Rare Nicephorus & Maria Miliaresion

304, Lot: 472. Estimate $500. Sold for $300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Nicephorus III Botaniates, with Maria. 1078-1081. AR Miliaresion (24mm, 1.54 g, 6h). Constantinople mint. Large ornamented patriarchal cross set on pellet on four steps; X at center, • above crescent on shaft; to left and right, crowned facing busts of Nicephorus, wearing jeweled chlamys, and Maria, wearing loros / NIKHΦP/ KAI MARIA/ ΠICTOI RA/CILΛЄIC Pω/MAIωN in five lines. DOC 6; Boutin 636; SB 1886. Near VF, lightly toned. Rare.

The cross on the obverse is usually described as a patriarchal cross-crosslet, with heavy cross bars on the arms. On some coins these crossbars are barely visible (as Boutin 636), and here they have disappeared completely.