Picked up a small lot of Byzantine and Arab-Byzantine coins and I have been trying to classify them. Unfortunately, I don't have Foss nor Goodwin, but I have been using Goodwin's excellent article that he published at https://www.academia.edu/30857954/AN_INTRODUCTION_TO_ARAB-BYZANTINE_COINAGE. Some of them are really weird and hence it goes beyond the simple classifications that are found in the article above. Can someone identify the following two coins for me? I'll try to upload some more, but these two are on the top of the list... Thanks, QG
I could not find either in Goodwin nor Foss. You may be in the same boat as I. I have many pseudo Byzantine 7th century coins that I am unable to find In any reference. When I get a breakthrough I post my findings.
I look forward to an update when you figure out what these are. Off the top of my head (worth very little!) I'm thinking Cyprus...
Probably a more accurate nomenclature is required here. These are called Pseudo-Byzantine coins and were issued as an intermediary coinage to make them acceptable to the conquered Byzantine areas, specifically Syria and Egypt. These coins, typically, do not have Arabic letters in them, but have corrupted, Latin/Greek letters. So, there are part of the Arab-Byzantine coinage, but sub-classified as Pseudo-Byzantine.
Thanks David for spending the time to look for a match. These coins should be uploaded to Zeno for further analysis as there might be some gems in them. That might prompt further research in this series. I suggest you do the same with your lot..
That is my thinking as well, but I am not sure either. Not an expert on these coins and without proper resources, it makes it even harder
Foss is not too pricey! Even if these two aren't in it, it might help with some of the others. I was thinking of getting it, but it's a bit harder to find a reasonably priced copy here in Canada.
Yeah, I know. Its not the price, but the space! I just don't have much space anymore and adding more books will definitely get me a fast trip to the dog house. I wish there were more vendors who published ebooks...
The Foss book has lots of information, but only around 30 of the coins are imitative the other 80% are listings for coins with Arabic. I was expecting to see more imitations before I purchased his book. The Goodwin book, a good reference, has maybe even less. I took @Valentinian advice and borrowed Sylloge of Islamic coins in the Ashmolean and #505/506 are closish to yours with the three figures, but.... the reverse has KYπP in the exergue and the year and 'ANNO' are also different That book also only has 2 or 3 pages of non Arabic coins. Of the hoard I purchase 10+ years ago (only partly pictured), it has as many as 30% imitations in it, so I assume the early 7th century saw lots of trade with the Byzantine empire. The coin in my possession is very close to one sold from CNG Since we are on topic does any body know what the "BN" reference is CNG is talking about? I tried looking it up in their bibliography, but often the abbreviation does not match the title. I suppose I could just email them. What is Zeno QG?
Zeno is actually zeno.ru, the premier site for eastern and beyond coinage. A lot of researchers hang around that site and we upload coins into the catalog to seed it. If we can't identify it, then they might be able to help. If not, it seeds the coins for research. Majority of the coins listed have KYπP in the exergue and these do not, apparently. Going back to Pottier and Schulze's article, the mint names are much more complex, but I can't find mine there either. BN is Catalogue des Monnaies Byzantines de la Bibliothèque Nationale and comes in two volumes. I'll see if I can find that... Regards, QG
Problem is, how do you know? The 7th century was one of turmoil. Constans II coins run the gamut of well struck imperial issues, cruddy imperial issues, local copies, "pre-arab" pieces, and arab byzantine. Any coin not imperial or fully arab byzantine you do not know exactly under what circumstances it was struck or who was in power when it was struck. Maybe it was right after arab conquest, but maybe a local counterfeiter.
That is the real question, isn't it. Just like everything we know about coinage, it is either through written sources or by analysis or both. For these, I suspect it is more theory than fact as I doubt there was any written history to explain these. The current theory is what I indicated above until something changes...
Both coins are Pseudo Byzantine. You have both varieties, two standing figures, and three standing figures. Two figures are Type "C" with typical blundered legends: minted at Constantinople, based on Heraclian folles. The Three figures are Type "B" folles also blundered with "mints" of Constantinople, Nicomedia, Antioch and Thessalonica. Cyprus is the mos common. They are mostly struck on halved imperial folles. Your examples are quite nice. Godwins book "Studies in the Khalili Collection Volume IV is a good one, as well as SICA Volume One by Steve Album. There are several other volumes which I can supply later. Foss is a good starting point, as to types. Got to go as I'm late for a meeting.
Other helpful books: Arab Byzantine Coins from the Irbid Hoard; Including a new introduction to the series and a study of the Pseudo-Damascus Mint. Tony Goodwin and Rika Gyselen. 2015 Royal Numismatic Society, No.53, London Coinage and History in the Seventh Century Near East 5; Tony Goodwin, editor. Proceedings of the 15th Seventh Century Syrian Numismatic Round Table Held at Corpus Christi College Oxford on the 17th and 18th September 2016 Arab-Byzantine Coins and History: Edited By Tony Goodwin. Papers presented at the Seventh Century Syrian Numismatic Round Tabel held at Corpus Christi College, Oxford on the 10th and 11th September 2016 So much more on this subject than when I first started. We owe many thanks to all of the above. Cheers!
Thanks @Black Friar. This should keep me busy for a while. I am going to try to hunt down these sources. Might be worth taking a trip to the ANS Library next week... Regards, QG
Here is one from the lot that I was able to identify: Pseudo-Byzantine: Anonymous (ca. 640-670) Æ Follis, Syria/Palenstine (Goodwin Type H; cf. Numismatik Naumann Auction 11, Lot 741) Obv: Facing imperial bust with long beard holding globus cruciger; heavily blundered legend around perhaps intended as INPЄR – CONST Rev: M with Γ officina below and cross above, ANO – II/I/Ч either side; NЄO in exergue and the one from NN's auction:
Thanks! Yes the obverse is a match, I had it as a variety of type G, I suppose that may be as close as I can get with a published coin. The others I have are still in limbo, I will check Zeno for them. Btw your type H are very nice.
