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Message:: [QUOTE="Only a Poor Old Man, post: 4218116, member: 111037"]Freshly received in the post! [ATTACH=full]1080063[/ATTACH] Nicomedia mint, 13 year officina 2, just like Al Kowsky's from a couple of posts above, only his has 2 great sides but mine is unfortunately lacking a bit on the Justinian head's side. Probably due to all the kissing <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie14" alt=":angelic:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> (That's a little theory of mine.. In the Eastern Orthodox church we have a habit of venerating icons of saints which pretty much means kissing them, a lot. Justinian was canonised, so he is an official saint. If you own a histamenon nomisma or any other Byzantine coin with Christ on it, it is a good assumption that it has been kissed thousands of times. Maybe that's why it is hard to find a depiction of Christ that is not worn out!). I wanted a Justinian to be my first Byzantine coin as he is one of the most important emperors. He would not be as memorable though if it wasn't for his wife Theodora... Early on his reign she stopped him from fleeing during the infamous Nika riots (the first documented act of mass sports hooliganism), and he eventually became one of the most succesful emperors (mainly by spending the great surplus left by one of his predecessors Anastasius).[/QUOTE]