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ARAB-BYZANTINE: "Heraclius & Constantine", AV solidus (4.24g), ca. 652 to the 660s. VF

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Coins: Ancient Start Price:600.00 USD Estimated At:750.00 - 1,000.00 USD
ARAB-BYZANTINE:  Heraclius & Constantine , AV solidus (4.24g), ca. 652 to the 660s. VF
SOLD
4,250.00USD+ (743.75) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2016 May 19 @ 10:16UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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ARAB-BYZANTINE: "Heraclius & Constantine", AV solidus (4.24g), ca. 652 to the 660s, imitation based on the type II issues of Heraclius, struck 613-629, but likely struck at some time between about 652 and the 660s, based on the style of Sicily (Syracuse) with simple circular borders on both sides; several test dings on obverse, scratches on reverse, probably once in jewelry, VF, RRR. This piece was found together with an Aghlabid dinar, a Ptolomaic tetradrachm and a 16th century French écu d'or, sold to a coin dealer in California by an Arab non-numismatist. The mint at Syracuse was opened in 641, the accession year of Constans II, producing gold solidi with the borders of plain circles or circles of tiny dots, unlike any other contemporary Byzantine mint. The Arabs invaded Sicily in 652, failing to capture the territory, but likely to have brought local solidi back to North Africa and Syria. Our suggestion is that this piece was produced unofficially at some point after 652, probably by a local jeweler. The obverse crosses on the crowns have been replaced by groups of three dots each, the central cross by a group of four dots, while the cross potent on the reverse was retailed. The obverse text is completely barbarous, and the reverse text is crude and retrograde, including the very legible retrograde CONOB. There was no official Arab gold coinage at that time in Egypt and Libya, and it seems likely that the coin was produced there, and accepted by local merchants, as suggested by the dings and scratches. There are also numerous contemporary imitations from the Avars in the Balkans, but they are very different and do not have portraits that so closely resemble the original Byzantine images, as do all Arab imitations. However, a similar type, with the same three-dot symbols, was found in the Balkans, allegedly in the region of Ljubljana.