Irene. 797-802. AV Solidus (19mm, 4.46 g, 6h). Constantinople mint. EF.

CNG Feature Auction 133
Lot: 697. Estimated: $ 2 000

Byzantine, Coin-in-Hand Video, Gold

Sold For $ 3 500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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Irene. 797-802. AV Solidus (19mm, 4.46 g, 6h). Constantinople mint. Crowned facing bust, wearing loros, holding globus cruciger and cruciform scepter / Crowned facing bust, wearing loros, holding globus cruciger and cruciform scepter; Θ at end of legend. DOC 1b; Füeg 1.A.1; SB 1599. Toned, some luster, slight rotated double strike on reverse. EF.

Like Empress Aelia Eudocia of four centuries earlier, Irene hailed from Athens. The wife of the prematurely deceased Emperor Leo IV the Khazar, Irene took over affairs of state as regent on behalf of their son Constantine VI. This taste of imperial dynamism made Irene reluctant to give up her status and power. Meanwhile Constantine became increasingly at odds with his mother and her agenda (which included ending iconoclastic policies) as his rule developed. Ultimately, Irene was banished; however, within approximately a year, she managed to reassert herself as effective co-ruler of the empire. This failure to remove Irene from power would prove to be Constantine’s undoing. He was deposed and gruesomely blinded by his own mother’s courtiers. The accession of Irene, the first sole empress to rule the Byzantine state, caused some difficulty for those tasked with creating her coinage. It would be difficult to continue the previous status quo of the coinage depicting the new ruler on one side while concurrently honoring their predecessor or displaying an associate ruler on the other side. Consequently, Irene elected to have her visage represented twice on both the obverse and reverse of her solidi. The precedent this set would see the technique employed again in future reigns. As an additional difficulty to overcome, this time linguistic, Irene was titled on her coinage in the dative (although Grierson does note in DOC III.1 that she titled herself as basileus in her legislation). Following the Greek meaning of the word and given the nature of her unusual rise to power, her detractors may well have thought of her as Irene Tyrannos rather than as the Irene Basileus she desired to be.

The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 133 lots will be determined at the live online sale that will be held on 15-16 September 2026.

CNG Feature Auction 133 – Session Three – Lot 595-896 will be held Wednesday morning, 16 September 2026 beginning at 9:00 AM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 22.5% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 25% for all others.

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