| Numisfitz GmbH > Auction 3 | Auction date: 3 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 1048 Price realized: 70 EUR (Approx. 76 USD) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: BYZANTINE EMPIRE. Commercial weight (5h- 7th century AD). 1 Uncia. A circular bronze weight. The top bears the a cross within a circular border, all inlaid in silver. Condition: Good Very fine. Weight: 25,72g. Diameter: 23mm. Starting price: 25 EUR |  |
Match 1:
| Numisfitz GmbH > Auction 3 | Auction date: 3 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 1047 Price realized: 120 EUR (Approx. 131 USD) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: BYZANTINE EMPIRE. Commercial weight (5h- 7th century AD). Uncertain standard. A square bronze weight. The top bears the a cross flanked by the letters N-Γ within a sqaure frame, all inlaid in silver. Condition: Very fine. Weight: 47,96g. Diameter: 30x30x6mm. Starting price: 50 EUR |  |
Match 2:
| Numisfitz GmbH > Auction 3 | Auction date: 3 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 1046 Price realized: 460 EUR (Approx. 502 USD) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: BYZANTINE EMPIRE. Commercial weight (5h- 7th century AD). 3 Unciae. A barrel-shaped, bronze 3 Unciae weight; cylindrical with a slightly bulging center and with a flat top and bottom. The top bears a center punch flanked by the silver-filled, engraved letters = 3 unciae; around the circumference: Μ A P I A N O Y 9, engraved and silver-inlaid. Condition: Good Very fine. Weight: 82,86g. Diameter: 27mm. Starting price: 200 EUR |  |
Match 3:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 28 | Auction date: 9 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 382 Price realized: 65 CHF (Approx. 74 USD / 69 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: BYZANTINE. 4th-6th centuries. Weight of 1 Ounkia (Orichalcum, 21x20 mm, 26.65 g), a uniface square commercial weight with double-grooved edges. Γᴑ A with cross between underneath an arch supported by two columns; all details engraved in outline and inlaid in silver. Rev. Blank. Bendall -. MAH -. Pera -. Pondera 10547. The inlays missing and with some deposits on the reverse, otherwise, good very fine. From the James Knox Collection of Biblical related coins, ex TimeLine, 23-24 June 2011, 326. Starting price: 25 CHF |  |
Match 4:
| Numisfitz GmbH > Auction 3 | Auction date: 3 December 2023 |
| Lot number: 1049 Price realized: 100 EUR (Approx. 109 USD) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: BYZANTINE EMPIRE. Commercial weight of 10 Keratia = 10 Siliquae (circa 5th- 7th century AD). Obv: XX/ IVL/ XX. Rev: Two concentric circles. Condition: Good very fine. Weight: 2,72 g. Diameter: 8x8 mm. Starting price: 25 EUR |  |
Match 5:
| Leu Numismatik AG > Web Auction 29 | Auction date: 24 February 2024 |
| Lot number: 2485 Price realized: 380 CHF (Approx. 431 USD / 399 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | |
| Lot description: Justinian I (?), 527-565. Half Follis (Lead, 18 mm, 4.18 g, 1 h), RY 29 = 555/6 (?). Large K between two crosses; all within border of large pellets. Rev. +ΔIAΔOCЄⲰC ('distribution') around central KΘ with horizontal line above within circle. Apparently unpublished. An excellent and well-struck example. Very fine. From a European collection, formed before 2005. This piece is part of an intriguing series of early Byzantine lead coins that is apparently unpublished, apart from a pentanummium in Dumbarton Oaks (BZC.2006.4). All obverses have a large numeral as the main device, corresponding to the Byzantine system of denominations that was in place since the sixth century. We find a pentanummium, a decanummium, a half follis, as well as a follis (not represented in this sale, but recently sold by Sol E-Auction 23 (2023), 982). There is also a trinummium, a denomination that was only struck in bronze in Thessalonica during the reign Justin I and in Alexandria during the reigns of Justinian I and Heraclius. Interestingly, a lead trinummium that was apparently struck in the region of Antioch under Justinian I was published by Wolfram Weiser (W. Weiser: Neue byzantinische Kleinmünzen aus Blei, in: Schweizer Münzblätter 137 (1985), p. 13-16. An additional example appeared in Stack's, The Golden Horn Collection (2009), 3061). The reverses of the series all have a large KΘ as the main device, often with the Greek circular legend 'diadoseos' around. This word identifies the series as part of a 'distribution' and implies that these pieces were to be redeemed for something else – perhaps a sum of money paid out in official coins, or gifts in kind corresponding to the numerals. In any case, it sets them apart from other known lead coins, which are viewed as 'official', state-sanctioned emergency coinages. Apart from the aforementioned publication by Weiser, an important corpus of these lead coins was published by Cécile Morrison (C. Morrison: Monnaies en plomb Byzantines de la fin du VIe et du début du VIIe siècle", in: Rivista italiana di numismatica e scienze affini 83 (1981), p. 119-131). All published pieces are fractional folles and typically have the imperial portrait on the obverse and the denomination on the reverse. They were usually attributed to the reigns of Justin II up to Constans II, but very few have enough distinctive features to allow a precise identification or date. Lastly, Michael Mitchiner published another group of these lead coins, including a series that corresponds to the Alexandrian denominational system and may be attributed to Constans II (M. Mitchiner: The aftermath of the Arab conquest of Egypt and Syria: Two small series of Byzantine-style lead coins, in: Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society 225 (2015), p. 19-22.) The dating of the KΘ-series must remain tentative, but it is attributed here to the reign of Justinian I for several reasons. First, the existence of parallel trinummium pieces in bronze and lead directs us to the reigns of Justin I and Justinian I and to Antioch. Second, the distinctive design of the pentanummium type with a large epsilon ligated with a central cross is typical of Antioch during the reign of Justinian I (SB 241-244). And finally, an attribution of the series to the reign of Justinian I would allow for the interpretation of KΘ on the reverse as regnal year 29. With few Byzantine emperors ruling this long, this renders Justinian I an obvious candidate. If this interpretation is correct, then the circumstances for the distribution alluded to on the reverse legend may have been the aftermath of the western campaigns against the Goths in Italy. Starting price: 25 CHF |  |
