Sale: Triton V, Lot: 2214. Estimate $1000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 January 2002.  Sold For $600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THEODOSIUS II. 408-450 AD. AV Solidus (4.42 gm). Struck 430-440 AD. Thessalonica mint. D N THEODOSI-VS P F AVG, diademed and helmeted three-quarter facing bust, holding spear over right shoulder and shield with horseman motif on left arm / VOT XXX MVLT XXXX, Constantinopolis enthroned left, left foot on prow, holding globus cruciger in right hand and sceptre in left; shield at her side, star in right field; TESOB. RIC X 366; DOCLR 390; D.M. Metcalf, "The Minting of Gold Coinage at Thessalonica in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries and the Gold Currency in Illyricum and Dalmatia" in Studies in Early Byzantine Gold Coinage, ANSNS 17 (1988), 36 (same dies); Depeyrot 52. EF. Rare. ($1000)

The Thessalonica mint solidi of Theodosius II are often unwittingly referred to by dealers as rare. They are, in fact, not; Dr. Metcalf records 130 specimens. However, there are four substantive types, and this particular type is indeed rare with Metcalf (1988) recording just six specimens and Depeyrot (1996) recording nine.