Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 1319. Estimate $1500.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $3500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JUSTINIAN I. 527-565 AD. AV Solidus (3.84 gm, 6h). Rome mint. Struck 537-542 AD. D N IVSTINIANVS P P AVG, diademed, helmeted, and cuirassed facing bust, holding globus cruciger and shield / VICTORIA AVGGG, angel standing facing, holding long cross and globus cruciger; star in right field; A/ROMOB. DOC I 319; MIB I 28 (this coin noted); SB 290. VF, clipped, a few dents and scratches. Extremely rare, less than ten specimens known. ($1500)

From the Malcolm W. Heckman Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group XXXI (9-10 September 1994), lot 1463; aus dem Monetarium (May, 1991), lot 60; Schweizerische Kreditanstalt Münzenliste 52 (January 1988), lot 702; Schweizerische Kreditanstalt I (22-23 April 1983), lot 534; Auctiones 11 (30 September -1 October 1980), lot 566.

In 527 AD Justinian was crowned emperor in Constantinople. Dreaming of restoring the Roman Empire, he invaded the west in order to recover those territories now under Germanic control, including Italy. The death of Theoderic in 526 AD and ensuing instability the factional violence of his successors created opened the way for a Byzantine advance. In 536 AD Belisarius, Justinian’s brilliant general, retook Rome and, by 540 AD, the rest of Italy.

To commemorate the retaking of Rome, solidi like this example briefly included ROMOB rather than the standard CONOB in the exergue as a proclamation of the reunification of the Empire under Justinian. The new edition of MIB lists four examples, including this piece, and at least two other specimens have appeared, in Numismatica Ars Classica (26-27 October 1995), lot 772, and Triton III (30 November -1 December 1999), lot 1300.