Thanks ... yah, those semi-golden Lesbos babies were only 100-50 years or so after the Lydian examples (I have a Lydian Lion/Bull from 560 BC) 560 - 478 = 82 years => thanks for the ballpark info (I love it no matter what the gold content ... but thanks again) ... gawd, that's a long time ago, eh? (2500 years!!)
Definitely a real beauty @ValiantKnight !!! Alas, I only have my modest solitary Byzantine tremissis for the type... But I did score an Electrum a while back........my mini gold hoard LOL
My only ANCIENT gold, but I do have a bunch of moderns... Carthage - Zeugitana AV 1-10th Stater-Shekel 350-320 BCE 0-94g 7-5mm Palm- Horse Head
Well, even though most everyone here has seen it several times over, here is my only gold: VALENS AV Solidus OBVERSE: DN VALENS PER F AVG, pearl-diademed, draped & cuirassed bust right REVERSE: RESTITVTOR REIPUBLICAE, Valens standing right, holding labarum in right hand & Victory on globe in left, cross to left. Mintmark star ANTE star Struck at Antioch, 364 AD 3.6g, 19mm Antioch RIC 2d,xxxvii-5
Here's a family portrait of all of my gold. My Anastasius tremissis would be here as well but he grew up and moved out of the house already
Terrific… That Justinian solidus no longer has the “bumps” on his face. It was apparently a bad photo with wrong light perspective. That one you have in hand resembles more real solidii. --- I have shown my before but in case new readers want to see variations then here my Justinian and Maurice, the latter one 22 siliqua minted in Antioch according to David Sear: Justinian, 4,19gram 20mm Maurice Tiberius, 4,12gram and 21mm. (22 siliqua)
@ValiantKnight Awesome on the Byzantine gold - I still want a nice gold Byzantine keeper, but this will have to do in the meantime. Struck in the same mint about 1000 yrs later. Kostantiniye, (Istambul) Ottoman Empire Suleyman I (The Magnificent) (r. AD 1520- 1566) AV Sultani 20 mm x 3.36 grams Dated ( AH 926 or AD 1520) Obverse: Sultan Süleyman Shah bin Sultan Selim Shah, Azze nasruhu, dhuribe fi qustantiniyah , seneh (926)-(Sultan Süleyman Shah son of Sultan Selim Shah, May his Victory be Glorious struck in Constantinople Year (AH 926) ) Reverse:Reverse : Dharibun-Nadri sahibbul izzi vennasri filberri velbahr-(Striker of the Glittering, Master of Might Victory and of Land and the Sea.) Ref: Album -1317
As most Byzantine coins seem to be base metals and severely devalued billon, when I get around to collecting a few Byzantine coins for my collection, I'll probably stick to Solidus. Some of them are very reasonably priced for ancients, at only $400-$500 per coin. Haven't gone down that route yet as I still have quite a lot of ancient silver and high quality billon to collect.
Nothing wrong with some rare Byzantine Silver... Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine AR Hexagram 22.0 mm x 6.28 g Constantinople mint. 610-640 AD Obv. dd NN HERAKLIUS et hERA CONST Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine seated facing on double throne Rev. Large DEUS ADIUTA ROMANIS Cross potent above three steps (God Help the Romans) ref# S 798