Watch List notes:

*Byzantine, Zoe and Theodora (21 April – 12 June 1042), clipped gold histamenon, facing bust of the Virgin holding nimbate head of Christ before her rev., facing crowned busts of Zoe and Theodora flanking a labarum, 1.07g (cf. DO p. 732, 1 = Grierson 911 = Whiting 309-10; ANS 977.158.932; Hunt collection, Sotheby's New York, 1990, 765, apparently same dies; S. 1827), comprising the central part only of the coin which was clipped presumably in antiquity to be fitted into jewellery; apart from the clipping and a few minor marks, extremely fine and extremely rare. Zoe (c. 978-1050) was one of the most remarkable of Byzantine empresses. She ruled for seven and a half weeks with her sister Theodora by virtue of their status as porphyrogenitai (literally, "born into the purple") of the Macedonian dynasty founded by Basil I. As a 23 year old imperial princess she was selected by her uncle Basil II to marry the Holy Roman emperor Otto III but the marriage never took place as Otto died unexpectedly, shortly before she arrived in Italy in 1002. She was married three times, to Romanus III (1028-34), Michael IV (1034-41) and finally to Constantine IX (1042-1050) and was empress/regent for her adoptive son Michael V (1041-42). She is depicted in a famous mosaic in Hagia Sophia with her husband Constantine IX flanking Christ Pantocrator and she was evidently known for her great beauty. Her relationship with her younger sister Theodora was strained and her marriage to Constantine IX finally allowed her to stand back from the administration of matters of state. This type of coin was unknown until 1953 when a small hoard was discovered containing approximately eight examples (see Grierson p. 199 and Sotheby's catalogue of the Hunt collection of Byzantine coins, 5 December 1990, lot 765). The present coin, albeit heavily clipped, is possibly the only surviving coin of their joint reign that has survived apart from the few coins in the 1953 hoard. (1000 - 1500)