Simeon the Great, Tsar of Bulgaria

Sale: Triton XI, Lot: 1214. Estimate $5000.  Closing Date: Monday, 7 January 2008.  Sold For $4600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Simeon I Veliki (Simeon the Great). Tsar of Bulgaria, 893-927. PB Seal (30mm, 25.57 g, 12h). Facing bust of Christ, holding book of Gospels in left hand, right hand in benediction; cross behind head; border of pellets / Crowned and jewelled facing female bust. Jordanov Type III.2B; Youroukova 9a/8b (obv./rev.). Good VF, brown patina.

From the Robert E. Hecht Collection. Ex Gorny & Mosch 152 (9 October 2006), lot 2712.

Seals of this type have been assigned to the reign of Simeon the Great of Bulgaria. Educated in Constantinople, Simeon was greatly influenced by Byzantine culture. Nonetheless, he was at war with the Byzantine Empire for much of his reign, and in 913 he marched on Constantinople, where he was crowned Tsar (Caesar) of Bulgaria by the Patriarch Nicholas I Mystikos. This seal reveals the influence of Byzantine culture on the court of Simeon. The obverse image of Christ is similar to seals of Byzantine emperors, such as Leon VI and Michael VII, and the woman on the reverse is outfitted in the dress of a Byzantine empress. The reverse may depict a wife of Simeon, who was married twice, or one of his daughters.