Continuing my Byzantine Italian mini-spurge...

Lately added three to my collection (of which I've shown two so far), but this is a big one for me since I've really wanted for a long time a rare half-follis struck in Rome (I'm still looking for the follis at the right price, however).

I've told about the pivotal conflict that was the Gothic War between the Eastern Romans/Byzantines and the Ostrogoths in previous threads, so I'll just add this time that these Rome mint half-folles of Justinian were struck right after first capture of Rome by the Roman army in 537 and struck until around 542 AD. This latter date coincides with the resurgence under King Totila of the previously weakened and demoralized Goths. After decisive victories in Verona and at Faventia in that year, the Goths quickly overran most of Italy at the expense of the disunited (and not to mention broke) Roman leadership. I'd imagine the loss of most of Italy (with the exception of Rome, Ravenna and a few other cities and fortresses) made it very difficult to transport large amounts of metal to Rome, and this led to the cessation of minting there until the second capture of Rome by the Romans in the spring of 547 AD.

Byzantine Rome mint bronzes of this time retained the cruder style present on Ostrogothic bronze coins, namely the bowl haircut, the thick bust features, and the wreath border on the reverse.

Justinian I, Eastern Roman Empire
AE half-follis
Obv: D N IVSTI-NIANVS P P AVG, diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right
Rev: Large K, star to left, cross to right, all within wreath
Mint: Rome (struck 537-542 AD)
Ref: SB 301


(seller's photo, not in hand yet)

 

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For Rome, that is nice!

 

Very nice! The photo style looks familiar... Shick? I have oodles of his coins in my Vcoins wishlist.

 

Thanks guys! Yes TIF this is from Shick, first coin I've gotten from them and from our communications they seem like very a good and respectable seller.

 

This one and another were the only ones I found on sale. The other was cheaper and had a little more detail in the bust and no sand patina but unsightly pitting on the obverse and reverse.

 

Truly like this one VK even though I'm not generally impressed with Byzantine coins. But this one has good eye appeal.

 

Just be ready to wait. Shick is above-board, so all the coins that leave his shop have to be registered with the Israeli Antiquities authorities, or some such red tape. Then they sit in New York ISC. Sometimes I've waited a month for my coins to arrive, but they've always arrived.

 

Cool score, Jango ... I've never bought a coin from Schick before, but I have noticed their stuff on several occasions (congrats)

 

Where's that polar bear facepalm photo Steve sometimes post when you need it?

Seriously though thanks for the heads up John. Hopefully this time it will be like when it took only a week for a coin from Israel to get to me.

 

Thanks!

 

Sweet coin VK! Love the patina.

 

Looks like a good piece to me,congrats!

 

Thanks all! I will post that other Byzantine Italian coin I got very soon

 

very cool VK, i'd love a rome mint byzantine.

the style is very different than the eastern mint coins isn't it?

 

Yeah, I've noticed. Eastern coins in general for me look more "fancy" than western Byzantine mints, especially the forward-facing bust coins.

 

Here is the other Byzantine Italian coin I acquired. These large V pentanummi (5 nummi) of Justinian are of Italian origin, but there is no definite consensus on the mint(s) that struck this type. Rome and an unknown Sicilian mint are the main candidates. Another possibility that these were struck by the Ostrogothic Kingdom during King Theodoric's reign. Until new evidence comes to light I will just consider this Byzantine (it has a Sear Byzantine number) with the place of striking as an unknown Italian mint. This one is better than most, even with the weak reverse. Another interesting thing about it is the misspelling of the first part of Justinian's name (the rest is off-flan). There is an extra I in front of Justinian's name (the original Latin version of the name "Justinian" is IVSTINIANVS). My example is 12 mm wide.

 

Great portrait and Patina. I like that one.

 

Sweet Large V, my friend ...



=> very cool new pickup (congrats, Jango => you rock)

 

Nice high V VK. I too love these Italian Byzantine coins. They can be very pricey for pretty! Yours is very nice.

 

Thanks. I made offers on both and they were accepted so I manged to get these nice examples for prices I was comfortable with.

Thanks again Steve!