Sale: CNG 61, Lot: 2221. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 25 September 2002.  Sold For $3500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MAURICE TIBERIUS. 582-602 AD. AV Consular Solidus (4.43 gm). Struck 583 or 602 AD. D N MAVRC TIb P P AVC, Maurice as consul seated facing, holding mappa and cross / VICTORI A AVGG, Victory standing facing, , holding globus cruciger and long staff surmounted by christogram; H/CONOB. DOC I 2c; MIB II SB 474 (same dies). EF, light graffiti and rim dents. Rare. ($3000)

Extremely rare consular solidi exist for Justinian I, and other, more common, issues for Tiberius II. The issue of 602 for Maurice probably marks a significant event in the imperial history. Maurice was consul for the second time that year (the first was 583), but perhaps of greater significance was the marriage of his first born son Theodosius to a daughter of the senator Germanus. Theodosius was the first imperial-born son to attain adulthood since Theodosius II in the mid-5th century. The prospects for a true dynastic succession, combined with an alliance with a powerful senatorial family was the likely reason for this issue.