GOLD COIN Michael VII Dukas, Byzantine Emperor 1067-1078, histamenon nomisma, minted in Constantinople, depicting Christ Pantocrator, on the other side the emperor with a labarum in one hand and a globus cruciger in the other.

Diameter approx. 27 mm, weight approx. 4,41

Provenance: Marie-Louise Smith (1927-2014) and then gift and bequest to the current owner. The coins were acquired at coin auctions and in coin shops between about 1960-2000.

Coin collecting has a long tradition within the Smith family where Marie-Louise Smith's grandfather Otto Smith (1864-1935) was a significant coin collector and who in 1929 donated the lion's share of his collection of coins from antiquity to the then Royal Mint Cabinet. The coins inherited by Marie-Louise Smith were used as the framework for exchanging and buying new coins to shape the collection of Byzantine gold coins now sold here.

The Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire existed for a period of almost 1200 years between 286-1453. After the fall of Western Rome in 476, it was the only remaining part of the original Roman Empire. The capital was Constantinople and that was where the imperial court was located. Over a period of 700 years from the 3rd century to the 10th century, it managed to maintain a unison coinage scheme in which throughout the empire you could rely on how much gold a given coin contained. At times it was possible to produce gold so pure that it corresponds to the present 23 carats.