Watch List notes:

BYZANTINE SEALS. Basil Tarchaneiotes, Circa 1040-1060. Seal or Bulla (Lead, 29 mm, 22.00 g, 12 h), bearing the titles of Magistros and Dux. Winged, nimbate and cuirassed bust of the Archangel Michael, holding scepter with his right hand and globus with his left hand. Rev. †KE BO/HΘEI BACI/ΛEIΩ MAΓIC/CTPΩ S ΔOYKI/ TΩ TAPXANIΩΤΗ/-•- in seven lines. Hermitage M-6690. Leontiades, Siegel, 3d. Schlumberger, Sigillographie p. 705, no. 2 var (without the Dux title yet in this seal). Seibt 9. Wassiliou-Seibt II 248. Very rare. Very fine.



The Tarchaneiotes, Tarchaniotes or Trachaneiotes, was a Byzantine aristocratic family from Adrianople in Thrace. The family survived the fall of Constantinople and members migrated to Italy and Russia, where they were attested (and very active) until the 17th century as Trakhaniot.