Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 1616. Estimate $750.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $550. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

INDIA. Romano-Byzantine Imitation. Circa 6th century AD. AV "Solidus"/Dinar (4.84 g, 6h). II LIITO[...]S VN PA, crude laureate head right, with "crest" on top of head / OIIEIIO IOIIOII, standing figure (emperor?), head right, holding globus cruciger and sceptre; OIIO. Good VF, pair of holes at top in Indian fashion. ($750)

A curious mixture of Roman and Byzantine types on an Indian gold dinar. The obverse portrait and legend appear to be based on a prototype of an early Caracalla aureus, but the crest at the top of the head is typically seen on the helmets of later Imperial and Byzantine solidi. The reverse is a less obvious conflation of two late Roman-Byzantine solidi types, the emperor with labarum and victory, and the angel with long cross and globus cruciger, respectively. The weights of these imitations typically remain close to that of their prototype, and this piece is certainly close to the standard for solidi of the late Roman and early Byzantine periods. Dating these imitations is always problematic, but they are unlikely to extend beyond the mid-7th century, when the growing power of Islam ruptured relations between India and the West, and also provided a new coinage type that was adopted quickly as the trade standard, the Arabic dinar.