Nomos 18

Uncertain ruler, late 5th-6th century. Weight of 6-ounkia (Bronze with inlaid Copper and Silver, 43x44x8 mm, 157.00 g), A uniface, square commercial weight, its top ornamented with engraved designs, and with slightly curved edges. The upper surface is highly ornamented with engraved and inlaid designs: at the center, on a double line base enriched with garlands below, are the facing busts of two nimbate, crowned and draped imperial figures, their faces inlaid with silver and their robes with copper; around the busts is an inlaid copper laurel wreath with inlaid silver ornaments at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock; in each of the two upper corners of the weight is an engraved flower with an inlaid silver center; in the bottom left corner is the inlaid silver letter Γ° (= ounkia = unciae), and in the bottom right corner the inlaid silver letter S (= six). Rev. Plain with some file marks as made. Apparently unpublished as a 6-ounkia, but for a 3-ounkia, that is surely from the same workshop, see LHS 102, 2008, 473. Cf. MAH 19 (ascribed to Constantinople, 525-535). Extremely rare. The reverse and the edges nearly as found, with areas of green and red patina; the top surface cleaned to reveal the design with its original colors of golden-brown (bronze), red (copper), and shiny grey (silver). A remarkable example of late Roman - early Byzantine metal work. Some light pitting on the upper bronze surfaces, otherwise, about extremely fine.

The fact that a 3-ounkia weight, with exactly the same design, was found in Caesarea Maritima (L. Holland, 'An Unusual Bronze Coin-Weight from Caesarea-Maritima,' IAPN p. 94 and pl. 30, 2) makes the place of manufacture for these pieces somewhat problematic. They could, of course, have come from a workshop in Constantinople, but, equally, they could have been made in Antioch, Alexandria or, even, Caesarea itself.