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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;David@PCC, post: 2721784, member: 80556&quot;]I&#039;ve had this coin for a long time and am just now getting around to a proper identification. It came from a hoard of several hundred mostly folles from the 7th century. For those unfamiliar with 7th c. Byzantine identification the reverse gives almost all the information, but I&#039;ll start with the obverse. It has two figures of Heraclius and his son, nothing unusual except for the green spot which is probably stabilized BD. </p><p>The reverse has a large M designating it as a follis, CON in the exergue showing it was minted in Constantinople, ANNO to the left meaning &#039;year&#039;, and B below the M indicating it was minted by the 2nd officina for that particular mint. All of this is very normal and there are probably tens of thousands with the same markings in existence. </p><p>Now there are 2 devices left on this reverse, the symbol above the M and the markings on the right. Byzantine years are determined by the regnal year of the emperor, in this case Heraclius. Numbers are straight forward I = 1, X = 10, same as roman numerals. The exception are u = 5, and Ϛ = 6. Combine them to make larger numbers i.e. XXIII = 23. OK we know Heraclius ruled from 610 to 641 AD, a fairly long run. That means we know(at least for Folles, because other denoms don&#039;t always use this numbering system) that year 1 = 610/611 AD, X = 619/620 AD and so on. The last possible year can be 31 or 640/641 AD. </p><p>I noticed something very very strange with his bronze coinage that someone may(hopefully) can answer is that <span style="color: #4d4dff"><b>I can not find one example from year 638/639 AD</b></span>. I searched through the entire Dumbarton Oaks Cataloge and could not find one single bronze coin from that year regardless of mint. There are a few gold issues and even those had a ? next to the year. Any history buffs know if anything unusual happened in those years?</p><p>And lastly the symbol on my coin has a Theta above the M which I am unable to find as well. Either I have stumbled upon something or I missed something. I welcome ALL opinions on this subject. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]616779[/ATTACH]</p><p>Heraclius</p><p>638/639 AD</p><p>AE Follis, Constantinople</p><p>Obvs: No legend. Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine standing with cross between them. </p><p>Revs: Large M, Θ above, B below. ANNO to left, XX IϚ II right(29). CON in ex</p><p>23x25mm, 4.7g</p><p>DOC -, SB -, Grierson -</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="6"><b>Pile on your Byzantines!!!!!!!! </b></font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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