157, Lot: 370. Estimate $300. Sold for $413. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Theodosius II. AD 402-450. AV Solidus (22mm, 4.26 g). Thessalonica mint. Struck AD 424-430. Diademed, helmeted, and cuirassed bust facing slightly right, holding spear over shoulder and shield decorated with horseman / Theodosius standing facing, holding standard and globus cruciger; star in left field; TESOB. RIC X 361; Depeyrot 51/1. VF, some die rust.

This GLOR ORVIS TERRAR issue was one of the largest of Theodosius' reign. W.E. Metcalf, in his study, Minting at Thessalonica in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries. Studies in Early Byzantine Gold Coinage. ANSNS 17, surmised that there were approximately 470 die parings for this issue alone. Often these crude types are thought to be barbarous imitiations, but they are actually part of the official issue (cf. Metcalf, op. cit., p. 94 and pl. 17, 96ff).