| Roma Numismatics Ltd > E-Sale 114 | Auction date: 23 November 2023 |
| Lot number: 1534 Price realized: Unsold | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Nicephorus I AV Solidus. Syracuse, AD 802-803. ꞂIFOROS ЬA[S], half-length bust facing, wearing crown and chlamys, and holding cross potent and akakia / IҺSЧS XRISƮЧS ꞂICA X, cross potent on three steps; C-I across lower fields. BCI 820; DOC -; Spahr -; Anastasi -; Sear -; Ricotti Prina 22; for dating, see the corresponding issues from Constantinople (DOC 1; Sear 1604; Füeg, Nomismata 1); Rauch 97, 927 = NAC 75, 696 (same dies); Gorny & Mosch 224, 770 (same dies); Roma V, 945. 3.85g, 20mm, 12h. Extremely Fine; minor flatness in places, but mainly sharply struck and with underlying lustre. Extremely Rare, one of only four examples known to exist. Until it made a first appearance in Roma Numismatics' Auction V in 2013, it was not believed that any gold had been struck at Syracuse during the sole reign of Nicephorus, as it had at Constantinople. However, here we clearly have the new emperor choosing to revert to the ancient cross-on-steps type of his predecessors, in stark contrast to the marked individuality seen on Irene's coinage, which showed the empress on both obverse and reverse. Estimate: 7500 GBP |  |
