NICEPHORUS BASILACIUS BRONZE FOLLIS – RARE USURPER ISSUE OVERSTRUCK ON EARLY CLASS F FOLLIS – NEAR VF BYZANTINE COIN (Inv. 20436)

$500.00

20436. BYZANTINE EMPIRE. NICEPHORUS BASILACIUS, usurper AD 1078.
Bronze Follis, 8.28 g, 28 mm. Issue of Thessalonica, AD 1078.
Obv. Bust of Christ Pantocrator (?), facing. Rev. IC – XC / NI – KA, flanking patriarchal cross on two steps.
Sear 1890.
Ex Leu Numismatik, Web Auction 26, 7/8/2023, lot 5737, formerly ex Obolos 25, 10/23/2022, lot 792.
Near VF, overstruck over an earlier follis (likely Class F) where the undertype’s reverse legend (..bASILЄЧ / bASILЄ) is clear on the current obverse and traces of Christ’s head appear on the reverse at 5 o’clock

For a discussion of these enigmatic issues see Philip Grierson, “Nicephorus Bryennius or Nicephorus Basilacius,” Numismatic Circular, January 1976, pp. 2-3. The bust on this coin does not appear to have a nimbus or the features of Christ, although this may be a result of the overstrike itself; if not, then the figure is possibly an imperial one.