Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 1345. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $4750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MAURICE TIBERIUS. 582-602 AD. Æ Follis (18.17 gm, 12h). Carthage mint. Struck 597-601 AD. DN MAVRI Tb PP AVAG, diademed, helmeted, and cuirassed facing bust, holding globus cruciger / Large cross on globus; flanked by N and M with pellets above; XX•XX below. DOC I -; MIB III N117; SB 557. Good VF, dark green patina. Extremely rare, the finest by far of the two known specimens. ($3000)

From the Malcolm W. Heckman Collection. Ex William Herbert Hunt Collection: Highly Important Byzantine Coins (Sotheby's 5-6 December 1990), lot 168; William J. Conte Collection (Sotheby's New York, 2 November 1998), lot 157.

The Hunt catalogue misreads the obverse legend, seeing the last letter as an A and calling it a date, either regnal or indictional year 1 (regnal and indictional years coincided the first fifteen years of Maurice's reign) or 582/83 AD. The legend actually reads AVAG and is probably a blundered rendition of "Augustus"; the only other known specimen, shown in MIB, is from a different obverse die, but the legend cannot be read. However, all other dated Carthage bronzes of Maurice are clearly marked IND with the Indictional year, making it unlikely that this coin is dated. This coin in fact fits neatly in Hahn's fourth emission (DOC series C) and clearly dates post 597 AD.