Leo I, Roman Emperor

Thessaloniki

1 Nomisma = 1 Solidus

Copper alloy (bronze or brass)

Struck

Square

1.20 cm

1.20 cm

0.20 cm

Mass (g)	Mass (grain)	Date of measurement	Reference	fragmented	cleaned	reference weight
1.85	-	-	(scientific literature)	No	No	Yes

Symbol	Technique	Direction	Position	Number	Synecdoche
Roman Emperor	Stamped / Countermarked / Struck	RIGHT		One	Bust

Auction Nomos 2016: Lot 311. The Eparch Collection of Roman, Byzantine and Islamic Weights. LATIN COIN WEIGHTS. Leo I, 457-474. Siliqua Weight (?) (Bronze, 12x12x2mm, 1.85 g 6), a square coin-weight on the reduced standard, Thessalonica. Diademed and draped imperial, beardless bust to right. Rev. Square monogram of LEONIS. A. Mazarakis, "A Byzantine check-weight of Leo I (457-474)" NomXhron 30, 2012, pp. 39-43 (this piece, illustrated on p. 39), Roma 10, 2015, 913 (same dies). A weight of great rarity and interest. Nicely patinated. Good very fine. From the Eparch Collection, ex Helios 6, 9 March 2011, 1073. This fascinating piece forms part of a very small series of weights known to have been produced in Thessalonica, albeit primarily for solidi (as Bendall 16 and Lanz, 159, 2014, 653 - 4.23 g). We can be sure that this weight and the two known solidus weights were struck at the same time because the monogram on their reverses was definitely cut by the same engraver. A further weight, ostensibly of this type but weighing 2.02 g (Helios 8, 2012, 546) and supposedly of billon (!) is so stylistically peculiar that one wonders what it is supposed to be! In any case, our piece here is one of the very rare weights that can be ascribed to a specific Roman or Byzantine emperor. Do note that two other examples of the present type have since appeared with Roma in London: 9, 2015, lot 866 (1.46 g) and the above mentioned piece from auction 10 (2.18 g). The weights of the two recent examples diverge so much from that of the present piece, which Mazarakis identified as a reduced siliqua weight, that it is possible that it might, after all, be a semissis weight!
Asolati 2022: Exagia solidi imperiali privi dell’indicazione esplicita della funzione: Leone I, 457–474 d.C., [exagium semissis]. Zecca non indicata: Thessalonica. D/ Busto diademato, drappeggiato e corazzato a d. R/ Monogramma di Leone I (del tipo impiegato nella zecca di Thessalonica). d. Nomos, Auction 13 (07/10/2016), lotto n. 311: g 1,85; mm 12 × 12 × 2; h 6.

No

Language	Technique	Legend type
Elamite	Stamped / Countermarked / Struck	Authority

{monogramma}

ENOS

LATE ROMAN AND BYZANTINE

FROM 457 TO 474

Auction Nomos 2016 and Asolati 2022: propose a production date between 457 and 474.

Name	Date of acquisition	Inventory number
Antiquities Trade	Oct. 7, 2016	None

Reference	Page/Column	Reference (number)	Plate / Figure	Comment
Auction Helios 2011	145	1073		None
Auction Nomos 2016a	None	311	fig.	None
Asolati 2022	268, 275	35Bd	Pl. VI/35Bd	None

Eparch Collection.
Asolati 2022: cf. RIC X, p. 8–9; Bendall 1996, n. 16.