.jpg "Ancient Byzantine Coins - Basil II and Constantine VIII Holding the Cross - AV Gold Histamenon")
LOT 2701
Ancient Byzantine Coins - Basil II and Constantine VIII Holding the Cross - AV Gold Histamenon 958-1025 A.D.
Obv: + IhS XIS REX REGNANTInm, bust of Christ facing, wearing nimbus cross ornamented with two crescents in the limbs of the cross, holding book of Gospels and raising right hand. Rev: + bASIL C COnStAntI b Rm, crowned facing busts of Basil with short beard on left, wearing loros of square pattern, and Constantine VIII, beardless on right, wearing chlamys, holding plain cross between them. Extremely fine.(4.43 grams, 27 mm.).
ProvenanceEx Richard Falkiner, 2000s.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no 12032-212137.
DOC 6a; SB 1800.
FootnotesBasil II was the senior emperor with Constantine VII and ruled from 976 -1025 A.D. The early years of his long reign were dominated by civil war against powerful generals from the Anatolian aristocracy. Following their submission, Basil oversaw the stabilisation and expansion of the eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire, and above all, the final and complete subjugation of Bulgaria, the Empire's foremost European foe, after a prolonged struggle. For this he was nicknamed by later authors as the Bulgar-slayer; (Greek: Boulgaroktonos), by which he is popularly known. At his death, the empire stretched from Southern Italy to the Caucasus and from the Danube to the borders of Palestine, its greatest territorial extent since the Muslim conquests four centuries earlier. Of far-reaching importance was Basil's decision to offer the hand of his sister Anna to Vladimir I of Kiev in exchange for military support, which led to the Christianisation of the Kievan Rus, and the incorporation of later successor nations of Kievan Rus within the Byzantine cultural and religious tradition.
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LOT 2701
Ancient Byzantine Coins - Basil II and Constantine VIII Holding the Cross - AV Gold Histamenon
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,340
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Ancient Byzantine Coins - Romanos III - Gold AV Histamenon 1028-1034 A.D.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £975
Obv: +IhS XIS REX REGNANTInM, Christ enthroned facing, nimbus cross behind head, holding book of gospels and raising right hand, double border. Rev: QCE bOHQ MQRWMAnW, Romanus on left, wearing a saccos and loros and holding cross on globe, with *seven* dots on the fold of robe hanging below, being crowned by Mary, nimbate, on right, (MQ between their heads), double border. 4.40 grams, 23 mm.
Extremely fine.
Ex Richard Falkiner, 2000s.
The histamenon (‘standard coin’) was the name given to the gold Byzantine solidus to distinguish it from the less valuable tertarteron introduced in the 960s. Nomisma is the ancient Greek word for money. -
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Ancient Byzantine Coins - Basil II and Constantine VIII Holding the Cross - AV Gold Histamenon 958-1025 A.D.
Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,340
Obv: + IhS XIS REX REGNANTInm, bust of Christ facing, wearing nimbus cross ornamented with two crescents in the limbs of the cross, holding book of Gospels and raising right hand. Rev: + bASIL C COnStAntI b Rm, crowned facing busts of Basil with short beard on left, wearing loros of square pattern, and Constantine VIII, beardless on right, wearing chlamys, holding plain cross between them. 4.43 grams, 27 mm.
Extremely fine.
Ex Richard Falkiner, 2000s. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no 12032-212137.
Basil II was the senior emperor with Constantine VII and ruled from 976 -1025 A.D. The early years of his long reign were dominated by civil war against powerful generals from the Anatolian aristocracy. Following their submission, Basil oversaw the stabilisation and expansion of the eastern frontier of the Byzantine Empire, and above all, the final and complete subjugation of Bulgaria, the Empire's foremost European foe, after a prolonged struggle. For this he was nicknamed by later authors as the Bulgar-slayer; (Greek: Boulgaroktonos), by which he is popularly known. At his death, the empire stretched from Southern Italy to the Caucasus and from the Danube to the borders of Palestine, its greatest territorial extent since the Muslim conquests four centuries earlier. Of far-reaching importance was Basil's decision to offer the hand of his sister Anna to Vladimir I of Kiev in exchange for military support, which led to the Christianisation of the Kievan Rus, and the incorporation of later successor nations of Kievan Rus within the Byzantine cultural and religious tradition. -
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Ancient Byzantine Coins - Constantine VII with Romanus I and Christ - AV Gold Solidus 913-959 AD
Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,040
Obv: +IhS XPS REX REGNANTIUM*, Christ Pantocrator nimbate, seated facing, raising right hand in benediction and holding book of gospels. Rev: ROMAn ET XPISTOFO' AUGG b', facing busts of Romanus I with short beard and loros, on left, and son, beardless, with chlamys, on right, both crowned and holding long patriarchal cross between them. 4.37 grams, 21 mm.
About extremely fine.
Ex Richard Falkiner, 2000s.
Romanos Lekapenos was a usurper. Of peasant origins he rose through the ranks of the military into the imperial court eventually ousting the regency government of Zoe Karvounopsina and Leo Phokas that had been ruling in the name of the underage heir to the Macedonian dynasty, Constantine VII. After marrying the young Constantine porphyrogennitos to his daughter Helena in 919, Romanos named himself basileopater, (‘Father of the Emperor’), was raised to the rank of Caesar in 920, and crowned emperor later the same year. He associated three of his sons (Christopher, Stephen, and Constantine) with himself, while the fourth, Theophylakt, was later named patriarch.
