Sale: CNG 70, Lot: 1079. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2005.  Sold For $525. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JUSTINIAN I. 527-565 AD. AV Solidus (4.41 g, 6h). Constantinople mint. Struck 545-565 AD. Helmeted facing bust, holding globus cruciger and shield / Victory standing facing, holding staff surmounted by Christogram and globus cruciger; star to right, IB/CONOB. DOC I 278 (Carthage); MIB I 7; SB 140. EF, die break and shallow scrapes on reverse. ($500)

A curious coin, clearly of Constantinopolitan fabric, but with an officina number (12) higher than any other numbered workshop from that mint. Bellinger in DOC I attributed the type to Carthage, with IB being an indictional year indicator; he noted that Grierson dissented from this opinion. Some of these coins appear to have been struck from re-engraved dies where the IB was placed over a previous officina mark, but this specimen clearly does not.