Post-Revolt Solidus of Heraclius // Possibly from Jerusalem

Sale: Triton X, Lot: 835. Estimate $2000.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Heraclius. 610-641. AV Solidus (4.47 g, 6h). Uncertain eastern(?) mint. dN hERACL IUS PP AVI, draped and cuirassed facing bust, with short beard, wearing crown with pendilia and plume, holding cross in right hand / VICTORIA AVGU, cross potent on three steps; H//CONOB. Cf. DOC II 2 (Constantinople); cf. MIB III 5 (Constantinople); BN AV/03; SB 731 (Constantinople). EF, a hint of die rust on obverse.

Several factors tie this solidus into a sequence that argues against an attribution to the Constantinople mint. It appears to be linked to similar coins struck in the name of Phocas that form a distinct issue, one of which is illustrated in the BN catalogue, as AV/20. Unlike the regular Constantinople solidi, these coins have a distinctively crude style with rough details. The eyes are either pellets or lumps rather than the normal almond-shape, the beards are rough and shaggy, and the crowns are disconnected lines and dots. It is also apparent that the engraver was not comfortable producing curves; the usual smooth lines of the paludamentum flowing across the neck and over the shoulder is broken into separate arcs. One other telling feature is that all examples in this style noted by the cataloguer (the Phocas in the BN, four others in private collections, and the present Heraclius solidus) are all marked with the H officina. While this is not remarkable for Phocas, H is an unusual officina for these solidi of Heraclius; MIB records only one specimen, in Birmingham. It is possible, therefore, that in this case the H is not a mark for the eighth officina of the Constantinople mint, but rather a sigla for a special issue of a provincial mint.

Although there is no certain method to determine where these solidi were struck, the fact that they overlap the reigns of Phocas and Heraclius narrows the field of possibilities. They must be datable to the period during and immediately after the revolt of the Heraclii. There are apparently no known revolt solidi that belong to this mint, and the stylistic continuity between the issues of Phocas and Heraclius makes an intervening issue for the revolt unlikely. Therefore, the mint must have been located outside of North Africa (where the revolt began) along the route of the Heraclii's advance towards Constantinople, striking Phocas' issues while the revolt was occurring, then striking for Heraclius immediately after the mint changed hands, or very soon thereafter. The revolt began in 608, and the Heraclii advanced cautiously towards the capital, eventually taking Constantinople in October of 610. During this period, gold coins were struck at Constantinople, Carthage, Alexandria, Cyprus, Rome, and Ravenna. All of these mints, however, can be discounted. Constantinople can be eliminated for stylistic reasons (see above), the Italian mints were not striking solidi, and Carthage, Alexandria, and Cyprus all had long series for the revolt. The mint of these rare pieces, therefore, remains elusive, although there is an indication that this was an eastern mint. Shortly after his victory, Heraclius closed a number of the mints in the east, such as Cyprus and Antioch. As no later types of Heraclius seem to originate from this mint, it is likely that it, too, was among those closed.