Roman Emperor Justinian I: Coin, history, and pictures

Thank you for the compliment !

 

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Thank you for the compliment !

 

Carthage pentanummium, issued 539-543:


Follis, Constantinople, issued in the fateful year 15 of his reign, 541-2 (war with Persia, beginning of the disaster in Italy, and the plague):

 

Great stuff @Severus Alexander , especially the Carthage 5-nummi. I'm just simply a sucker for the western Byzantine mints.

 

I have three folles of Justinian from Carthage, but this coin is the best preserved and is the only forward-facing one:

 

Hey VK: Nice coins and interesting write-up

Although Justinian coins aren't for everyone I really like them and have a big album full of 100's of different types. Here's an interesting 16 nummi bronze from Thessalonica I just picked up:

 

Weird!! Normally AISP. I see at least one other like this has appeared on the market before. Yours doesn't look like a Ψ on the right, though, more like an I under ω or sideways ε.

 

It was my first thought after seeing the coin as it appears to be two distinct letters. Not many of these around to compare to but I believe that the Sear Byzantine description may be incorrect.

 

I love Byzantine AE and Justinian at Antioch is my favorite theme among them. I wrote a page about the tragic history of Antioch at the time of Justinian:

http://augustuscoins.com/ed/interesting/Justinian.html

My favorite coin on the page is this one:

Sear 218B. 40-nummia.
39 mm, 20.77 grams.
Mintmark: θVΠO on a large follis of year 13.

The reform which yielded this new, larger, coin started in year 12 at Constantinople but did not begin at Antioch until year 13 and none were issued in year 14 (probably due to the invasion of Khusru mentioned on the web page). The mintmark switched to Latin in year 16 (see the next coin on the web page), so, this short-version mintmark was used only in year 13 making this a one-year type.

 

Hahn's Money of the Incipient Byzantine Empire has your type as 171 on plate 28. That one clearly has a single (and straight) Psi (Ψ) to the right. I agree that yours looks like two letters, but the Hahn example does not.