Sale: CNG 70, Lot: 1084. Estimate $3000.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 September 2005.  Sold For $3000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

MAURICE TIBERIUS. 582-602 AD. AV Solidus (4.46 g, 6h). Constantinople mint. Consular issue of 602 AD. Maurice enthroned facing, crowned and wearing consular garb, holding mappa and cross / Angel standing facing, holding staff surmounted by a Christogram and globus cruciger; A/CONOB. DOC I 2a; MIB II 2; SB 474. EF, partial flat strike. ($3000)

The issue of 602 AD for Maurice probably marks a significant event in the imperial history. Maurice was consul for the second time that year (the first was 583 AD), but perhaps of greater significance was the marriage of his first-born son, Theodosius, to a daughter of the senator Germanus. Theodosius was the first imperial-born son to attain adulthood since Theodosius II in the mid-5th century. The prospect of a true dynastic succession, combined with an alliance with a powerful senatorial family, was more likely the reason for this issue.