Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 1327. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $4000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JUSTIN II. 565-578 AD. Æ Follis (14.72 gm, 6h). Cherson mint. XEP •CWNOC, Justin, nimbate and holding globus cruciger, and Sophia, nimbate and holding cross sceptre, standing facing / Large M; to left, Tiberius, nimbate, standing facing, holding long staff surmounted by Christogram. DOC I 297 (Maurice Tiberius); Anokin 315; MIB II 159 (Maurice Tiberius); SB 603 (Maurice Tiberius). Good VF, strong strike, chocolate brown patina. Extremely rare in this state of preservation. ($3000)

From the Malcolm W. Heckman Collection. Ex Berk-England Byzantine Sale (7 December 1989), lot 78.

The Byzantine issues of Cherson have become almost plentiful on the market after the opening of eastern Europe, but there has been no appreciable influx of the genuinely rare follis and half follis bronzes attributed to Justin II. They are obviously a short-lived experimental coinage, one that proved unpopular with the people of the Crimea, with their unique coinage system based on units of five nummi. This piece from the Berk-England sale of 1989 remains one of the finest known examples.