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Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3051  8-9 January 2017
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Lot 30253

Estimate: 1500 USD
Price realized: 1600 USD
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Ancients
Philippicus (Bardanes) (AD 711-713). AV solidus (21mm, 4.39 gm, 6h). NGC MS 4/5 - 3/5. Constantinople, 8th officina. ∂N FILЄPICЧS MЧL-TЧS AN, crowned facing bust of Philippicus, wearing loros, holding globus cruciger in right hand and eagle-tipped scepter in left / VICTORIA AVςЧ, cross potent set upon three steps; H//CONOB. Sear 1449. DOC 3. MIB 3. Rare! Reverse a tad weakly struck at top, otherwise exemplary.

Part of a debilitating string of short-lived rulers, Bardanes was a general of Armenian origins who was proclaimed Emperor upon the final overthrow of Justinian II. Almost immediately, he alienated the clergy and populace by reviving the Monothelete heresy (proposing that Christ had a single, divine nature and will) which had supposedly been stamped out decades previously. He was also unsuccessful in stopping Arab and Bulgarian advances, prompting the Byzantine army to depose and blind him after 18 months of ineffective rule. He was replaced by the finance minister Artemius, who reigned as Anastasius II. This extraordinary piece shows the unusually fine artistry employed on the coinage for so ephemeral a reign, showing the emperor holding two symbols of office dating back to Roman times: The globus cruciger and scipio aquila, a scepter topped by an eagle. 

Estimate: 1500-2000 USD
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