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!
Solidus - Liutprand in the name of Justinian II
| Issuer | Benevento |
|---|---|
| Year | 751-758 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Solidus |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| 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 short cross potent set upon four steps occupies the centre of the reverse field, with the Lombard prince's initial L placed prominently to the left of the cross shaft. The design is encircled by a Latin legend referencing imperial victory and the mint authority, reading VICTVRA - AGVSTVI L CONOB, the terminal CONOB indicating a gold standard of Constantinopolitan weight. The entire composition is enclosed within a beaded border, reflecting the Beneventan workshop's imitation of Byzantine prototype reverse types. |
| 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 |
Benevento occupied an awkward political position in mid-eighth-century Italy: nominally a Lombard duchy under the Kingdom of Italy, yet increasingly operating as an independent power. Liutprand of Benevento — not to be confused with the better-known Lombard king of the same name who died in 744 — struck this solidus invoking Justinian II decades after that emperor's execution in 711. The Byzantine name lent the issue a veneer of imperial legitimacy that Benevento's own authority could not yet supply.
The electrum composition rather than fine gold marks a deliberate debasement, reflecting the duchy's limited access to bullion rather than any metropolitan mint standard.