Romanus I Lecapenus with Christopher (AD 923-931). AV solidus (20mm, 4.30gm, 6h). NGC XF 5/5 - 5/5. Constantinople, ca. AD 921-931. + IhS XPS RЄX-RЄϚnAnTIЧM*, Christ enthroned facing, wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium and colobium, right hand raised in benediction, book of Gospels in left / ROmAn' ЄT XPISTOFO' AЧϚϚ b', crowned facing busts of Romanus I (on left), with short beard, wearing loros, and Christopher (on right), beardless, wearing chlamys pinned at right shoulder, jointly holding patriarchal cross with globular base between them. Sear 1745. From The James Lomiento, Jr. Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Electronic Auction (8 October 2001), 64498. The son of Leo VI the Wise, Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus ("purple-born") reigned for nearly half a century, although he only held actual power for the last quarter of that span. As a child he was under the regency of his mother Zoë and the Patriarch Nicholas. A crisis occasioned by war with Bulgaria in AD 920 brought the capable admiral Romanus I to the throne as co-emperor; Romanus proceeded to advance his own sons in the succession, keeping Constantine in the background. But Constantine learned much during his long apprenticeship and, in AD 944, he cannily managed a palace coup that deposed Romanus and his sons, leaving Constantine as sole ruler. By nature a scholar, he wrote several treatises and guidebooks on government that survive to this day. Learning, art and literature throve, and the Macedonian Renaissance gained strength under his firm and conscientious rule. HID09801242017 © 2024 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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