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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;LukeGob, post: 26648613, member: 73885&quot;]Starting with Theodisius II, a handful of bronze coins from a few specific Mints of Eastern Roman Emperors began showing an enigmatic cross above the head on a profile bust. What they meant, or functioned as, is a mystery. A simple control mark would be the simplest answer, but makes little to no sense upon examination. They continued until the profile bust was replaced by the classic facing bust of later Byzantine coins, when a cross on the pictured Ruler&#039;s head became a near constant. </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; For Theodisius II, the crosses are on his anepigraphic cross Re type, from Antioch only. They occur randomly throughout the series &amp; seem to come in 2 varieties, a small &amp; regular bust. Some of the crosses are potent, some are Latin. </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Continuing to Marcian, they&#039;re definitively on one type from Nicomedia only. I have a possible example with a cross on a monogram seemingly/possibly from Constantinople, but that&#039;s for a separate post. They occur randomly on coins of a single monogram variety, with a star at the top of the wreath &amp; the obverse legend a specific shortened/blundered version. They come in both an unusually barbarous-style variety &amp; an unusually nice-style one, also with both Latin &amp; Potent crosses.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Leo I expanded to three types across six basic varieties (that could probably be sub-categorized further into additional varieties) &amp; to the mint of Constantinople, as well as a single type also from Nicomedia. Interestingly, I believe this can, possibly, be used to help order &amp; date Leo’s AE. If whatever the crosses represent moved from location to location, as it seems to have done, then the example from Nicomedia would&#039;ve/could&#039;ve been a continuation of issuance from that mint from Marcian’s previous reign, and thus (at least one of) Leo&#039;s earliest struck type/s. But, again, that&#039;s a separate post… His types with the crosses also come in both Potent &amp; Latin &amp; are: </p><p>Constantinople:</p><p>-Lion: Stg L w/in wr, cross or star above / Stg L, no wr, cross above / crouching L w/in complete wr</p><p>Ob: DN LEO PF AVG</p><p>-Monogram-Latin: 2 ob Leg var.s, both bent &amp; straight &quot;L&quot;-leg var.s</p><p>Ob: DN LEO PF AVG / DN LEO PF AVGO (this, RIC 693, has mint unconfirmed, but I have an ex with the MM on-flan, confirming CON)</p><p>Nicomedia:</p><p>-Emp Stg F w/long-cross in R, L on Barb, star L-field, Ob-leg DN LEO PE-RPET AVGO</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Neither Zeno nor Basiliscus &amp; Marcus have any known types with a cross over their head, though I would not be surprised if (&amp; kind of suspect that) they exist unrealized. </p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Anastasius through Justinian I is well documented &amp; a bit outside my wheelhouse &amp; core collection. Mr. Warren Esty (Our own Valentinian) has a really good site cataloguing the known types &amp; the collection of Dan Clark. I highly recommend checking it out, if you haven&#039;t already. Link: <a href="http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ByzCross/Cross-above-head.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ByzCross/Cross-above-head.html" rel="nofollow">http://augustuscoins.com/ed/ByzCross/Cross-above-head.html</a> </p><p>The crosses continued at the same three mints, Antioch, Nicomedia &amp; Constantinople. As far as I know, that is what is known. Profile busts were almost entirely phased-out under Justinian I, obfuscating the trail somewhat (though, in retrospect &amp; upon consideration, it should&#039;ve highlighted where to look for them). However, I&#039;ve found some, seemingly unknown, in one of the few profile bust types that continued to be struck. Not only did the crosses continue through the reigns of two more Emperors, but, once again, they moved to a new mint. This time, Alexandria, on the 12-N denomination struck there. The two examples pictured for (presumably? Maybe Justinian? Input appreciated) Justin II are mine. The Maurice, unfortunately, is not (I tried, I hope whoever won it understands what they have. Congrats, whoever you are). For reference &amp; acknowledgment, it&#039;s the listing picture for Sol Numismatik Auction XLVIII, Lot 867. This is a bit out of my scope of interest &amp; knowledge (what little I have), kind of a bookend to my collection of cross-over-bust nummi for the &quot;Roman&quot; Emperors; I don&#039;t collect much of these larger denomination “Byzantine” AE. But, as far as I can tell, these 2 varieties are not known to the few references/collections &amp; collectors that acknowledge them.</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; I feel like it could be an important clue to deciphering the crosses&#039; meaning, if anything? Why the Mint switching, &amp; why those 3, then the 4th? What happened, first in the middle of the 5th C. at Antioch, then moving to Nicomedia, then on to Constantinople? Then moving between these three locations, or associated with them in whatever way, simultaneously during the start &amp; middle of the 6th C? Before finally moving, once again, to a new location at Alexandria? Why Alexandria? I mean, I&#039;ve got nothing. Kind of dumping this one out there, hoping someone else has it. Yup. It&#039;s a very interesting little mystery. The more you look into them, the more patterns you see &amp; the more unusual little details emerge. They were clearly for…something? Deliberate. Control mark just doesn&#039;t make a lot of sense. Some of these don&#039;t even have a Mint Mark, more lack an Officina Mark, why a control mark before an Officina? Maybe someone can explain. I find it especially interesting that the crosses came in both Latin &amp; Potent varieties; not a big deal to modem eyes, but I wonder if ancient eyes saw differently? </p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Has anybody come across any more of these? Either cross-over-bust types for Justin II or Maurice other than this one, or other crosses from Alexandria for earlier (or later?) Emperors? Anybody have ANY ideas, thoughts or guesses as to their meaning or function? I&#039;m working on a post about the crosses in general, focusing on the three earliest Rulers for whom they were struck, so I&#039;m not going too far into the other types with them, just skimming for context. It&#039;s been suggested that I let Dumbarton Oaks know about the coins, &amp; I do work near D.C., where I believe the collection is housed. I suppose I should also donate one of my examples to them, provided they even want it, but I&#039;m not sure how. Any assistance anyone could provide in respect to that would also be appreciated.</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; Thanks for looking </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1699967[/ATTACH] </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1699968[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1699966[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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