Unpublished Ravenna Mint Bronze

Sale: Triton X, Lot: 833. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Monday, 8 January 2007.  Sold For $2600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Anonymous. Circa 541. Æ 13mm (10 Nummi?) (2.19 g, 6h). Ravenna mint. Helmeted bust of Roma right / Cross set on D; R L flanking; all within wreath. Unpublished. VF, olive brown patina. Apparently unique.

The style and fabric of this coin suggest a date of issue in the 6th-7th centuries. The obverse bust has a stylistic affinity with the representation of Roma on a number of issues from the late Roman Empire, Ostrogothic kingdom, and Byzantine Empire. Of these, only the Ostrogoths and Byzantines are possible due to the timeframe of this issue. A bust of this type appears on bronze coins of the Ostrogothic kings Theoderic, Athalaric, Theodahad, and Witigis. According to COI, though, only Witigis issued this bust type in Ravenna. Stylistically, the helmet crest on all examples of these Ostrogothic issues is short, turning outward and terminating behind the head. The crest on the present coin, however, continues to the base of the neck, terminating roughly parallel with the shoulders. This form is more reminiscent of the representation of Roma on the anonymous celebratory issues of Constantinople under the Byzantines (see S. Bendall, "Some comments on the anonymous silver coinage of the fourth to sixth centuries A.D.," in RN 2002). While the helmet crest style tends to suggest a Byzantine issue, such a stylistic element in this period cannot be conclusive.

The reverse type is exceptional in that it features a plain, Latin cross, rather than the cross potent. This is significant in that coins featuring a cross as a type in this period almost exclusively represent it as a cross potent. Further, the cross is traditionally placed upon a number of steps in a pyramidal form. In this case, the cross is placed upon a delta, which may actually be a representation of the steps rather than a letter--a view supported by the fact that the letter R appears in Latin form. The cross type is certainly Byzantine, and a nearly exact match of the reverse of this coin (without the delta) is found on issues of Justinian I at Rome, struck just after the liberation of that city from Ostrogothic rule (MIBE N240, 210, and N210). In contrast, the Ostrogothic reverse types, on all coins, consisted of either a traditional Roman type (wolf & twins, emperor standing, Victory advancing, etc.), the king's name (in long or monogram form), or a mark of value. The cross was never used as an Ostrogothic type.

Witigis was the last Ostrogothic king to issue coinage at Ravenna. He was succeeded by Hilderic in 540 and Eraric in 541. Although both held Ravenna, there are no known coins attributed to them. In 541, Ravenna was recaptured by the Byzantines, who held the city until it was taken by the Lombards in 751. As noted above, Roma was used by the Byzantines as a celebratory type. It is therefore most probable, especially in light of the reverse type, that this was a celebratory issue struck just after the Byzantines recaptured Ravenna in 541.