Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 422. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $1800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Theodosius II. AD 402-450. AV Solidus (4.40 g, 6h). Uncertain Germanic imitation. Struck mid to late 5th century AD. D И THEODOZI VZ P F AVG, diademed, helmeted and cuirassed three-quarter facing bust, holding spear over shoulder and shield decorated with horseman spearing a fallen enemy / III(P retrograde) XXXXII COZ XVII P P O , Constantinopolis enthroned left, foot on prow, holding globus cruciger and scepter; shield at her side, star to left; CONO8. Cf. RIC X 321; Hahn -; cf. Depeyrot 84/1; Fagerlie 347. Near EF.

From the White Mountain Collection.

This coin will be of interest to collectors of early medieval coinage, since it was issued by one of the Germanic tribes employed as mercenaries by the Romans during the fifth century AD, although struck in the name of the Roman emperor Theodosius II.

Over the course of the fourth and fifth centuries AD, the Romans began to employ subsidized Germanic tribes as soldiers to fight in the army. Known as foederati, these groups received food or money for their service, as well as the opportunity to settle on Roman land. This arrangement, however, fell apart as these large landowning groups, as a result of their increasing self-sufficiency, began to feel less loyalty to the central government in Rome or Constantinople. As a result, they exercised a greater share of autonomy, prompting the government to bring in more Germans as allies to contend with the situation with the consequence that the provinces began to fracture and new power structures arose, creating the collapse of Roman power in the west and the rise of the Germanic kingdoms.