Basil II The Bulgar Slayer + Constantine VIII AR Miliaresion.

Nice one . But I think it’s SBCV 1810 . Legend on your coin is ... ΠISTOI/ ЬAS ..

 

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Interesting to speculate about what would have happened if Basil II had married.

On the one hand a spouse would have involved him in the court politics he hated and pulled him away from the military.

On the other hand he might have been able to have a heir more competent than his brother.

 

When I took a Byzantine History class in college, Basil II Bulgaroktonos was unquestionably the emperor whose name I liked the most. And is the only one for whom I still remember the exact years when he reigned.

 

Terrific coin and writeup, @arnoldoe. The animated map is great.
Still wanting a milaresion, remotely as good as your example. ...The early Kievan Rus imitations (AE, howlingly crude) are cool, too. Guess if I ever landed one of those, I could relax the standards for a prototype....

 

Great write up, Arnoldoe! I especially liked the map pre - and post Basil. Some modern scholarship discounts the blinding story, but sadly, at present I cannot recall where I read it....but here are a few of my Basils, excluding the anonymous bronzes attributed to his reign.
Tetarteron. 4.22 gr. 20 mm. hr. 7. Sear 1806; DO 15b; BNP 19-20; BM 5-6; R. 1940.


Miliaresion. 1.61 gr. 25 mm. hr. 6. Sear 1809; DO 19; BNP 7-8; BM 7. Although anonymous in that it carries no imperial inscription or portrait, Grierson, in DOC 3.2, p. 611, discusses the reasons for attributing it to Basil's reign, specifically to commemorate Basil's victory in 989 over Bardas Phokas at the battle of Abydos.

Miliaresion. 2.74 gr. 26 mm. hr. 11. Sear 1811; DO 18a; R. 1947.

Miliaresion. 1.94 gr. 22 mm. hr. 11. Sear 1811; DO 18a; R. 1947. Similar to previous example, but with typical clipping of edges.

 

@Voulgaroktonou, not to toot your horn for you or anything, what was your post --or better, thread-- where you explicated your CoinTalk handle, along the lines of the Greek modernization of 'Bulgaroktonos'?
...Did I spell it right? Segueing from misspellings to obvious, mere typos, looks like you were spending too much time with your AEs before this last post! ...I'll leave you to it; don't even know the name of the denomination off the top of my head.

 

Dear "+VGO.DVCKS", is this what you have in mind, regarding my CT handle?

"When I first went to Greece on university business years ago, I needed a separate email for correspondence with the library back home. So, in choosing a name, I tried the more classical Boulgaroktonos. Nope, already in use. So I changed the beta to "V" to fit in with the medieval / modern pronunciation. Nope, already taken. Finally, I put it into the genitive case, and voila, it was available for the taking. Nothing new under the sun!"

But I'm not sure what you mean regarding the "denomination"?

 

Hi, @Voulgaroktonou, regarding your CT handle, Yep, you Nailed it!
...Well, just that your initial tetarteron is a histamenon nomisma.

 

I wish I had a histamenon of Basil, but I don't. My first coin above is a tetarteron, Sear 1806, not a histamenon, which would be broader, with a triple dotted border, and would weigh ca. 4.40 gr.. For comparison, I've just taken 2 photos from CNG's site. The top coin is a histamenon, the lower, a tetarteron like mine. The coins are not actual size. Mine came from CNG,auction 51, lot 1701, but from 1999, and it is not in their archive.

 

Many, Many thanks for the valued enlightenment, @Voulgaroktonou. I was doing exactly what it looked like; assuming that there was only one gold denomination issued, and that the only tetarterons were AE.

 

Here few in my collection .


I’m also have a few silver ones, but don’t have any pictures right now .

 

Just found one in my photo archive .



Painted over the seller’s name

 

YIPES, @VD76, Those are Awesome!!!
(...This should be in very small print: If you were ever to consider parting with one....)

 

Neat, never knew the story behind Basil. That's pretty brutal, but at least he was generous enough to leave 1 guy half-visible. What a G.

I have a Class 2 Anon follis these two guys