288, Lot: 589. Estimate $150. Sold for $240. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Romanus IV Diogenes, with Eudocia. 1068-1071. Æ “Tetarteron Nomisma” (19mm, 3.22 g, 6h). Half-length facing bust of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary), holding medallion containing facing bust of Holy Infant / Half-length facing busts of Romanus and Eudocia, holding long cross between. Cf. DOC 3 (gold); cf. SB 1862 (same). VF, dark green patina, minor roughness on reverse.

This off-metal strike, made at a time when tetartera were produced only in gold, is either a die trial or, perhaps more likely, the core of a fourrée.