Details

LOT 3103

Heraclius AE 40 Nummi or Follis. Applied circa AD 633-636. Countermarked for re-evaluation in Syria and Palestine. Overstruck on a Maurice Tiberius Theoupolis (Antioch) mint AE 40 Nummi or Follis.

[...]ᙏAUΓ C(?)N P AUτ, facing cuirassed bust, wearing crown with trefoil ornament, holding shield with left hand and globus cruciger(?) with right / Large M, cross above; [A] N N O X III [date; RY 13 (AD 594/5)] across fields, B below; τUЄUP in exergue. Not in list of Schulze et al, "Heraclian Countermarks on Byzantine Copper Coins in Seventh-Century Syria" in Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies Vol. 30, No 1 (2006). For host coin: DOC -; MIB 96 var. (bust type); SB 533 var. (same). Very Fine. Unpublished and apparently a unique emission.(10.54gr, 31mm, 6h.).

Provenance

Property of a North London, UK, gentleman.

Footnotes

A highly collectable lot that combines historical and numismatic value.
This countermarked Follis served as a kind of revaluation in relation to the monetary reforms of Heraclius, which was implemented between circa 633 and 636 on a 40 Nummi of Theoupolis (Antioch) during the reign of Maurice Tiberius. The revaluation of circulating bronze coins (old and new) through countermarking was a common practice during the struggles with the Arab invaders and due to the severe shortage of cash in Syria at that time.
From a numismatic point of view, the most interesting thing is the type of host coin. The bust of Maurice Tiberius from the mint of Theoupolis depicts him wearing only consular robes, holding a globus cruciger in his right hand and an eagle-tipped sceptre in his left hand, while the crown is more elaborate (SB 533). The cuirassed bust of our coin with the shield and [the globus cruciger] is more consistent with the issues of other mints (and denominations) than with those of Antioch.
Could this be a countermarked contemporary imitation? Or could it be that, due to a lack of local currency, dies from different mints were used interchangeably? More possible explanations could shed more light on the coinage of that sensitive period.