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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Voulgaroktonou, post: 5294598, member: 84047&quot;]Great post, Only a Poor Old Man! I always love to read about Anastasius and his coins. Imagine the effect his reformed coinage would have had upon a populace used to those tiny nummi that must have had to circulate in bags!</p><p><br /></p><p>As is well known, his currency reform developed in two stages. The first, in 498, consisted in the issuance of multiples of the nummus, denominations of 40, 20, and 10 nummi. Then in 512, the weights were doubled, and at the same time, a further multiple, the pentanummium of 5 nummi was introduced. The striking of the tiny nummi continued. In addition to their much heavier weight and size, the distinguishing feature of the reform coins is the reverse type, consisting of a Greek letter corresponding to the appropriate denomination. M = 40; K = 20; I = 10; ε = 5. Below are some examples of the various denominations. The first row reflects the initial, lighter reform of 498-512, and the second row, the corresponding denominations of the second reform of 512-518. The obverse images are on the left, while the reverses are on the right. All are from the mint of Constantinople, although the other mints followed the same development. The coins are, from left to right:</p><p><br /></p><p>First row. Initial, lighter reform of 498-512.</p><p><br /></p><p>Follis. 8.50 gr. 26 mm. Hr. 6. Sear 14; Hahn 22; DO 16; BNP 11-12.</p><p>Half follis. 3.76 gr. 20 mm. Hr. 6. Sear 24; Hahn 32; DO 21b; BNP 37.</p><p>Quarter follis (decanummium). 1.51 gr. 16 mm. Hr. 12. Sear 26; Hahn 34a; DO 19; BNP 44-50.</p><p>Nummus. 0.79 gr. 7 mm. Hr. 12. Sear 13; Hahn 40; DO 15; BNP 1-10.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Second row. Subsequent (heavier) reform of 512-518.</p><p><br /></p><p>Follis. 18.17 gr. 36 mm. Hr. 6. Sear 19; Hahn 27; DO 23d, e; BNP 69-75.</p><p>Half follis. 9.07 gr. 31 mm. Hr. 6. Sear 25 (this coin); Hahn 33; DO 24d; BNP 14.</p><p>Quarter follis (decanummium). 4.16 gr. 22 mm. Hr. 6. Sear 28; Hahn 36; DO -; BNP –</p><p>Eighth follis (pentanummium). 1.90 gr. 16 mm. Hr. 7. Sear 29; Hahn 39; DO 26d; BNP 92.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1222517[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>When the weights of the follis and its fractions were doubled in 512, the mint evidently considered that the increased size of the flans would allow for a figural reverse type, a seated representation of Constantinople holding a globus cruciger. Examples exist for the type on the follis, its half, and quarter, but it evidently did not give satisfaction, and specimens are extremely rare today. I have shown these before; apologies for trotting them out again, but they are at least topical, and I love them.</p><p><br /></p><p>Anastasius I. Constantinople. 512-17. Half follis. 9.62 gr. 24.5 mm. hr. 8. Sear 25A; Hahn 20a (this coin). Ex Vecchi 8, Dec. 4, 1997, lot 401. Published in The Celator, April 1999, “A Pair of holed rarities”.</p><p><br /></p><p>Anastasius I. Constantinople. 512-17. Decanummium. 4.30 gr. 20 mm. hr. 6. Sear 28A; Hahn 21. Ex Triton XV, lot 1573.</p><p><br /></p><p>An example of the follis came up in Triton XIX, lot 688. However, when I saw where the bidding was going, I decided that Meat Loaf&#039;s song “Two out of three ain&#039;t bad” made a lot of sense. Another song lyric, in this case from John Entwhistle’s “My Wife”, also suggested the importance of restraint: “My life’s in jeopardy, shot down in cold blood I’m gonna be” (or would have been if I had purchased it.)</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1222519[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Besides the doubling of the weights, the coinage of the second reform in 512 also added to the reverses such accessories as privy marks in the form of stars or crescents, and officina numbers appeared as well, as can be seen in the above examples. However, two examples of a very curious follis exist, offering the tantalizing possibility of a transitional or trial strike between the initial and final reform. George E. Bates privately published the first example of this rare type in his 1981 <u>A Byzantine coin collection, </u>of which it is number 18. Simon Bendall republished this same specimen in the December 2000 issue (p. 307) of the “Spink Numismatic Circular” in his short article, “The First Reformed Follis of Anastasius I”. Although Hahn did not include this unique coin in the corpus of his <u>Money of the Incipient Byzantine Empire</u>, he did mention it in Footnote 90: “The Bates collection (no. 18) contained a specimen which seems to be a survivor of an experimental issue showing the first reform type MIBE 22 (i. e., without privy marks or officina letter) but having the size of 30 mm. and the weight of 16.57 grams….; it might indicate that even in 498 there was at first the intention to strike full weight coins.” 5 years ago I was able to acquire a second example of this type; it is the second coin from the left below and I have flanked it with examples of the initial and subsequent reform coins to show its simple unadorned reverse type of the first reform, but having the larger size of the second reform of 512.</p><p><br /></p><p>Its description is: Follis, Constantinople, 498 (?). 17.27 gr. 32 mm. Hr. 6. Not in Sear, Hahn, DO, BNP, etc.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1222520[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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