BYZANTINE EMPIRE: Romanus I Lecapenus, 920-944, AV solidus (4.40g), Constantinople, S-1745, Christ enthroned facing, wearing nimbus cross, pallium and colobium, raising right hand in benediction, book of Gospels in his left hand // facing busts of Romanus and Christopher (923-931), holding patriarchal cross between them, strike 5/5, surface 3/5, lovely example, NGC graded choice AU, ex Choudhury Collection. From this reign onwards and until the bitter end in 1453, almost all Byzantine gold coins bear Christ on the obverse.
