Sale: Triton VII, Lot: 1071. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Monday, 12 January 2004.  Sold For $475. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

SUB-BYZANTINE. In the name of Phocas. After 610 AD. Æ Follis (10.92 gm). "Oriental" mint, imitating Antioch. Dated regnal year 2. ON FOCA NEPE AV, crowned facing bust, garbed in consular robes, holding mappa and globus cruciger / Large M, cross above, flanked by date; THEUP. DOC I -; MIB III 115 (Nachträge); SB -. Good VF, dark brown patina. Rare provincial Byzantine issue. ($300)

Henri Pottier is preparing a new work on the coinage of what he terms the "oriental" mints of 7th century Byzantium. In brief, this coinage sprang up after the closure of the Antioch mint by Heraclius in 610 AD, and was a local response to the shortage of official small change in the chaotic years following the revolt of the Heraclii and the subsequent Persian and Arab invasions. Many of these types are found in the region around Syria, and the more refined issues may have been produced by unemployed Antiochene mint workers. The style of this coin is different from the normal Antioch issues; the facing bust was not used in year 2 for Phocas, and the reverse is die-linked to other folles in the name of Maurice.