276, Lot: 495. Estimate $200. Sold for $240. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLAMIC, temp. Arab conquest. Circa 638-643. Æ Fals (27mm, 4.83 g, 5h). Uncertain mint in Syria. Three imperial figures (Martina, Heraclius, and Heraclius Constantine) standing facing, each wearing crown and chlamys and holding cross / Large M; cross above, ANNO to left, XЧ(retrograde)II to right, Г below, KΟИ in exergue. Pottier, Schulze, & Schulze Class I.1b; MIB III, X46 (same dies). Good VF, dark brown patina. An attractive example.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group 66 (19 May 2004), lot 1732.

The recent study by Pottier et al. demonstrates that the reduction of the weights of the Syrian, ‘pseudo-Byzantine’ imitations closely corresponds with that of the official Byzantine coinage, thus allowing for a more precise dating of the imitations than previously possible. The current coin, from what appears to have been among the earliest post Arab-conquest issues, dates from circa 638-643 (or slightly later), i.e., just prior to and during the initial years of the governorship of Mu‘awiya, who was to become the first Umayyad caliph.