Featured Justinian's Monetary Reform of AD 538

C.A., Your latest score is a handsome, well detailed follis with an attractive patina . I've had regrettable experiences buying from over-seas sources too . After purchasing my last over-seas win at auction, my VISA card was compromised ! Someone in Lebanon was attempting to make purchases with my card .

 

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Yikes! I hope they didn't get too far with that. I've been more cautious with international purchases for the past months. I don't think I'll be buying anything from Europe anytime soon for the time being.

On that point, here's a plague post-reform follis from Nomos. From the looks of the obverse die, pretty sure the order was sent out to reduce the size/weight of the folles but the flan maker didn't get the memo before making this coin.


542 - 543 A.D., Constantinople Mint, 4th Officina
19.16g, 39.0mm, 6H

Obverse: D N IVSTINIANVS P P AVG,
Helmeted and cuirassed bust of Justinian I facing, holding globus cruciger and shield decorated with horseman motif; cross to right

Reverse: -,
Large M; A/N/N/O - X/ЧI (R.Y. 16) across field, cross above, Є below

Exergue: CON

Provenance: Ex. Nomos Obolos Auction 10, Lot 532

Reference: SBCV 163

 

C.A., Your Nomos follis is indeed a handsome coin ! On the humorous side, the portrait of Justinian looks like it was done shortly after he contracted the plaque . The coin was struck on a very broad flan, but the weight seems logical for the date of issue. Andrei Gandila states "Justinian's follis of the heavy series (538 - 542) had an average weight of 21.65 gm, with considerable variation."

 

Here are some interesting ones minted after the coinage reform:

Perhaps you were trying to set a record for most mentions without tipping off what was special to confuse beginners??? I always want one of those YZ mintmark coins but never found it. I do have the other one from Nikomedia which is a lot less obvious since the third letter after NI is not required to ID the coin as NIKomedia. I wonder how may people even get that joke. I wonder if the mint workers at Nikomedia were aware of the Kyzikos coin and said, "We can do that, too." ...or was it just an accident? I so wish there were an officina O but that would make this way too cool.
Justinian half follis mint mark NI(K)

 

I do metal detecting and find very helpful to read these kind of articles. finding coins and knowing the history behind them makes these 2 hobbies the best.

 

I must say that Justinian looks a like someone whose credit card has just been compromised.

 

Oh right! It's neat when you see it. For beginners, look closely and you'll see the denomination 'K' is part of the mintmark making up Kyz vertically.

 

OK, I guess I had that one coming ...

 

The clever designers working at the branch mints had a sense of humor, even in hard times .

 

Will do later today after work. As I said I have 4 pieces, unfortunately two each from the same dies.

 

Here are two of my Theodahat folles:

 

This is the type of helmet (Germanic Spangenhelm) that Theodahat is wearing on his folles, only that the cheek guards have been removed to reveal the king's face.

 

Tejas, Those are both magnificent coins ! Thanks for posting . I notice that Theodahad is sporting a large cross in the top coin, clearly advertising he is a Christian . An engraved cross can also be seen in that stunning helmet .

 

Yes, the large cross is on all of Theodahat's folles. The portrait is full of symbolism: the helmet shows Theodahat as a warrior. This is a message to the Gothic nobility who doubted his military credentials and of course to the invading East Romans. The cross is a message to the Romans in both Italy and Greece. Theodahat is basically saying that here is a Roman army that consists to a large extent of non-Christian barbarians that is attacking a Christian country defended by a Christian Gothic army. And the image of Victory was chosen for obvious reasons.