Splendid Sigismund Solidus

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 1075. Estimate $10000.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $16000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BURGUNDIANS. Sigismund. 516-524. AV Solidus (4.40 g, 6h). In the name of Justin I. D N IVSTI NVS PP ΛVC, helmeted, diademed, and cuirassed facing bust, holding spear in right hand, on left arm a shield with horseman motif / VICTOR-I-Λ ΛVCCC I S, Victory standing left, holding in right hand a staff surmounted by christogram; star to left; CONOB. MEC 1, 340 (same dies); Hunter, Byzantine 2 (same dies); Subjack collection (Vecchi 14), lot 47 (same dies). EF, warm orange toning with hints of underlying luster. Boldly engraved and well struck from fresh dies. Extremely rare, about 20 known.

The “S” at the end of the reverse legend is the signature of Sigismund. All of the approximately 20 known coins of this type are from the 1846 Gourdon hoard (Chalon-sur-Saône), and are struck from the same pair of dies (J. Lafaurie, “Le trésor de Gourdon (Chalon-sur-Saône),” Bulletin de la Société nationale des antiquaries de France 1958, pp. 61-76). Most of these are now in museum collections.

An eastern Germanic people, the Burgundians came to live along the upper Rhine, from which they were dislodged by a Hunnic attack in AD 436. From there they moved into the area around Geneva, establishing a petty state and recognizing the Roman emperors as their suzerains. As the authority of the Romans declined in Gaul in the later fifth century, the Burgundians expanded their control, and established a kingdom that encompassed the area from Chalon-sur-Saône to Avignon and the Durance, including the important cities of Lugdunum (Lyon) and Vienne. Around AD 480, upon the death of their king Gundioc, the kingdom was split between his sons. This left the resultant kingdoms vulnerable, particularly to the growing power of the Merovingian Franks. Sigismund was the penultimate king of the Burgundians, and unsuccessfully attempted to defend his kingdom against the sons of the Merovingian Clovis, who invaded in AD 523. Chlodomer, the king of Orleans, captured Sigismund and held him prisoner, but ultimately had him executed when Sigismund’s brother, Godomar, rallied the Burgundians. Nevertheless, the power of the Merovingians eventually proved too much for Godomar, and Burgundy was conquered circa AD 532/4.