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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
63, Lot: 108. Estimate $250.
Sold for $280. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BASIL II and CONSTANTINE VIII. 976-1025. AV Histamenon Nomisma (26mm, 4.30 gm). Struck 1005-1025. Nimbate bust of Christ facing, holding Gospels / Busts of Basil and Constantine, holding cross between them. DOC III pt. 2, 6a; SB 1800. VF, minute flan crack.

Probably the most militant of Byzantine emperors, Basil never married, devoting his entire reign to conducting campaigns against Bulgarians, Fatimids, Georgians and the western principalities. At the battle of Kleidon in 1014 he acquired his nickname Bulgar-Slayer (Bulgaroktonos) when he captured and blinded 14,000 Bulgarians. The Bulgarian tsar Samuel is said to have died of despair when he saw what had been done to his men.