Solidus - Basil I

Basil I's earliest solidi, struck in the first year of his reign, were issued by a man who had murdered his way to the throne — Emperor Michael III was killed in his bedchamber in September 867, almost certainly on Basil's direct order, just months after Basil had already eliminated his co-conspirator and rival Bardas. The DOC III-2 classification places this emission among the very first products of the Macedonian dynasty, which would go on to rule Byzantium for nearly two centuries.

The 867–868 dating makes this a transitional issue, struck before the iconographic program of the new dynasty had fully stabilized.