36 Solidi - Justinian I SALVS ET GLORIA ROMANORVM

This multiple-solidus piece belongs to a category of Byzantine gold struck not for commerce but for ceremonial distribution — donatives given to military commanders and senior officials, particularly at imperial accessions and anniversaries. Justinian I's reign saw an aggressive reassertion of Roman authority in the West, with campaigns reconquering North Africa from the Vandals by 534 and much of Italy from the Ostrogoths by 554, and issues of this weight class served as instruments of that political theater as much as anything transactional.

The BCV 134 attribution places this among the rarest survivable artifacts of the period. Most known examples derive from hoards rather than excavation, suggesting deliberate preservation by recipients who understood their value from the moment of receipt.