Of course, there are two main
types among the folles of this class. One
type is larger in size, the letters on the
obverse are brutal, the
cross is large. The second
type is more diminutive and the letters on the
reverse are smoller and have a different outline. As a whole, this
type has a much smaller size than the first. But all of these folles are significantly larger or heavier in
weight than the weird
follis we're reviewing. There are no coins of such a small
diameter and, mainly,
weight among such follies in the DO
Collection (of course, if DO coin is not clipped). It is worth noting that the coin was not clipped off at the edges,
as is often happened among the late
Byzantine copper of the XIth-XIIth centuries. On the contrary, the coin was minted on a new, rather neatly made
flan, and does not bear traces of over-minting. It is also unlikely that normal-sized
follis died were used to
mint this coin, although I do not exclude this possibility, at least in the case of the
obverse with the image of
Christ. I must say that we know the existence of half-weight
denominations, repeating the design of the main
denomination. Such coins are known from
Theophilus (
Sear 1668) or
Michael VII (
Sear 1880A).
The coin has one specific feature: the base of the
cross has only two steps and in the last line on the
reverse, in the word BAS-ILE is absent (due to the lack of space?), the “I” letter. It seems that this letter is replaced by the vertical line of the
cross. Of course, this is suspicious, but it is quite logical.