CNG 100, Lot: 381. Estimate $1000. Sold for $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

LOMBARDS, Lombardy or Tuscany. Pseudo-Imperial coinage. AV Tremissis (17mm, 1.45 g, 6h). In the name of Byzantine emperor Heraclius (610-641). D N HЄRAC-VΔΔΔ AVC (Δ’s upside down), diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / VVOVOIOΛVVIIVOIVIIOT, Victory advancing right, head left, holding wreath and globus cruciger; star to right; ONO. Unpublished in the standard references. EF, lustrous, edge chip.

From the collection of Dr. Lawrence A. Adams, purchased from M. Louis Teller, August 1982.

This coin is highly unusual in that it combines a stylized Nike reverse typical of issues from Lombardy in the name of Maurice Tiberius, but it is clearly in the name of Heraclius and recalls Heraclean imitations minted in Tuscany that feature a cross potent on the reverse. It is not entirely clear if our piece was struck in Lombardy or Tuscany. If the former, it would support Grierson’s theory that both regions struck coinage concurrently.