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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Only a Poor Old Man, post: 5390498, member: 111037&quot;]This was bought before the end of last year, but during the holiday season so the seller was on leave and I had to wait till the new year for the coin to even ship. It was a very spontaneous purchase. I always wanted an early non-cup shaped histamenon but never thought I could afford one as they tend to be pricey. Even though it is a retail purchase, I thought it was a bargain as it cost no more what most people pay for a 7th century solidus nowadays. I guess the wear on the reverse kept the price low. But in my opinion the level of detail is overall quite good and I am very happy with it. Still, it wasn&#039;t a planned purchase so I simply did not have allocated funds for it. Luckily my partner came to the rescue and she bought it for me and it didn&#039;t even take that much convincing. Well, it is an investment for our children anyway (that&#039;s what I said).</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1231734[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>It is a gold histamenon nomisma of Romanos III, a descendant of the noble Argyros family. Yes, he wasn&#039;t of royal stock and ending up on the throne was probably bad luck for him. Constantine VIII must have trusted him greatly, so on his deathbed he forced Romanos to divorce his then wife and marry his daughter Zoe instead. That effectively caused him to become King when Constantine died. He tried to be a good ruler but wasn&#039;t too efective. Mind you, he was probably pre-occupied all the time with trying to stay alive as the Zoe he married was none other than Zoe Porphyrogenita who treated poor Romanos as a mere inconvenience during her power struggle with her sister Theodora. I wish I could get get a coin of these two sisters one day as they would make a fascinating write-up, but I would probably need to win the lottery first. Having such a wife is no wonder that he was pretty much overshadowed by her. And eventually his luck run out as he was found dead in his bath in 1034 most likely not from natural causes. The legend on the reverse of this coin says: ΘCE bOHΘ RWmAnW (God help Romanos). Before saying that this prayer wasn&#039;t answered, we should consider that in death he didn&#039;t have to put up with Zoe anymore.</p><p><br /></p><p>Some fakes of this type showed up about a few years back, so I was careful to make sure that the dies looked legit. Byzantine histamena were probably the most beautiful coins in the known world of those times, and they influenced many later coin types. Here is my Venetian Grosso which is such an example.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1231735[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Show me your coins of Romanos III, or your Byzantine histamena if you have any. They are beautiful coins and in extremely fine condition they are jaw-dropping.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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