Some anonymous folles ["Class I"] have been attributed to the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus III (1078-1081). He has one other follis type that is not anonymous, Sear 1888. It is quite scarce (although low valued in Sear) and rarely comes at all nice (remember, we are talking about Byzantine copper). The Sear plate coin is not pleasing--the photograph is hard to decipher. So, I was very pleased to get this one: 23-22 mm. 5,55 grams. Christ standing facing, IC XC either side, eight-pointed stars below, either side. C Φ N Δ in quadrants of cross with big dot at each end. Eight-pointed star in circle. According to Whitting, Byzantine Coins, the letters abbreviate May the cross (C) protect (Φ) Nicephorus (N) emperor (Δ) [Despot] If you have an interest in Byzantine coins and don't have Whitting, you are missing out on a lot of pleasure and information. It has many excellent enlarged photographs and a lot of commentary. I have many auction-sale catalogs from before the internet and when one offers a particularly good selection from a specialized area, such as Byzantine AE, I have it in a magazine box for that series (Here is a list of such catalogs as well as books) . Yesterday, over football, I looked through 20 sale catalogs with emphases on Byzantine AE and didn't see a nicer Nicephorus III Sear 1888 than this one (American football has very many long pauses in the action which give one time to look through catalogs). It is informative to see what other collectors have managed to put together in a given collecting area and it is pleasing when a coin you get is as nice as the ones other collectors have assembled. Does anyone have a Sear 1888 to show us, or another Byzantine AE that is good "for type"?
That is certainly a nice coin! There are several coins in Sear that are of poor quality where you can find better specimens. Byzantine coinage has come a long way since the publication of Sear. I have a soft spot for coins that depict Christ during this period, so I picked up several of these coins:
I really liked this coin, so I found one and tidied it up just a tiny bit. It could be tidied more but I will leave it like this. Here is a before and after shot.
What a beautiful coin.There is something very special about the number eight,concerning Christ.(The eight pointed stars are very special)
