Extremely Rare Dram of Bagrat IV

Sale: Triton XIII, Lot: 461. Estimate $7500.  Closing Date: Monday, 4 January 2010.  Sold For $6000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

GEORGIA, Kingdom. Bagrat IV. 1027-1072. AR Dram (1.97 g, 12h). Struck 1060-1072. + HA/GI A/Θ/KOC, facing bust of Theotokos (Virgin Mary), orans / "+ God preserve Bagrat, King of the Abkhazians, Sebastos" in Georgian, in margin and continuing in central field. Pakhamov pl. III, 42; Kapanadze 46; Dobrovolsky -; Lang pp. 19-20. Near EF, attractively toned. Extremely rare.

Ex Helios I (17 April 2008), lot 936, where it realized €7000.

Bagrat followed his father Giorgi I to the throne of Georgia at the age of nine, and his reign was a constant struggle with opponents seeking the throne and expansionist Byzantine emperors. Bagrat saw off two pretenders from other branches of the royal family, but the Duke of Kldekari, Liparit, was a constant thorn in his side, and in 1051 Bagrat had to flee to Constantinople, seeking Byzantine neutrality while he returned to deal with Liparit. Liparit fled in 1058, but only a few years later Georgia faced a greater threat – the Seljuq sultan Alp Arslan who ravaged southern Georgia in a series of raids. Bagrat IV died in 1072, having fought the Seljuqs to a draw and preserved Georgian unity and independence.