174, Lot: 285. Estimate $200. Sold for $120. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Constantine VI & Irene. 780-797. Æ Follis (18mm, 2.67 g). Constantinople mint. Struck 792-797. Crowned facing bust of Irene, wearing loros, holding globus cruciger and cruciform sceptre / Crowned facing bust of Constantine VI, beardless, wearing chlamys, holding globus cruciger; pellet to left, cross and pellet to right; all above horizontal bar, below which is large M, flanked by X and N, A below. DOC III 7.1; SB 1598. VF, corroded surfaces. Rare.

From the Chris Connell Collection.

The powerful personality of Irene had always overshadowed that of her son Constantine, and only an army mutiny had prevented her from taking sole power in 790 AD. After a short period in exile, she returned to Constantinople, and began working at eliminating her enemies. As the coinage shows, she quickly relegated her son to second place. By 797 AD she had discredited Constantine to the point that she could have him deposed, blinded and murdered with little outcry. In 802 AD Irene was also deposed after attempting to arrange a marriage between herself and Charlemagne.