★ One of Six Known Examples ★

Kingdom of Axum, Gersem AV Unit. Circa AD 580. ⧾ BACHIA AξѠMI ("king of the Aksumites"), crowned and draped bust to right, flanked by wheat stalks, within circular border / ⧾ ΓЄ ⧾ PC ⧾ Є ⧾ M ("Gersem"), draped bust to right, wearing headcloth, flanked by wheat stalks, within circular border. Hahn & Keck 81.5 (this coin); SACAM 522; H 49; AC 146; Vaccaro -, but cf. 64 (facing bust) = Roma e69, 584 (hammer: 14,000 GBP). 1.28g, 16mm, 11h.

Very Fine; mildly wavy flan, edge flaw. Extremely Rare; one of only six examples cited by Hahn & Keck, three of which are in museums.

This coin published in the online Phaidra database of the University of Vienna at: https://phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1190548;
This coin cited in W.R.O Hahn and R. Keck, Münzgeschichte der AksumitenKönige in der Spätantike, Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte der Universität Wien Vol. 21 (2020);
From the Maekelay-Tigray Collection, reported to have been privately purchased from the Francesco Vaccaro (1903-1990) Collection.