BULGARIA. First Empire. Omurtag, Great Khan, 814-831. Medallion (Gold, 21.5 mm, 3.06 g). CAN ЄSV bHГI OMORTAГ = "great Khan Omurtag" Crowned and draped bust of Omurtag facing, in Byzantine style, holding a cross potent with his right hand and an akakia with his left. Rev. Plain. Curta, F., Qagan, khan or king? Power in early medieval Bulgaria (seventh to ninth century), in Viator 37 (2006), 1-31. Skorpil 151. Struck from the same dies as the example that appeared as Triton XXIII, 2020, 1046. Seemingly the fourth example known and with its original suspension loop. Nearly extremely fine.

From a collection in Switzerland.

The Bulgars saw the Byzantine Empire as a model for their own empire, but they never fell into the habit of hero worshipping their paragons. Far from that - in 811 khan Krum decapitated the emperor Nicephorus I, had his skull made into a drinking cup, and besieged Constantinople. When Krum was killed in a fall from his horse five years later, his son Omurtag became khan. He seems to have been responsible for commissioning the production of this very special coin-like object. Although the piece at a first glimpse reminds one of a Byzantine solidus it is obviously something completely different. Its weight is not right and only a very small number of them have ever been found - too few to have been used as a circulating currency. Were they used as a golden seal to communicate with emperors and kings outside of the kingdom instead? Probably not, as these objects are usually found well within the old boundaries of the Bulgar-empire itself. It is more likely that these gold objects served as decorations handed out by the ruler to a small, hand-picked group of his most faithful supporters and courtiers. We might understand them as the missing link between Roman Imperial Phalerae and our very own decorations, as they are still bestowed as merit orders on deserving citizens and magistrates by most modern countries.

Only four examples of this type of golden medallion of Omurtag are known. The first piece was published by Karel Skorpil in 1905 and it had been discovered in the area around Omurtag's capital, Pliska. However, the current whereabouts of this piece are unknown. A second piece is in the Sofia museum, and a third (or is it the vanished first?) was sold in Triton XXIII for 47.500 USD. The fourth specimen is the one offered in this auction. All are from the same die. What was once a very exclusive decoration for senior courtiers is today an extremely rare object, linking our systems of state-patronized meritocracy to the late Roman Empire and its neighboring followers.