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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Valentinian, post: 3857174, member: 44316&quot;]Leo VI was the elder son of Byzantine emperor Basil I and assumed the throne in 886 when Basil died. Alexander was the younger son. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1021267[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>27 mm. 8.46 grams.</p><p>LEO VI and Alexander, 886-912</p><p>+LЄOҺ-S AΛЄΞAҺGROS, Leo VI on left, smaller Alexander on right, both crowned and wearing loros, labarum between&nbsp;&nbsp; [The letter that looks like a G may be a version of Δ]</p><p>4-line legend</p><p>+LЄOҺ /SALЄΞAҺ/GROS BASIL/ROMЄON</p><p><br /></p><p>Grierson wrote the Dumbarton Oaks volume 3.2 which covers this reign. He notes there is uncertainty if this type is early in the reign or later. Usually hoards deposited part way through the reign with one type and not the other would be used to establish chronological order, but when he wrote DO such hoards had not been found to determine whether the very common Leo VI alone type is earlier or later. It can be argued that this joint type was first because Alexander was included initially by the wishes of Basil and it took time for Leo to gather enough power to push Alexander aside. On the other hand, it can be argued that this type followed the Leo-alone type because Leo had great difficulty fathering a male heir and he may have begun coinage alone and reluctantly conceded he might have to let his brother succeed him (which, in fact, happened).</p><p><br /></p><p>Eventually Leo VI had a son by this fourth wife (having three marriages was forbidden and having four marriages was major scandal). When Leo died his son was too young so Alexander was made emperor, but in his year-long reign he did not issue base-metal coinage except for very rare coins from the Cherson mint. When Alexander died the young son Constantine VII of Leo was promoted with his mother as regent and that began a long story of his coinage told in a previous CT thread:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/constantine-vii-replaces-romanus-i-byzantine.337736/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/constantine-vii-replaces-romanus-i-byzantine.337736/">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/constantine-vii-replaces-romanus-i-byzantine.337736/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Show us a Byzantine coin of the period![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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