Two Imitations of Theophilus

CNG 100, Lot: 314. Estimate $500. Sold for $380. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Theophilus. 829-842. AV Solidus (14mm, 3.45 g, 6h). Contemporary imitation of a Syracuse mint issue. Crowned and draped bust of Theophilus facing, holding globus cruciger / Crowned bust of Theophilus facing, wearing loros; cross potent to right. DOC 25.2 (same dies); Anastasi –; SB 1670 note. VF. Rare.

From the collection of Dr. Lawrence A. Adams. Ex Moneta Imperii Romani Byzantini Collection (Stack’s, 12 January 2009), lot 3459; P. J. Donald Collection (Baldwin’s 5, 11 October 1995), lot 202.

Grierson (DOC p. 417) discusses “...the existence of contemporary imitations with blundered inscriptions and crude designs. On the assumption that they may have been semi-official – e.g., coins issued by the authorities in localities besieged by the Saracens or for some other reason deprived of their regular supply of coin – the specimens at Dumbarton Oaks have been catalogued below. One cannot, however, exclude the possibility of their having been struck by the Arabs, since they are very markedly ‘globular.’ Invaders from North Africa would no doubt have occasionally seen seventh-century solidi of Carthage, and might well have thought this fabric appropriate for ‘imperial’ coins.”