Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 1334. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $475. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

TIBERIUS II CONSTANTINE. 578-582 AD. Æ Half Follis (9.45 gm, 12h). Constantinople mint. Struck 578/9 AD. DM TIb CONSTANT PP AVG, diademed, helmeted, and cuirassed facing bust, holding globus cruciger and shield / Large XX; cross above; CON. DOC I -; MIB II 29; SB 435. Near EF, dark brown patina with earthen encrustation. ($200)

From the Malcolm W. Heckman Collection. Ex Waddell II (12 September 1987), lot 646.

The portraits on Tiberius' early half folles are strikingly different from those on his other bronzes. They clearly harken back to the early facing busts of Justinian, from the time of the great imperial re-conquest. Tiberius is treating the reign of Justin II as an interregnum, and implies that he will restore the Empire to its former glory.