Sale: CNG 61, Lot: 2172. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 25 September 2002.  Sold For $600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JUSTINIAN I. 527-565. Æ Follis (10.90 gm). Struck circa 540-542. Rome mint. D N IVSTINI-ANVS P P AC, diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Large M flanked by star and cross; above, cross and below, ROMA; all within wreath. MIB I 214; DOC I 321a; SB 292. EF, glossy green patina. ($750)

The wreath around the mark of value celebrates the initially unopposed recapture of Rome in 536 by Belisarius for the empire, which was followed by the epic siege by the Gothic forces of Witigis from March 537 to March 538.