I am sure some of you know, but thought it would be fun to ask this. I just bought the following 12 nummi issued in Alexandria, Egypt around the beginning of the 7th century. The price I paid was about 4 times the price I would normally pay for a similar coin, but would have gladly paid 10 times normal, as I have been chasing one of these for a while. Anyone know why? Hint, it will not be going in my Byzantine folder...... If no one "gets" it, I will answer later. I won't be giving bonus points to Doug or Bill though, I should expect you two would know. Chris
Great job Ziggy. Though I see you were "cheating" by being a Byzantine collector. Yes, this is a piece struck under the Sassanids during their temporary occupation of Alexandria under Khusrau II. This is the same Sassanid king that sacked Jerusalem and took the "true cross". I always found this period interesting since it basically allowed Islam to spread. The Byzantines overextended themselves under Justinian, and were exhausted and broke after his reign. The Sassanids took advantage, and took some of the east. Then the Byzantines reacted, and the two great empires of the time wore each other out fighting each other and neither had the strength to defeat the new Islamic power. Anyway its a neat piece. I had always thought I would be smarter than others and be able to find one of these cheap in a junk box, but it never seemed to happen. The prices on these with full cataloging go fairly high, so I was happy to compromise and get this much below a dealer cost, but more than a "junk box" find. Chris Edit; For those of you wondering value, (since it always seems to come up), I was hoping to buy one some day for $20, but listed at dealers they seem to list for between $150-500, if you find one, so the $50 or so I spent on this one I am happy with. I would have gone to over $100.
If anyone were looking here is one on ebay for $125. not mine and I do not know the dealer. http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320753851305 Richard
Thanks for the link. Nice little writeup. Sphinx is a good dealer, their coins are fine. I have many coins with Sphinx holders, I just have never bought from them directly. That would have been an excellent example but for the porosity and some deposits. There are three on Vcoins, one a very nice example but 450 pounds. Chris
