possibly Bulgaria. Follis AD 979-1035. Uncertain Eastern mint,imitating Class A2 ‘Anonymous’ Good Very Fine

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Bust of Christ facing, wearing nimbus cruciger, colobium and holding Gospels

Garbled reverse legend.

Upublished in the standard references, for prototype cf. DOC III, pp. 674-5, pl. 55, A2.52.1-6 (Imitations); Sear p. 376, 1818 (Class A3); for similar imitative issues cf. P. Lampinen, ‘Imitative Issues,’ in W. Sayles, Ancient Coin Collecting V: The Romaion/Byzantine Culture, 1998, pp. 149-162, especially p. 154; A. Bellinger has published a plate of contemporary imitations, and T. Gerassimov recorded the findings of an entire hoard of counterfeits frpm Bulgaria (‘Fausses monneies antiques de l’empereur byzantine Jean Zimisces’, in Bull. de Institut archeologique bulgare, 17 (1950), pp. 313-315).Lampinen observes:

Note:

This phase of Balkan coinage production saw the introduction of several huge 'anonymous follis' series during the reigns of Eastern Emperors John I to Alexis I (969 - 1118). The explicit Christian imagery must have struck a chord with the recently converted Balkan masses because the official mint issues were accompanied by a fair quantity of copies, prsumably to meet the excess demand. These Christian issues would also be the prototypes for the initial coinage of several medieval Christian states, such as the first Crusader issues of Edessa and Antioch, medieval Armenia and distant Georgia in the Caucasus and possibly Bulgaria.

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