Revolt of the Heraclii

CNG 99, Lot: 796. Estimate $500. Sold for $425. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Revolt of the Heraclii. 608-610. Half Follis (21mm, 4.36 g, 12h). Alexandria mint. Dated IY 13 or 14 (609 or 610). Facing busts of Heraclius, on left, and his father, the exarch Heraclius, on right, both bareheaded and wearing consular robes; cross above / Large K; cross above, date across field; A. DOC (15) or 16 (Alexandretta); MIBE 17; SB 724 (Alexandretta). VF, brown patina, some roughness, area of lacquering on obverse. Rare.

From the Prue Morgan Fitts Collection. Ex Christov Family Collection (Goldberg 55, 29 October 2009), lot 435; Freeman & Sear 6 (6 October 2000), lot 62.

Beginning in 608, the exarch of Africa and his son, Heraclius the elder and the younger, began issuing coinage in opposition to that of the Byzantine emperor Phocas. This coinage depicted the Heraclii in consular robes, though neither held the title at that time. Attacks were launched in Egypt and around the Mediterranean and culminated with Heraclius the younger’s coup at Constantinople, where he was crowned and saw to the execution of his predecessor in 610. The Heraclean dynasty would last a century, save for a ten year interruption, definitively ending with the execution of Justinian II in 711.