CNG 100, Lot: 315. Estimate $500. Sold for $320. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Theophilus. 829-842. AV Solidus (13mm, 3.46 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, holding cross potent. DOC 25.3 (same rev. die); Anastasi 526; SB 1670 note. VF. Rare.

From the collection of Dr. Lawrence A. Adams. Ex Glendining (4 October 1988), lot 934.

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.”