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Description: Three quarter standing figure of Christ Antiphonetes, right hand raised in benediction, book of gospels in left. Reverse.Jewelled cross, IC - XC / NI -KA in limbs. Ref:Sear 1825. Better than very fine, obverse faint trace of an undertype. Anonymous Class C folles are attributed to the reign of Michael IV The Paphlagonian AD 1034-1041. The obverse depicting Christ Antiphonetes is modeled after a known icon that was the favourite of the Empress Zoe, the widow of Michael IV

History: This coin is part of a grouping of coins called “Anonymous Folles”. These coins are so-called because they do not bear the name or mark of any particular ruler. They were issued during the period between 969 and 1092 and include purely religious images and inscriptions.

This particular coin is especially interesting because the obverse bears a portrait of Jesus Christ. The reverse side of most of these coins has the inscription in Latin “Jesus Christ, King of Kings”.

According to sources from that period and numismatic data anonymous folles started to be struck during the period of John I. The copper coinage Byzantine Empire, between the accession to the throne of John I in 969 and the great monetary reform of Alexius I in 1092 is distinguished from that of earlier centuries in two respects. First, there is a portrait of Christ on copper coins, although it was an application preferred only on golden coins until that time. Second, they were not struck in the name of any emperor.