Watch List notes:

Pardus, comes VRSD, 11th century. Seal (Lead, 25 mm, 9.81 g, 12 h). A - M/X Nimbate facing bust of St. Michael, holding scepter in his right hand and globe in his left. Rev. +PAR / D COM / VRSD in three lines. Sternberg 11 (1981), 1049 (now in the Institut für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte in Vienna). A beautiful and highly unusual seal. Good very fine.


Byzantine seals with Latin legends are quite common in early Byzantine times, but become exceedingly rare during the later centuries of the empire. Our seal apparently belongs to a westerner (a Norman or Lombard?) with the name of Pardus. Only the consonants are given for the name of his command.