I purchased this at the show yesterday. When I checked it out at home, I found a huge price difference between forvm's prices and ebay's prices. Are there variations of this with higher dollar values? The 2x2 was marked as such: LEO VI The Wise- 886 AD. - 912 AD.; obverse bust facing, chlamys and holding akakia in left hand; reverse LEON/En QEO bA/SILVS R/OMEOn
One, there are ALWAYS variations. I don't know of any though that lead to huge premiums. You will find quite an array of prices on ancient coins. I got one similar to yours once for about $15 a few years ago, but I see them going pretty high too. Just another example where knowledge pays off on ancient coins. You will find this about the most common coin of the period, and the easiest to find in nice condition. I like your coin, as it has a nice green patina, and is not significantly overstuck. Very nice pickup. Outside of Chinese cash, you will not find another nice coin of the ninth century this cheap anywhere else. Very nice coin. Chris
Thanks for the comments, Chris. All the other examples the dealer had had been cleaned right down to the shiny copper. This was the nicest. I love the deep green patina as well.
Good eye. The glossy hard green patina is probably the most sought after ancient patina there is for bronzes. While for some reason fairly common in middle age Byzantine coins, its still really beautiful. I have a few spectacular anonymous bronzes with exemplary examples of this which I just love.
There must be something about Leo that resulted in greens. I got mine in 1992 and it still has the sand over the green. I bought it mostly because of the contrast since back then I didn't collect Byzantine but found it attractive just like you did.
I don't collect Byzantine, but I agree--the patina on both coins is very nice! Great centering and strike too!
