JUSTINIAN II GOLD SOLIDUS – SECOND REIGN ISSUE WITH YOUNG CHRIST PORTRAIT – MINT STATE NGC GRADED BYZANTINE COIN (INV. 20090)

$4,650.00

20090. BYZANTINE EMPIRE. JUSTINIAN II, SECOND REIGN, AD 705–711.
Gold Solidus, 4.47 g, 21 mm. Issue of Constantinople.
Obv. DN IhS ChS RЄX RЄGNANTIЧM, bust of youthful Christ Pantocrator with closely cropped curly hair, facing, holding the Gospels and raising his right hand in benediction. Rev. DN IЧSTINIANЧS MЧLTЧS AN, facing bust of Justinian II wearing a loros and holding a cross potent in the right hand and a globus cruciger inscribed PAX in the left.
Sear 1413.
NGC graded MINT STATE, Strike 4/5, Surface 4/5.

Following his return from exile and resumption of power (the “Second Reign”), Justinian II adopts an entirely new image of Christ for his coinage, a youthful portrait with eastern features, including curly short–cropped hair and a kind, welcoming, expression. It is an image likely inspired by the iconographical traditions of Christian Syria, and some have observed that it may be based on an icon of the “historical” Christ as he appeared before the Crucifixion.