Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Tremissis In the name of Heraclius, Realistic bust, regular head without stars
| Issuer | Lombards in Italy |
|---|---|
| Year | 620-700 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Tremissis (620-700) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A bold cross pattee on stepped base occupies the central field, rendered in a schematic but well-defined hammered style typical of Lombard gold coinage of this period. The arms of the cross are clearly delineated, filling much of the flan. The surrounding circular legend reads VICTORIA AVCVSTORI, with the mint mark CONOB in the exergue, indicating a nominal reference to the Constantinople mint standard. The overall design is a close imitation of contemporary Byzantine tremissis reverse types, reflecting the political and monetary prestige of the Byzantine Empire during Lombard rule in Italy. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The Lombards, who had seized much of the Italian peninsula from Byzantine control beginning in 568, faced a persistent legitimacy problem: they were a Germanic warrior aristocracy ruling a population that still oriented itself culturally and administratively toward Constantinople. Striking tremisses in the name of Heraclius — decades into his reign, and in some cases likely after his death in 641 — was less homage than political camouflage, a way of inserting Lombard coinage into existing trade networks without alarming merchants or the Church.
The "realistic bust" classification distinguishes this type from the increasingly schematic and abstracted heads that dominate later Lombard gold. It places this issue toward the earlier end of the production window.