Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 1709. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ALEXIUS III. 1195-1203. AV Hyperpyron (4.20 gm). Constantinople mint. Christ standing facing on dais / Alexius and St. Constantine standing facing, holding patriarchal cross between them. DOC IV 1b; SB 2008. Good VF, light scuffs. ($300)

The obverse is struck from two distinctly different half dies; one with quincunx in nimbus and linear dais, the other with pellet in nimbus and jeweled dais. See S. Bendall and D. Sellwood, "The Method of Striking Scyphate Coins Using Two Obverse Dies," NumChron 1978, pp. 93-104 for an explanation of this phenomenon.