Sale: CNG 61, Lot: 2182. Closing Date: Sep 25, 
  2002.    Estimate $3000  

PAPAL-BYZANTINE ROME. CONSTANTINE IV (668-685) and 
POPE ST. VITALIAN (657-672). AR 1/8 Siliqua (0.26 
gm). Struck circa 668-672. Crowned and beardless 
facing bust, wearing chlamys and holding globus 
cruciger / Elongated monogram of Pope Vitalian. 
M.D. O’Hara and I. Vecchi, “A Find of Byzantine 
Silver from the Mint of Rome for the Period AD 
641-752,” SNR 64 (1985), 15; SB 1233A; Berman 8 
(Pope Stephen III or IV). EF, flan chip, some 
weakness in obverse. Extremely rare. ($3000) 
Ex Leu-NAC Auction, (May 1993), lot 585.

This class was unknown before 1985 and is of 
considerable interest. It was during the 
pontificate of Vitalian that the first visit by an 
Emperor to Rome in over three hundred years, by 
Constans II in 663, ended in a public relations 
disaster. Constans II’s campaigns against the 
Lombards invariably meant the ruthless extortion 
of his Italian subjects, added to which the 
infamous despoiling of the gilded roof of the 
Pantheon gave him a reputation almost as bad as 
Gaiseric. 
                  Copyright © CNG 2002

Lot sold for  $4750, plus buyers fees.

Used by permission of Classical Numismatic Group, www.cngcoins.com.