Sale: CNG 64, Lot: 1227. Estimate $600.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 24 September 2003.  Sold For $600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THEODOSIUS II. 402-450 AD. AV Solidus (4.43 gm). Thessalonica mint. Struck 424-430 AD. Helmeted, diademed, and cuirassed bust facing slightly right, holding spear and shield decorated with horseman motif / Theodosius standing facing, holding labarum and globus cruciger; star in left field, TESOB. RIC X 365; Depeyrot 51/1. EF. Rare 'crude' variety. ($600)

This GLOR ORVIS TERRAR issue was one of the largest of Theodosius' reign. W.E. Metcalf, in his study, "Minting at Thessalonica in the Fifth and Sixth Centuries," Studies in Early Byzantine Gold Coinage, ANSNS 17, surmised that there were approximately 470 die pairings for this issue alone. Often these crude types are thought to be barbarous imitiations, but they are actually part of the official issue (cf. Metcalf, op. cit., pg. 94 and pl. 17, 96ff).