: http://augustuscoins.com/ed/Byz/emperors.html​

I previously posted the SB 882 coin, Heraclius countermarked over Anastasius, c. 620 , also in Sicily (prob. Catania?).



I'm a bit obsessed with figuring out the chain-of-custody before I owned a coin, so it's a bit frustrating not to know where these bronzes from Sear are coming from. (At one point they may have been in the collection or inventory of Ian Roper [UK]?) CNG has sold a bunch of others too. The collector does have fairly distinctive yellow tags/envelopes:


I still need to check a few references that illustrated some of the same specimens as Sear, and hopefully I can find more leads that may help figure out whose:

Anastasi (2009) Monete Bizantine di Sicilia;
Berk (1987) Eastern Roman Successors of the Sestertius;
Spahr (1976), Le monete siciliane, dai Bizantini...;
and, Hahn (1981) Moneta Imperii Byzantini v. 3, for the Heraclius (I don't think Hahn covered through Nicephorus?).

Not in: Ratto, Goodacre, Lhotka, Suarez.​

(I collect coins from books, collections, or auction catalogs that I enjoy, covering everything from archaic Greek to late Byzantine & their contemporaries. My "bibliographic collection of ancient coins," as I think of it. For Byzantine I've also got Goodacre Handbook & Suarez ERIC II coins.)

Any other Byzantine Sicily to share? Or Nicephorus? Or more "plate coins" (though other threads may have exhausted that supply)?

 

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Nice coins along with the write up. Irene was quite a Mother wasn't she?