Unusual

CNG 105, Lot: 1066. Estimate $750. Sold for $700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

UNCERTAIN GERMANIC TRIBES. Circa 565-578. AV Solidus (21mm, 4.27 g, 6h). Imitating a Ravenna mint solidus of Justin II. Uncertain mint. D N I VSTI (star) NVS P P AV, helmeted and cuirassed bust facing, holding crowning Victory on globe and shield / VICTORIA AVGGG, Constantinopolis seated facing on throne, head right, holding spear and globus cruciger; Z//CONO. Unpublished, but for Byzantine prototype, cf. DOC 210; cf. Ranieri 400-1; cf. MIBE 20; cf. SB 403. Near VF, a few marks, lightly clipped.

Based upon its style, the prototype of this solidus is the Ravenna mint issue. The star in the obverse legend and the shortened CONO, however, neither of which markers are found on official issues of this mint, would suggest that this is an unofficial imitation, struck locally by one of the Germanic tribes, perhaps by the Lombards or their allies, who moved into the Italian Peninsula in the years following the Gothic Wars (535-554).