Watch List notes:

THE OSTROGOTHS
Witigis, 536-540

Pseudo-Imperial Coinage. In the name of Justinian I, 527-565. Solidus, Ravenna 536-540, AV 4.36 g. DN IVSTINI – ΛNVS PΓ AVC Pearl-diademed, helmeted and cuirassed bust facing, three-quarters r., holding spear and decorated shield with horseman and fallen enemy motif. Rev. VICTOR – I – A AVCCC I Victory standing l., holding long jewelled cross; in l. field, star, and in exergue, COMOB. BMC Vandals –. Kraus –. MIB 31. MEC I, –. Metlich p. 29, fig. 17.
Extremely rare, only eleven specimens cited by Metlich. Minor flan
crack, otherwise about extremely fine


Ex M. Dürr - R. Michel sale 8 November 1999, Lacam, 273.
Witigis was elected king after the deposition of Theodahad and was quick to show a different nature from his predecessor. He decided to withdraw and regroup when Belisarius took Naples and advanced to Rome. He ceded Provence to the Franks and then decided to attack Belisarius in the Urbe from 537 to 538. The siege failed and more Imperial troops began arriving. Witigis received some aid from the Frankish ruler Theodebert but at the end Belisarius captured him in Ravenna in 540. The gold coins attributed to Witigis do not show a stylistic similarity to the coins struck by his predecessor; for example, the diadem ties are short and point away from the head horizontally, the spearhead has a lancet form and the general style is in keeping with the Roman specimens. Different are the presence of the trefoil, the cuirass, the eight-rayed star and the Victory's paludamentum. The gold emission is very rare and was probably produced in very small quantities. Following MIB, we have assigned this solidus and the following one to the reign of Witigis but it is necessary to add that Metlich considers these issues to be struck by Justinian I's troops shortly after recapturing Ravenna in 539 (Metlich, p. 30).