Sale: Triton IX, Lot: 1623. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Monday, 9 January 2006.  Sold For $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

JUSTIN II. 565-578 AD. AR Half Siliqua (0.74 g, 6h). Ravenna mint. [D N IV]STI NVS P P A, diademed draped bust right / Cross surmounted by Christogram set on globe; stars flanking; all within wreath. DOC I -; MIB II 41; BN AR/8 (same dies); BMC Vandals p. 126, 14 (Lombards); SB 413. EF, toned. ($500)

It is presumed that some of the small silver coins struck at Ravenna were copied by the new Lombard rulers of Italy, after Alboin's conquest of the peninsula in 568. The Byzantines were left with a small outpost, the exarchate of Ravenna, through which political and economic relations with the rest of Italy were conducted. Siliquae in the name of Justin II betray a range of styles, from good imperial quality to obvious barbarian imitations; the present piece falls in the difficult middle ground. It can be noted that the better style pieces usually have a forked base to the reverse cross, and on this coin the globe appears to have been cut over a fork; this would suggest that this is a later imperial issue.