| Heritage World Coin Auctions > NYINC Signature Sale 3121 | Auction date: 13 January 2025 |
| Lot number: 33097 Price realized: 16,000 USD (Approx. 15,610 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: Ancients Michael III 'the Drunkard' (AD 842-867). AV solidus (20mm, 4.39 gm, 6h). NGC Choice AU 4/5 - 3/5, slight bend. Constantinople, AD 856-866. IhSЧS X-RIStOS*, half-length bust of Christ facing, with long hair and full beard, wearing pallium and colobium, cross behind head, right hand raised in benediction, book of Gospels cradled in left arm / +-mI-XAHL bASILЄ', bust of Michael III facing, wearing crown and diagonal pattern loros, vexillum decorated with cross in right hand, akakia in left. Sear 1688. DOC III 3. Rare. Subtle bend to the flan, otherwise crisp devices atop brilliant fields of marigold. Though now saddled with the unfortunate epithet "the Drunkard," Michael III showed real ability and it was under his reign that the great recovery in Byzantine fortunes later called "the Macedonian Renaissance" began. The son of Theophilus, he was only two years old when his father died and the purple passed to him. A succession of regents, mainly his mother Theodora, ran affairs of state until he reached his majority in AD 856, when his reign truly began. Guided by his uncle, the Caesar Bardas, his regime made astonishing progress on the domestic, diplomatic and military fronts. The Arabs were defeated and pushed back, the Slavs Christianized and incorporated within the Empire, the last embers of Iconoclasm stamped out, and a university established in Constantinople to advance higher learning. Byzantine art and iconography, too, began a strong revival, as indicated by this magnificent gold solidus. Later Byzantine historians blackened Michael's name as a drunken wastrel in order to glorify the dynasty of the man who murdered him and usurped the throne, Basil I the Macedonian, but he deserved better treatment. www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/byzantine/byzantine-michael-iii-the-drunkard-ad-842-867-av-solidus-20mm-439-gm-6h-ngc-choice-au-4-5-3-5-slight-be/a/3121-33097.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3121-01132025 HID02906262019 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved Estimate: 8000-12000 USD Certification number: NGC 8214046002 |  |
