Information
Issue: , 775-780 AD, D/ Leo IV and Constantine VI seated facing, R/ Frontal busts of Leo III and Constantine V, Mint of Constantinople, Bibl. Ref. Sears, 1583; D.O., 1; Metal: AV, gr. 4.38, Diameter: mm. 21.17. qSPL.
Attached are: "Bolaffi Quality Certificate" no. 1.511 of 06/12/2016 (Numbering / Bolaffi Catalog No. S 1584); "Appraiser Appendix to the Bolaffi Quality Certificate" no. 1.511 of 06/12/2016".
Provenance
Bolaffi, Turin;private collection, Rome.
Specialist Notes
Below is an extract from the "Expert Appendix to the Bolaffi Quality Certificate" no. 1.511 of 06/12/2016” attached to this lot:
… Leo IV, son of Constantine V and his first wife Irene, reigned for only five years, from 775 to 780, and distinguished himself on a military level for some victorious campaigns against the Arabs, who had resumed invading the territory of Syria from 'Empire. Internally his action was still conditioned by the final part of the disputes on iconoclasm, of which he was a lukewarm supporter, in contrast with his wife, another Irene but of Athenian origin, who instead was strongly opposed. Having died of a sudden fever, the rumor spread that Leo IV had been poisoned by his wife, eager to exercise power alone as regent of her son Constantine VI, who, on the death of his father, he was only 9 years old. The rumor has not found confirmation, but it is certain that, with the advent of Irene to power, a period of palace conspiracies began of which the most illustrious victims were first Constantine VI, deposed and blinded by his mother, and then the same Irene, who was overthrown by her "minister" of finance, who proclaimed himself Emperor under the name of Nicephorus I. …
The present lot cannot be exported from Italy.… Leo IV, son of Constantine V and his first wife Irene, reigned for only five years, from 775 to 780, and distinguished himself on a military level for some victorious campaigns against the Arabs, who had resumed invading the territory of Syria from 'Empire. Internally his action was still conditioned by the final part of the disputes on iconoclasm, of which he was a lukewarm supporter, in contrast with his wife, another Irene but of Athenian origin, who instead was strongly opposed. Having died of a sudden fever, the rumor spread that Leo IV had been poisoned by his wife, eager to exercise power alone as regent of her son Constantine VI, who, on the death of his father, he was only 9 years old. The rumor has not found confirmation, but it is certain that, with the advent of Irene to power, a period of palace conspiracies began of which the most illustrious victims were first Constantine VI, deposed and blinded by his mother, and then the same Irene, who was overthrown by her "minister" of finance, who proclaimed himself Emperor under the name of Nicephorus I. …
Condition report
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