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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
168, Lot: 293. Estimate $100.
Sold for $210. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Basil II Bulgaroktonos. 976-1025. AR Miliaresion (26mm, 2.71 g). Constantinople mint. Cross crosslet on globus above steps, flanked by busts of John and Constantine / +bSIL’ C CONSTAN PORFVROG PISTOI bAS’ ROMAIW', - ·:· - above and below. DOC III 17a; SB 1810. VF, ragged flan, worn dies. The irregular edge appears to be as struck, with only minor subsequent chipping. More importantly, this coin has not been clipped, as the majority of this type are.


Probably the most militant of Byzantine emperors, Basil never married, devoting his entire reign to conducting campaigns against Bulgarians, Fatimids, Georgians and the western principalities. At the battle of Kleidon in 1014 he acquired his nickname Bulgar-Slayer (Bulgaroktonos) when he captured and blinded 14,000 Bulgarians. The Bulgarian tsar Samuel supposedly died of despair when he saw what had been done to his men.