Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 1883. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $1500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

CONSTANTINE V, Copronymus? 741-775 AD. AV Tremissis (0.60 gm). Cagliari on Sardinia mint? Crowned facing bust with highly schematic features, holding cross; badly blundered legend / Equal armed cross potent, badly blundered legend. DOC III -; cf. MIB III 5 (Leo III); cf. Ricotti-Prina 54; cf. BN 1 (Anastasius II); cf. SB 1522B (Leo III). Near EF for type, light graffiti. Extremely rare, possibly the second known specimen. ($500)

See Triton VI (14-15 January 2003), lot 1204 for the only prior published specimen. On this example the emperor can be seen holding a cross or globus cruciger, there is no evidence of a possible S in the field on the reverse, and the fragmentary legends are more distinct.

The island of Sardinia had been held by the Byzantines since Justinian's reconquest of the western provinces in 534, and from Justinian II to Leo III was a mint for sporadic crude gold and bronze issues. After direct Byzantine rule ended in the early 8th century, Sardinia retained a precarious autonomy, balancing the influences of Byzantium, the Papal court, and the Lombards. The portrait on this tremissis in notably cruder than the portrait of Leo III, and the cross potent has come to resemble that on the tremisses of the later Lombard king, Desiderius (756-774 AD). This Byzantine-style issue of Sardinia could date from the reign of Constantine V.