An extremely rare solidus of Leo V, the Aremenian, 813 - 820, with his portrait on both the obverse and reverse, Sear 1626, DOC 1, T 1, R 1794.  There appear to be only four specimens of this coin, ANS, Ratto/Garrett, Tolstoi and this piece.  The coin in the Ratto Sale brought the highest price of any coin in the collection (by a 200 franc margin), with it being sold to John W. Garrett.  DOC, BMC, BN and Hunt all lack(ed) a specimen.  The Ratto/Garrett coin is a better piece than this one, this is better than the one in Tostoi and the ANS example is unseen.  The weight of this piece is 4.38g and exhibits little wear, mostly strike weakness due to misaligned dies during the striking process.  This type was produced from July 11 813 through December 25 813 when Leo V made his son Constantine as a co-ruler and then a new type was produced with Leo V on the obverse and Constantine on the reverse. (Note 01/25/00:  I have found another in the NFA/Leu Sale May 26, 1993, Lot 215, which is also slightly better than this piece, mostly due to a more regular strike.  Therefore, this is the fifth specimen known.)

July 1998 Imitative Piece of the Month
 

A Beneventim solidus produced by Romoald II during the time period of 706 - 741. This piece was struck in the name of Justininan II, but has a R in left reverse field as his mark. Beneventum was an Italian State overshadowed by the Vandals and Gauls.  They produced semi-imperial coinage for close to 200 years with a dramatic debasement occuring towards the end.  This piece is a MEC 1087 variety due to the differences in both the obverse and reverse legends.  These coins are significantly undervalued at this time, and should be looked upon as a great addition to any collection..