Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 2266. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $700. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GERMANIC TRIBES, Uncertain. AV Solidus (4.47 g, 6h). Struck in the name of Theodosius II, circa AD 402-450. D H THEOOOS (S horizontal) I-VS P P AA (first A inverted), pearl-diademed, helmeted, and cuirassed bust facing slightly right, holding spear over shoulder and shield; diadem ribbons to left / Constantinopolis enthroned left, foot on prow, holding globus cruciger and sceptre; shield at her side, star in left field, no points in legend; COHOB. Cf. RIC X 321; cf. Depeyrot 84/1. Good VF.

From the Marc Poncin Collection.

Various Germanic tribes migrated westward across the Rhine and Danube frontiers of the Roman Empire from the 3rd-6th centuries AD (e.g. the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Lombards, Suevi, etc.). Most of the early coinage of these peoples is copied from issues of the Roman and Byzantine empires, and is often attributable based on hoard evidence when struck in the name of an emperor. Nonetheless, it is still common to find imitative issues such as those below that are found outside the context of hoards and are as yet unattributable to any of these tribes.