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The year 498 AD is an important one for Roman coins. It was the year the Emperor Anastasius in Constantinople swept away the old coinage of small bronzes that characterized the old order of Rome. The follis shown is one of the new coins circulated in Anastasius' reign. It is at once cruder and heavier than the the coins of the previous century, and it is dominated by Christian imagery. Instead of gods and personified virtues (such as Faith, Hope, Liberty, Plenty, or Peace) there was a large initial M, which was the Greek numeral for 40. (A half follis had a K, the Greek numeral for 20, and so on.) "Follis" is not itself the correct name for the coin. It was a Latin word for "bag" and we use it because documents talk of so many bags of bronze coins, but never name the coin itself! Folli after the reform of 496 are sometimes referred to as "nummi", but this is their worth rather than their name. The one shown is 40 nummi, a half follis is 20 nummi, etc. But since "nummi" is only a Greek word for "money", this can't be strictly correct either, even as a name for the worth of the coin rather than for the coin itself. There are times you wish you had a handy 1500 year old ghost to ask...
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The large folli after Anastasius continued virtually unchanged for another 50 or 75 years, through the reigns of the following emperor, Justin. There was a bit of a change around 527, when the emperor Justinian introduced a frontal portrait of himself holding up a cross, rather than one facing right. There was yet another change in the syle of the follis after 565, when Justin II struck large bronze coins showing himself and the empress sitting on thrones, a large cross between them. Otherwise the reverse remained big initial M's and K's until around the 9th. century when the reverses became a standing figure of Jesus. Then there was about a century of only the figure of Jesus, and a large cross with the words King of Kings on the other side. You get the impression of a pushy Jesus shoving the wordly emperor off the coin altogether. At some point after the so-called "anonymous" follii the coinage underwent another radical reform that I've no interest in. The coin your seller showed you might have been any of those I've just described (except the anonymous type). The only way to know which for sure is to read the emperor's name on the obverse side.
All this is an enormous simplification of course. I haven't mentioned very small denomination pentanummium or decanummium, nor any of the variety of more valuable silver coinage.
If you want a bronze follis of this particular age (roughly 500 to 700 AD, they aren't hard to find or especially expensive. I paid $10 and $20 respectively for nice specimens of a follis and half follis of Justin's. A Justinian $15. A Heraclius $22. But you have to know that they're that cheap -- a lot of dealers (on line or in shops) will try to convince you they're virtually priceless! What a laugh! I've seen mediocre examples of the "anonymous" type on eBay for up to $100, the dealer boasting that it has a portrait of Christ on it, as though that made it rare and valuable. (I wrote the jerk and told him I'd bought as good for under ten bucks, which I had. He didn't answer, of course.) So if anyone tries to extract fifty bucks from you for a common 7th. or 8th. century bronze, you should give him a hard time until he either justifies it or backs down. Better still, give him a hard time and go elswhere. There are tons of dealers on-line. Here's a good place to start, a sort of internet bourse for dozens of dealers:
http://www.vcoins.com/world/
I do almost all my shopping from one dealer in particular there, Robert Kokotailo of Calgary Coin. He knows *everything* and gives good prices:
http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/calga.....namicIndex.asp
In fact, there is a bronze follis of Constans II (641-668 AD), for forty bucks, but it isn't quite what you want and I don't think its a good price for the shape its in. Maybe the exact type isn't a common one, since Robert isn't inclined to overcharge:
http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/calga.....idProduct=3244
Anyway, keep looking and you'll find what you want sooner or later.
All this is an enormous simplification of course. I haven't mentioned very small denomination pentanummium or decanummium, nor any of the variety of more valuable silver coinage.
If you want a bronze follis of this particular age (roughly 500 to 700 AD, they aren't hard to find or especially expensive. I paid $10 and $20 respectively for nice specimens of a follis and half follis of Justin's. A Justinian $15. A Heraclius $22. But you have to know that they're that cheap -- a lot of dealers (on line or in shops) will try to convince you they're virtually priceless! What a laugh! I've seen mediocre examples of the "anonymous" type on eBay for up to $100, the dealer boasting that it has a portrait of Christ on it, as though that made it rare and valuable. (I wrote the jerk and told him I'd bought as good for under ten bucks, which I had. He didn't answer, of course.) So if anyone tries to extract fifty bucks from you for a common 7th. or 8th. century bronze, you should give him a hard time until he either justifies it or backs down. Better still, give him a hard time and go elswhere. There are tons of dealers on-line. Here's a good place to start, a sort of internet bourse for dozens of dealers:
http://www.vcoins.com/world/
I do almost all my shopping from one dealer in particular there, Robert Kokotailo of Calgary Coin. He knows *everything* and gives good prices:
http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/calga.....namicIndex.asp
In fact, there is a bronze follis of Constans II (641-668 AD), for forty bucks, but it isn't quite what you want and I don't think its a good price for the shape its in. Maybe the exact type isn't a common one, since Robert isn't inclined to overcharge:
http://www.vcoins.com/ancient/calga.....idProduct=3244
Anyway, keep looking and you'll find what you want sooner or later.
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