| Heritage World Coin Auctions > Showcase Auction 61386 | Auction date: 21 April 2024 |
| Lot number: 24192 Price realized: 3,100 USD (Approx. 2,910 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Ancients Theodora, Sole Reign (AD 1055-1056). AV histamenon nomisma (25mm, 4.33 gm, 6h). NGC Choice AU 5/5 - 3/5, brushed. Constantinople. + IhS XIS RЄX-RЄΣNANTIhM, Christ standing facing on dais, wearing nimbus cruciger with single pellet in each arm, pallium, and colobium, right hand raised in benediction, book of Gospels cradled in left arm; double border / + ΘЄOΔΩPA-AVΓOVCTA, Theodora (on left) standing facing, right hand on breast, wearing crown with pendilia, divitision and loros, and the Virgin Mary (on right) standing facing, nimbate, wearing maphorium, left hand raised in benediction, jointly holding labarum with square and four pellets on banner and pellet on shaft between them; M-Θ across right fields, double border. Sear 1837. DOC III, Part 2, 1a. Theodora was one of two daughters born to the Emperor Constantine VIII (AD 1025-1028). Unlike her sister Zoe, whom she detested, Theodora was bookish and solitary, preferring the life of the convent to the company of men. She was not above involving herself in the imperial family's intrigues, however, and in AD 1042, she briefly reigned as co-Empress with Zoe. However, the sisters could not agree on anything and Zoe was hastily married off to the aristocrat Constantine Monomachus, who accepted the throne as Constantine IX. Having outlasted all other members of the Macedonian dynasty, Theodora accepted the purple as sole ruler after the death of Constantine IX, in January AD 1055. On the whole she ruled with frugality, caution, and competence, but her micro-management of affairs earned criticism. After 18 months on the throne, she fell seriously ill and chose for her successor the highly unsuitable civil servant Michael VI Bringas. Her death, in August AD 1056, brought the 187-year run of the Macedonian dynasty to a close. https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/byzantine/ancients-theodora-sole-reign-ad-1055-1056-av-histamenon-nomisma-25mm-433-gm-6h-ngc-choice-au-5-5-3-5-bru/a/61386-24192.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-61386-04212024 HID02906262019 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved |  |
