A Few Attractive Byzantine.

Just picked up a few Byzantine coins on the last Zeus Auction. They shipped Very quickly. Both are follis , both have their high points and low.

Justinian Follis Constantinople mint.

42.04mm ( Bigger than the auction stated.)

22.7gm



The other is Phocus follis.

33.4mm

11.3gm

Nice reverse and above average portrait.



I did get a few others, one I already showed off on another thread. An imitation A2 follis.

If anyone has new Byzantine coins , show them off , I would love to see them.

 

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Those are beautiful. Amazing

 

Very nice, I love the massive Justinian follis. I actually received a new follis today but I already made a thread about it.

 

Those are great! Way nicer than the recent Byzantines I have picked up. I recently posted them over here:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/a-few-recent-byzantine-comfort-purchases.369715/

So I won't post them all again

 

They were very cool, I added one coin of your post the A2 at the end.

 

Wow I just saw it, Beautiful coin.

To be honest I try to be as picky as you but this auction was going on during Martini hour. Gets dangerous.

 

Oh yeah I saw that! That is a great portrait of Jesus and a great coin overall!

 

Thank You, same auction. I do not know why I keep getting A2 follis, they can really draw you in. This one I don't think was official, but it is pretty. Same auction

 

I like them as well but I don't have any that are quite as detailed as yours.
I really like the sandy patina. It makes all the details pop.

 

Nice coins - pretty good portrait for Focas, and a nice large folle of Justinian with very clean devices.

 

There were a few coins I picked up in several recent auctions, including some of the overstrikes I have shown earlier. Here is a mis-attributed trachy that was listed as John II Comnenus Aspron Trachy, when in fact, it is a trachy of John III Ducas-Vatatzes of Nicaea:



Empire of Nicaea: John III Ducas-Vatazes (1222-1254) BI Trachy, Magnesia (Sear 2092; DOC IV, Type D 38; Lianta 226-27)

Obv: IC XC in upper field; Full-length figure of Christ, bearded and nimbate; right hand raised in benediction; left hand holds Gospel; Cross on either side in field
Rev: IШΔ-OΔK, MP - ΘV in upper right field; Figure of emperor on left, and of Virgin nimbate between them patriarchal cross on long shaft at the base of which a globe; Emperor wears stemma, divitision, jeweled loros of simplified type and sagion; right hand holds labarum-headed scepter
Dim: 34 mm, 3.87 g, 6 h

 

I am glad you got it QG, I was the other bidder.

 

Seems all of us are bumping into each other now . Byzantines are picking up in popularity these days...

 

Yeah, a lot more bids and prices going up. In the Frank Robinson auction I got this Focas for $120 IIRC when the initial offer price was $35.

 

Here is another overstrike of Heraclius that is struck over @ancient coin hunter's Phocas type that I picked up. I suspect it was also, overstruck on a larger follis as the flan is quite large for the Phocas type...




Byzantine Empire: Heraclius (610-641) Æ Follis, Constantinople, RY 4 (Sear 805)
Obv: ddNNhЄRACLI ЧSЄT hЄRACONSTPAV; Heraclius, on left, and Heraclius Constantine, on right, standing facing, each holding globus cruciger
Rev: Large M; ⳩ above, A/N/N/O II/II across field; CON in exergue

Overstruck on a Follis of Phocas, specifically Sear 665

 

Cool overstrike @Quant.Geek

 

Great coins, @BenSi! I picked up a small Byz lot and an lone byz. One matches your large Justinian, but the Delta officina (44mm, 21g). I placed them next to my Carthage 15-shekels and a quarter for size comparison.

 

Last two from same purchase. Not coins though.

Not sure where this one comes into play, the reverse is blank. It was described as a portrait of a queen. hmm
Weight: 1.26gr
Diameter:13.6mm


And this one is what brought me to the auction a 7th to 12th century Byzantine cross. I am not sure how it was attributed, perhaps by the way the text was written. I was given the translation from a member of another board. "Lord, help the wearer".

Weight: 4.10 gr
Diameter: 6 cm

 

Back during the last Ice Age I had a hexagram that I ended up selling to raise some funds. It was a cool coin, so when this coin appeared in last month's Roma auction, I decided to bid on it, successfully, so here it is.

It is a pretty decent example, with good centering, but is slightly porous and has a flan crack. There's some roughness to the surfaces in places, and I originally though was corrosion, but now I think it is die rust.

Byzantine Empire, 648-652 AD
AR hexagram
Constans II
Constantinople
Obverse: ∂N CONSƮANƮINЧS P P AV, crowned and cuirassed bust facing, wearing chlamys and holding globus cruciger.
Reverse: ∂ЄЧS A∂IЧZA ROMANIS, cross potent set on globe set on three steps.
MIB 144; DOC 50; Yannopoulos 67-84; Sear 991.
5.01g, 22mm, 12h.

 

BenSi, Those are two great additions to your Byzantine collection ! Both are razor sharp strikes & the Justinian bronze is exceptional . There is some lost detail on Justinian's face, but the inscriptions are bold. Perfectly struck large Justinian bronze coins are extremely rare; I've only seen two in many years of collecting . I've got a couple of nice year 13 bronzes that I've posted before, my favorited is pictured again below.