CNG 99, Lot: 788. Estimate $300. Sold for $180. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Justin II, with Sophia. 565-578. Æ Half Follis (20mm, 4.65 g, 12h). Uncertain military mint. Struck 565-572. Justin and Sophia seated facing, holding globus cruciger and cruciform scepter, respectively / Large X•X; cross above; ROM. DOC 207 (Rome); MIBE 95a; SB 404 (Rome). VF, green patina. Scarce.

From the Prue Morgan Fitts Collection.

Hahn (MIBE) lists these half folles of Justin II in his category of “Moneta Militarii Imitativa”, a series of bronzes of very similar style bearing the mint marks of Constantinople, Nicomedia, Cyzicus, Thessalonica, and Rome. The series remains one of the great puzzles of Byzantine numismatics.