Michael VII with Maria AV Gold Tetarteron Nomisma Coin (1071-78 AD) - VF

Description

MICHAEL VII DUCAS, with Maria his wife, (A.D. 1071-1078), gold tetarteron nomisma, (3.99 g), obv. +OKE ROH**Q*EI+ facing bust of the virgin, nimbate veiled and holding medallion depicting the nimbate head of the infant Christ across MHTP (ligated) - **Q*V, rev. around partial legend +MIXAH**L*s MAPIA, crowned facing busts of Michael and Maria both holding between them a long cross with X on shaft and below a pellet within a crescent, (S.1872, DOC 5a, BN 16). Good very fine and rare.
Maria is on the left which is very rare.
The coin comes from an auction of Dr. Busso Peus  from 1969
The further decline in the purity of the gold coinage, (initiated by Romanus IV late in his reign), gathered momentum under Michael VII with his tetartera having a pale colour containing half of the gold of the Byzantine coinage forty years earlier. These coins tend to be more poorly struck than earlier issues.
Early in 1078 the elderly general Nicephorus Botaniates rebelled against the regime of Michael VII, and the feeble emperor quietly retired to a monastery.