Watch List notes:

The Roman Empire

Zeno augutus with Leo caesar, 476 – 477. Tremissis, Constantinopolis 476-477, AV 1.46 g. D N ZENO ET LI – EO NOV CAES Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. VICTORIA AVGVSTORVM Victory standing facing, holding wreath and cross on globe; in r. field, star. In exergue CONOB. Kent "Zeno and Leo, the most noble caesaris" in NC 1959 pl. 8, 9 (these dies). Depeyrot 107/2. RIC 907 (these dies).
Of the highest rarity, apparently only four specimens known of this variety and seven of this
type of which only two are in private hands. Reddish tone and about extremely fine

After having survived various kinds of palace intrigues, the general Zeno became sole emperor of the Eastern Roman empire in November, 474. In the previous months Zeno had shared the title of Augustus with his sickly son Leo II, who for a short while prior to that also had been co-emperor with his grandfather, Leo I. The seemingly natural deaths of Leo I and Leo II left Zeno the sole (and rightful) heir to the throne. The subtle transitions by which Zeno became emperor had been orchestrated by his mother-in-law Aelia Verina, the widow of Leo I. However, she soon regretted her decision and hatched a devious plan to oust Zeno. She warned him of a plot against his life, and advised him to leave Constantinople if he wished to survive. Believing his mother-in-law's tale, Zeno fled on January 9, 475, crossing the Bosporus to Calchedon, where he remained in exile for the next 19 months.
Verina ordered the slaughter of Isaurians loyal to Zeno and the coup appeared to be a success until her personal designs were foiled: her intended candidate for the throne, her lover Patricius, was rejected in favor of her brother Basiliscus, who was thus hailed emperor. In a move that no doubt was necessary, Basiliscus had Patricius executed. Verina then devoted herself to a counter-coup by which she caused her brother to be overthrown and she restored Zeno as emperor late in August, 476.
Zeno was now the uncontested ruler of the Roman East, and after having endured such grotesque palace intrigues he no doubt was a more skilled survivor; he ruled until his death by natural causes on April 9, 491. Though Verina seems to have masked her guilt in these affairs, her brother Basiliscus and his family were exiled to Cappadocia, where they were starved to death. Based upon the historical narrative, this extremely rare tremissis inscribed D N LEO ET ZENO NOV CAES might appear to have been issued during the brief period when Zeno and his son Leo II ruled jointly after the death of the boy's grandfather Leo I. However, there are other solidi inscribed D N LEO ET ZENO P P AVG which are attributed to that historical episode – and rightly so, as it styles both son and father Augusti. Instead, this tremissis appears to belong to the first months after Zeno's triumphant return in August, 476. While in exile, Zeno had made promises to those willing to support his return to the throne. One such promise was to Armatus, the Master of Soldiers and nephew of the usurper Basiliscus. He was assured that he would be appointed to high office and that his son (named Basiliscus) would be raised to the rank of Caesar. When the Emperor Basiliscus was overthrown and Zeno replaced him emperor, he honoured his promises to Armatus, whose son was hailed Caesar.
However, Zeno soon had a change of heart: sometime in 477 he executed Armatus and deposed his son, the Nobilissimus Caesar. The most likely explanation for the solidi and tremisses inscribed D N LEO ET ZENO NOV CAES was first proposed in 1822 by the French numismatist Baron Marchant: the boy's original name, Basiliscus (which, impractically, he shared with the recently deposed emperor) was changed to Leo upon his accession, and thus he and Zeno are represented by this coinage.