Basil I the Macedonian, with Constantine. 867-886. Debased AV Semissis (13mm, 0.88 g, 6h). Syracuse mint. Struck 868-878. Near EF.

Electronic Auction 548
Lot: 715. Estimated: $ 200

Byzantine, Gold

Sold For $ 400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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Basil I the Macedonian, with Constantine. 867-886. Debased AV Semissis (13mm, 0.88 g, 6h). Syracuse mint. Struck 868-878. Crowned facing bust of Basil, wearing loros, holding globus cruciger / Crowned facing bust of Constantine, wearing chlamys, holding globus cruciger. DOC 15; Anastasi 585a; SB 1714. Toned, light porosity. Near EF.

From the Gasvoda Collection. Ex Artemide LII (26 October 2019), lot 461.

One of the final emissions of the Syracuse mint under the Byzantines. The Arab conquest of Sicily had began many years prior but the mint at Syracuse dutifully continued producing coinage under Basil I with whatever meager metal reserves were at their disposal. These final emissions, struck even while Syracuse itself was under siege, are often either heavily debased electrum or even just gilt copper. As such, the light weights of these issues should not be much considered versus iconography when determining attribution. This specimen is simply a debased semissis and not a tremissis as Anastasi and Artemide have at times suggested. In the end, the Syracusan Byzantine coinage terminated under Basil I when Syracuse fell to Aghlabid forces in 878.

Closing Date and Time: 18 October 2023 at 13:58:00 ET.

All winning bids are subject to a 20% buyer’s fee.