Anonymous Byzantine Follis Series, Another way to judge the rarity of this popular series.

When we talk about rarity in the coin world we see how often a coin or a ruler comes to market, Unfortunately this can be skewed on how hot a particular coin might be, forcing it to come to market by the seller following the demand. The catalogs are often based on previous sale records in turn that would indicate a rarity. Sears Byzantine coins Catalog was built with prices under this same philosophy, dealers providing the information on the current market price.

Here are the prices of Anonymous follis series from David Sears SBCV 1987 edition. ( All prices listed are graded as Fine and are in English pounds)

Class Price

A1---- 18

A2---- 12

A3----8

B-----8

C-----10

D----10

E----18

F----18

G----10

H----15

I-----8

J ( SBCV-1900)----15

K (SBCV-1901)-----10


I have always felt the best way to determine rarity was from site finds, not a perfect method because of location but the recent excavation of coins from the new Thessalonica Metro station 2008- 2015 we get an interesting picture, the numbers are not far off. I got this chart from a paper by Eleni Lianta on The Byzantine Numismatics Single finds from the Thessalonica metro Archaeological Excavations 2008-2015



In total over 16277 coins were found dating from the 4th to the 14th century, all lost coin finds, as the author put it coins that people could tolerate in losing. Here are three of mine I could not tolerate in losing.


Here is my Class D



Class F


Class G



Feel free to post your Anonymous Follis coins, the more the better.

 

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BenSi, Thanks for this comparative posting . The three coins from your collection are handsome, especially the Class G example . I have only one anonymous follis that I've posted a number of time but will post again for your thread. It must be said that even the most common types are rare in choice condition.

 

That example is nothing less than superb. Congratulations on being the care taker of that treasure @Al Kowsky

 

@Al Kowsky That's a beautiful Jesus follis. I've never seen one before, with that color of patina.
@BenSi That's an interesting analysis. And a nice collection of Jesus folles.
The Jesus folles are certainly interesting and beautiful coins, from the very spiritual Byzantine Empire.
Here is my Jesus follis. It is a Basil II or Constantine VIII coin, a 40 nummus bronze follis, minted from 1023 AD to 1028 AD. It may have been minted, during the last few years of the reign of Basil II. Or, it may have been minted, during the reign of Constantine VIII. On the obverse, near the left edge, it says "EMMANOVHL", which is Greek for "Emmanuel", meaning "God With Us". Also on the obverse, to the left and right of the Jesus Christ portrait, it says "IC XC", which is an abbreviation for "IHSUS XRISTUS", which is Greek for "Jesus Christ". On the reverse, it says "IHSUS XRISTUS BASILEU BASILE", which is Greek for "Jesus Christ King Of Kings". Constantinople mint. Class A3. Sear 1818. Diameter = 28 mm. Weight = 9.27 grams.

 

Problem with site finds is you do not know distribution of coins to that city, economic ups and downs, etc. I very much disagree with relative rarities presented there. To me, in more than a decade collecting them and reading all pertinent references, I would state the rarest are Class H and J. After those, Class E and F. Your site find shows the Class D and G much rarer than all of these. That simply is not true. Class D is by far the commonest of the "three line reverses", (a group with three lines on the reverse, as opposed to 4 lines of earlier issues), of D, E, and F. Class G is demonstrably much more common than the H and J, in fact only the I is more common than the G for late issues.

Sorry, in the middle of updating my paper on these for the Twin Cities Ancient Coin Club. I did a paper maybe 7 years ago about them, but wanted to add new information. Therefore, I am pretty knee deep in this subject right now.

Anyone can feel free to disagree, but most auctions I look over listings of these. I buy about any E, F, H, and J I find, since those are the ones I almost never find. All others are easier to find. Even concentrating on those 4 issues, I only own 5 Es, 4 Fs, 2 Hs, and 2 Js. I have many more of the other issues, even with not intentionally chasing them, like maybe 2 dozen or more Class Is and maybe 18 Class Gs.

Class I is actually an interesting issue. It was struck in SUCH quantity that there are huge varieties in the issue. A collector could form a fantastic collection just of Class I varieties and have very little competition doing it.

Class A1 I have to admit I have not ever really spent much time considering. I own a few, never intentionally chasing them. They could be a tad more scarce than I have considered. Given the population and popularity of A2, I guess I kind of overlooked it.

Btw, that is actually an above average Class F. They come bad usually, overstruck, corroded, or both. I lucked into a group lot, (someone else saw it though so I had to pay up), this summer from Germany with a VF full face Class F. No references ever show one that nice of a grade. Pure luck, (and diligently looking).

 

Wow, never seen another as nice, even published. Literally one in a hundred thousand in terms of condition sir. I would postulate that many/most of the other classes a coin in such condition does not exist.

 

Rarity is not the only factor involved in demand. People like the big A2 coins and those with Mary reverse (G) better so they sell for more than the smaller, dumpy ones. My mess is a K on J but only someone deeply into the subject would want it. People who want a Christ image are seeking A2 and G all the time.

 

Oh, I do agree with you on the rarity of these classes on the open market, however the find data for Thessalonica is an untouched data of rarity. You are correct it is not perfect, the data does not show distribution but we are talking a major city for the empire. We also do not know what years cash was abundant or not, either increasing or decreasing the losses.

The main aspect is popularity in the market. I was at the FUN show in Orlando a few years back and one of the dealers there had large bags of Anonymous follis, must have been over 1000 coins, all still dirty.

Here is a coin I think is not as rare but it is not popular as well. It is a A1 (half follis) I bought from HJB a few years back. It is only 4.28gm

 

Very informative write-up, @BenSi

Here is a Class K I got this summer in a lot - not great, but better than the one I already had

Anonymous Follis Class K
Alexius I
(1081-1118 A.D.)
Constantinople Mint
[IC] - XC, Christ nimbate facing, border of large pellets between lines / [M(P)]-Θ, nimbate Virgin orans 3/4 length, border of large pellets between lines.
(5.32 grams / 22 mm)
SB 1901.
eBay June 2021

 

Do not disagree sir. I have seen a few site find reports, and couple them in mass compared to market availability to come up with my opinion. I guess I had never looked at Sear's relative prices. I was actually kind of surprised he agreed with me, (or vice versa) on relative rarities for the most part.

Yeah, Education Coins (large dealer at shows), has literally thousands of anonymous bronzes, but when you pour through them 4 Classes are always missing. Same with the large boxes Harlan Berk has of them along the street in Chicago. The A2 is very popular, being a large coin with Christ. I do feel the series is a very doable, very interesting series though for those who wish to dig a little deeper.

I do not think I have ever seen a half follis anonymous. Interesting coin.

 

Where originated the idea that A1 was a half follis rather than just another of the many weight standard changes? What was yours overstruck on?
Mine is 5.5g

 

sand, wonderful portrait on this follis .

 

Doug , I just know what SBCV noted forA1 average weight 7gm , small flans, no ornamentation and frequently overstruck Nicephorus I or Constantine VII.

The whole series was in the study of Margaret Thompson in 1954, she was the one who originally alphabetical classified the series. I know A3 was created by Metcalf but one of his students disproved the theory.

Here is another I found in a group lot, 5.5gm


I also photographed an oddity similar to yours. I do not know what the over strike is on.


Also I got a group lot from an old dealers lot. It contained many small anonymous follis but these two are the rare ones.
Class H , my only example.


Class J Alexius SBCV-1900


Not in great condition but still a nice find.

 

Very nice anonymous folles in this thread.

Here's an "old timer" that came from Stephen Huston back in the early 1990s.

Romanus IV, 1068-71.
Follis, Class G

11.1 grams




Class D type follis, 1042-1055.

8.20 grams



Class A-2

Basil II and Constantine VIII, 976-1028

8.17 grams

The obverse was used as my CT avatar until the owl came along.




Two more anonymous folles from a group lot. The Maurice Tiberius follis, obviously doesn't qualify as one.







Another class A-2, from a group lot purchase in 2019.

 

Don't get tired of these. At one time I had hundreds.

 

Interesting information on these coin types. Here's my example:





Anonymous Æ 40 Nummi (28 mm, 10.47 g, 6 h). Time of Basil II (976-1025 AD) and Constantine VIII (1025-1028 AD). Constantinople mint. Circa 976-1028 AD.

+ ЄMMA (to left) NOVHΛ (to right) (Latinized Hebrew; Emmanuel- “God with us”), facing bust of Christ Pantokrator, wearing nimbus cruciger with five pellets in each limb of cross, pallium, and colobium, holding with both hands book of gospels ornamented with two pellets within a jeweled border, barred IC-XC (Greek abbreviation: Iisoús Xristós - Jesus Christ) across fields, dotted border. / +IҺSЧS XRISTЧ ЬASILЄ[Ч] ЬASILЄ (Greek: Jesus Christ King of Kings) in four lines, ornaments above and below, dotted border.

DOC Class A2; Sear 1818 (Class A3)

 

Whoa! @David@PCC - that last coin in your photos is a rare follis of Nicephorus Basilacius! Nice! What is the weight and diameter of your example?

Thanks for sharing!

 

Just my opinion, based on what I saw on the online market in the last 2.5 years:

- this approximates rarity very well: https://www.academia.edu/12657555/Byzantine_Anonymous_Folles_in_the_Bolu_Museum
- leaving aside class L-N, the hard to find for me where class J and H.
- class K appears often, yet most of the time is overstruck and in poor condition. Finding a nice one will prove difficult.
- there is a tendency to hoard some of the rarer types, yet all will appear on the market regularly. None of the class A-K is truly rare.
- most high grade I saw have the back ornamentation like Al Kowsky's. There are some on the market right now.
- the back ornamentation like Carl Wilmont's is one of the most common. It rarely has both the top and bottom ornamentation on the flan, and the above is a nice coin for the type.
- (edited to add) there can be found undocumented ornamentations. I saw at least 3 during this period and got one.

The below is my most expensive anonymous follis, and the only one I ever saw with this back text. I had to have it, as a link between the IHSH-XRISTU and the standard IHSUS XRISTUS.

 

26x29mm, 8.93g

 

great thread,