In all of the decades that I have collected coins, I have never purchased as Byzantine solidus. At certain points I owned a gold stater of Alexander III and a rather worn aureus of Nero, as I recall, both long departed from the collection, but never a Byzantine solidus. I guess the reason for that is due to the almost cookie cutter appearance of so many of them, plus the fact that I prefer Byzantine bronzes. So, when this coin appeared for sale, I took the bait. It is a coin that is readily available, but is more often than not rather crudely executed, in terms of centering and uneveness of strike. Additionally, the die work is often not so hot, with careless treatment of the obverse portraits and crude reverses. Constans II and Constantine IV, 654-659 AD Solidus Constantinople Officina B Obverse: Crowned and draped facing busts of Constans and Constantine; cross above. Reverse: Cross potent set upon three steps, CONOB in exergue. S 959 4.44 grams The question is, would you buy a used chariot from these guys?
Luckily chariots were passé in 645AD Costans III was definately looked more like a "hippie" then an Emperor Constantine IV looked like a deranged hillbilly/ but gave the Arabs a beating. Heres one of my Constans III/ "my three sons" edition.
Nice pickup, @robinjojo. Here is my Byzantine solidus with similar design. Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine, at 613-641 AD.
Here's an AG hexgram of Constans II, Constantinople, quite different in portraiture compared to the posted solidi, but it is very similar to solidi of his that I've seen online. 648-652 AD MIB 144 5.01 grams
I think it's a beautiful coin, even though I have no personal interest in collecting gold (or any other) coins from that late -- past the point where it's difficult to characterize a coin as Late Roman rather than Byzantine, according to ordinary nomenclature. So, when I look at commonly-available solidi, I generally stop around Theodosius II.
Constans II in his early days. His reign was sufficiently long that his portrait changes over time. Constans II 641-668 AD. Solidi of Constantinople. During his reign Egypt was lost to the Empire. He contemplated moving the capital from Constantinople to Syracuse. He was assassinated in his bath. The Solidus on the left was at one time attributed to Heraclonas, one of Heraclius’ other sons, but I believe the consensus now is these are all Constans.
