A few recent Byzantine comfort purchases

Nice pickups furryfrog02! Byzantine coins are really diverse and beautifull.
Here are a few of mine...

 

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@panzerman your collection of gold is stunning. Your coins never cease to amaze!

 

It is also special due to the variety of SB 805. In this particular variety, both Heraclius and his son hold a long staff that is surmounted by a cross, whereas the other variety, both of them hold a globus cruciger. Here is another overstrike that I picked up recently. It is an Alexius I tetarteron that was overstruck on an Anonymous Follis. I need to take a better picture than the one from the dealer:


Byzantine Empire: Alexius I Comnenus (1081-1118) Æ Tetarteron, Thessalonica (Sear 1931)
Obv: Crowned facing bust, holding cruciform scepter and globus cruciger
Rev: Jeweled cross with central X and globe at each extremity; C-Φ/AΛ-Δ in angles

Overstruck on an Anonymous Class B follis.

 

All my Byzantine coins are “comfort purchases”, or to put it more accurately, comfort “rentals”, for, at best, I will only be able to keep them for my lifetime. None of these pictured are recent acquisitions; but as I love Byzantine silver, I guess I consider this small selection of my hexagrams as “comfort coins”.

Top row, left to right:
Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine. Ravenna, 615-38. Hexagram. 6.04 gr. 25 mm. 6 hr. Sear 903; Hahn 153; DO 277; BNP 1-3; BM 440-1; T. 221-2. A Ravennate attribution is based upon style and in particular, the letter forms of the reverse. Note the Roman “D” and “V” for “δ” and “υ” in "DEVS".

Constans II. Constantinople, 642-7. Hexagram. 5.65 gr. 23 mm. 6 hr. Sear 989; Hahn 142; DO 4, 48; BNP 1; BM 79; R. 1540. An unusual feature of this coin is the retrograde reverse inscription.

Constans II. Constantinople, 647-51. Hexagram. 6.48 gr. 27 mm. 6 hr.
Sear 991; Hahn 144; DO 50; BNP 2-8; BM 80-4; R. 1541-2.


Bottom row, left to right:
Constans II and Constantine IV. Constantinople, 654-9. Hexagram. 5.09 gr. 24 mm. 5 hr.Sear 996; Hahn 150; DO 55; BNP 14-7; BM 87; R. 1600.

Constans II and Constantine IV. Constantinople, 661-3. Solidus. 4.39 gr. 19 mm. 5 hr. Sear 964; Hahn 31; DO 30g; BNP 60-1; BM 58; R. 1606. In contrast to the previous coin, the obverse inscriptions of this and the following coin are fragmentary. The inscription on my Sear 996 above reads: δN CONSτANτINUS C CONSτANτ; that on my Sear 964 is reduced to: δN CO – τI, and that of my Sear 987 is shorter still: only AN appear between the emperors’ heads.

Constans II and Constantine IV. Constantinople, 659-68. Ceremonial miliaresion. 4.21 gr. 21 mm. 6 hr. Sear 987; Hahn 141; BM 89; T. 269.

 

Those are great silver examples! I don't see too many Byzantine silver coins. Usually bronze and occasionally gold. I really like the beard on the bottom left Constans II.

 

That's why I am drawn to Byz. silver. Finding them is more of a challenge. Of course, so also are high quality bronzes!

 

I love a grubby (though still identifiable) bronze though. Something with some honest wear. I like to imagine all of the hands it passed through during its life.

 

I just got home to several new coins. This one is enchanting.

Class A2

Weight: 10.30 gr

Diameter: 26 mm

 

I share your thoughts. For 30 years I was curator to a private collection of Byzantine coins owned by a very dear friend. He was very wealthy and could afford anything the market offered him. Yes, he had wonderful gold of both common as well as rare issues, but we decided to focus his collecting on coins that the "common man" would have handled. Our only stipulation was that they had to be in the best possible condition. That is a hard goal to achieve in Byzantine coins, as you know! And also, because of the relative scarcity of silver, that was our second goal. We had many lucky years of collecting, and I am proud of the collection we assembled. It is a monument to him.