VISIGOTHS, Spain. Erwig. 680-687. AV Tremissis (20mm, 1.46 g, 6h). Emerita (Mérida) mint. + I D • I N • M • N ERVIGIVS (P+), facing bust / + EMERITΛ PIVS, cross potent set on three steps. Grierson, Coins of Medieval Europe 51 ; CNV 502; 658a; Miles, Visigoths 415a; cf. Chaves 91; MEC 1, 267; ME –. Toned. Good VF.

From the Richard A. Jourdan Collection of Medieval European Coins. Ex Dr. Lawrence A. Adams Collection (Part II, Classical Numismatic Group 100, 7 October 2015), lot 374; purchased from Bank Leu, October 1984.

‘Erwig replaced his own bust with a facing bust of Christ on some of his coins, a fact which raises awkward problems for the art historian, since its appearance on the coins must have preceded by a few years that of the bust of Christ on the better known coins struck by the Emperor Justinian II (685-95) towards the close of his reign; there would seem to be some stimulus in the mid-680s.’ Greirson, p. 23