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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TIF, post: 3533837, member: 56859&quot;]What is it about <i>money</i> that prompted emperors to accept shoddily crafted coins?&nbsp; Clearly it was acceptable to create beautiful art in other media.</p><p><br /></p><p>Maybe the careless and sloppy portraiture and generally shoddy coins were emperors trying to distance themselves from the mundane, like &quot;I don&#039;t care about money so I don&#039;t want any lifelike portrait of me to appear on coins&quot;?&nbsp; Or, perhaps they felt it was more Christ-like to eschew money, so no effort was made to create well-crafted or visually pleasing money?</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I wonder the same thing.</p><p><br /></p><p>I can&#039;t wrap all Byzantine coins into the same ugly package... there are some coins where it is obvious that a more skilled artist was at work.&nbsp; In general though it is not visually pleasing, especially the bronzes.&nbsp; I don&#039;t see it as an attempt at abstraction... just bad or careless art.</p><p><br /></p><p>An assortment of Bad Byzness:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ae43f8_3aaad998eeaf4432a07f14c298a7d35d.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><b>Justin I</b></p><p>518-527 CE</p><p>AE follis,&nbsp; 32 mm, 15.6 gm</p><p>Nikomedia</p><p>Obv:&nbsp; DN IVSTINVS PP AVG, pearl diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right</p><p>Rev:&nbsp; Large M, star to left, cross above, star to right, officina letter below, mintmark NIKM</p><p>Ref: SB 83</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/justini-sb111-2-jpg.454185/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><b>Justin I </b></p><p>518-527 CE</p><p>AE Pentanummium, Antioch. Diameter of each is ~13 mm.</p><p>Obv: DN IVSTINVS PP AV; pearl diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right</p><p>Rev: Tyche of Antioch, turreted, seated left within columned shrine with half submerged figure of river-god Orontes swimming at her feet; retrograde epsilon to left</p><p>Ref: SB 111, DOC 57</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Gold didn&#039;t necessarily get the VIP treatment either:</p><p><img src="https://www.cointalk.com/attachments/tremissisreshoot_edited-1-jpg.455530/" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><b>Constantine IV</b></p><p>668-685 CE</p><p>AV tremissis, 1.4 gm, 17 mm</p><p>Constantinople mint</p><p>Obv: DN CONSTANTINUS PPAG; Pearl-diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right</p><p>Rev: VICTORIA AVGUS; cross potent; CONOB</p><p>Ref: SB 1162[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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