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ANA Signature Sale 3101 25-28 Aug 2022
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Leo VI the Wise (AD 886-912). AV solidus (20mm, 4.30 gm, 6h). NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 2/5, Fine Style, scratches, edge marks. Constantinople, AD 886-908. +MARIA+, facing bust of the Virgin orans, wearing pallium and maphorium; MHR (ligate) in left field, ΘϤ in right field / LEON ЄN CRISTO-bASILEϤS ROMEON, bust of Leo VI facing, with long beard, wearing crown and jeweled chlamys, patriarchal cross on globus in right hand. Sear 1724. D.O. 1b. One of the true gems of the Byzantine series; exceptionally rare and highly important. Fine Style portraits of both the Virgin and Leo in the highest Middle Byzantine artistic style. Only three examples offered at auction in the last 20 years.
From the Historical Scholar Collection. Ex Edward J. Waddell, Ltd., private sale with old dealer tag
Leo VI was granted the moniker "the Wise" on account of the remarkable number of legal, religious, and philosophical texts composed either by Leo himself or at his urging during his reign. Seen as a kind of mystical prophet by later generations of Byzantines, he regularly gave sermons in the churches of Constantinople, which were thought-provoking, intense, and eloquent. His greatest achievement was the Basilika, a legal code of 60 volumes written in Greek that was meant to serve as an updated version of Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis, which had been written three centuries earlier in Latin. The shift from Latin to Greek as the language of Byzantine administration had occurred during the early AD 7th century, and it was under Leo VI that Byzantium discarded many of the remaining institutional remnants of its Roman heritage that no longer served a functional purpose. The office of consul, as old as the Roman Republic itself, did not survive the legal revisions of Leo VI, who abolished it in favor of the new, distinctly Byzantine title of hypatos. Such reforms were more than symbolic; during Leo's reign, the quintessentially Byzantine identity that marked the empire's cultural and political apogee of the AD 10th and 11th centuries was being born.
The Byzantine national epic Digenes Akritas, though written somewhat later, describes the lives of the vaunted border-lords living on the Byzantine frontier with the Islamic world around the time of Leo's reign, and its tales were enjoyed by generations of Byzantines for their captivating splendor and gallantry. On that border, Leo scored some successes against the Arab emir of Tarsus, but his reign witnessed defeat after defeat at the hands of the Bulgarians, and the last Byzantine outpost in Sicily at Taormina was captured by the Arabs in AD 902. Though renowned for his theological mind, his four marriages scandalized the Byzantine religious establishment.
This piece represents the first appearance of the Virgin on coinage. Curiously few gold coins were struck under Leo VI, and only a tiny fraction of them are of the Virgin type seen here. The reason for the radical decrease in production of solidi at a time of no major crises or gold shortages is unclear. It is possible that Leo was encouraging the circulation of previously minted gold coins, some of which had been demonetized by his father, but this is merely a hypothesis. We can be more certain about the nature of this Virgin type, as its striking, revolutionary design and extreme scarcity in all likelihood places it as a kind of presentation issue, meant for ceremonial purposes.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/byzantine/ancients-leo-vi-the-wise-ad-886-912-av-solidus-20mm-430-gm-6h-ngc-choice-xf-5-5-2-5-fine-style-scratches/a/3101-32146.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3101-08252022
HID02906262019
© 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 20000-40000 USD
Leo VI the Wise (AD 886-912). AV solidus (20mm, 4.30 gm, 6h). NGC Choice XF 5/5 - 2/5, Fine Style, scratches, edge marks. Constantinople, AD 886-908. +MARIA+, facing bust of the Virgin orans, wearing pallium and maphorium; MHR (ligate) in left field, ΘϤ in right field / LEON ЄN CRISTO-bASILEϤS ROMEON, bust of Leo VI facing, with long beard, wearing crown and jeweled chlamys, patriarchal cross on globus in right hand. Sear 1724. D.O. 1b. One of the true gems of the Byzantine series; exceptionally rare and highly important. Fine Style portraits of both the Virgin and Leo in the highest Middle Byzantine artistic style. Only three examples offered at auction in the last 20 years.
From the Historical Scholar Collection. Ex Edward J. Waddell, Ltd., private sale with old dealer tag
Leo VI was granted the moniker "the Wise" on account of the remarkable number of legal, religious, and philosophical texts composed either by Leo himself or at his urging during his reign. Seen as a kind of mystical prophet by later generations of Byzantines, he regularly gave sermons in the churches of Constantinople, which were thought-provoking, intense, and eloquent. His greatest achievement was the Basilika, a legal code of 60 volumes written in Greek that was meant to serve as an updated version of Justinian's Corpus Juris Civilis, which had been written three centuries earlier in Latin. The shift from Latin to Greek as the language of Byzantine administration had occurred during the early AD 7th century, and it was under Leo VI that Byzantium discarded many of the remaining institutional remnants of its Roman heritage that no longer served a functional purpose. The office of consul, as old as the Roman Republic itself, did not survive the legal revisions of Leo VI, who abolished it in favor of the new, distinctly Byzantine title of hypatos. Such reforms were more than symbolic; during Leo's reign, the quintessentially Byzantine identity that marked the empire's cultural and political apogee of the AD 10th and 11th centuries was being born.
The Byzantine national epic Digenes Akritas, though written somewhat later, describes the lives of the vaunted border-lords living on the Byzantine frontier with the Islamic world around the time of Leo's reign, and its tales were enjoyed by generations of Byzantines for their captivating splendor and gallantry. On that border, Leo scored some successes against the Arab emir of Tarsus, but his reign witnessed defeat after defeat at the hands of the Bulgarians, and the last Byzantine outpost in Sicily at Taormina was captured by the Arabs in AD 902. Though renowned for his theological mind, his four marriages scandalized the Byzantine religious establishment.
This piece represents the first appearance of the Virgin on coinage. Curiously few gold coins were struck under Leo VI, and only a tiny fraction of them are of the Virgin type seen here. The reason for the radical decrease in production of solidi at a time of no major crises or gold shortages is unclear. It is possible that Leo was encouraging the circulation of previously minted gold coins, some of which had been demonetized by his father, but this is merely a hypothesis. We can be more certain about the nature of this Virgin type, as its striking, revolutionary design and extreme scarcity in all likelihood places it as a kind of presentation issue, meant for ceremonial purposes.
https://coins.ha.com/itm/ancients/byzantine/ancients-leo-vi-the-wise-ad-886-912-av-solidus-20mm-430-gm-6h-ngc-choice-xf-5-5-2-5-fine-style-scratches/a/3101-32146.s?type=DA-DMC-CoinArchives-WorldCoins-3101-08252022
HID02906262019
© 2022 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved
Estimate: 20000-40000 USD