221, Lot: 546. Estimate $500. Sold for $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Romanus IV Diogenes. 1068-1071. AV Tetarteron Nomisma (17mm, 4.05 g, 6h). Constantinople mint. Facing bust of the Theotokos, holding roundel of the infant Christ / Crowned facing half-length figures of Romanus and Eudocia, holding between them a long cross set on globe. DOC 3; SB . VF, very minor die breaks on obverse, scuff on reverse.

Romanus, a talented general and aristocrat from Cappadocia, married the widowed Eudocia in 1068, despite her vow to her deceased husband, the emperor Constantine X, to never remarry. This is the only known type of tetarteron nomisma minted under Romanus IV. A second type with Romanus on the obverse and Eudocia on the reverse was intended, as evidenced by a pattern (see BN pl. XC, 12), but either failed to meet imperial approval or was planned shortly before the battle of Mantzikert, which ultimately ended Romanus’ reign.