Phocas, 602-610. Solidus (Gold, 20mm, 3.40 g 6), curiously underweight but clearly an official issue, Constantinople, 604-607. d N FOCAS PERP AVC Draped and cuirassed bust of Phocas facing, wearing crown and holding a globus cruciger in his right hand. Rev. VICTORI - A AVCC H / CONOB Angel standing facing, holding globus cruciger in his left hand and long, christogram-topped cross in his right. DOC 5h. MIB 7. SB 618 (but all refer to full-weight examples). A brilliant, perfectly struck example. Virtually as struck.

From the Stoecklin Collection.

This coin must be a very rare mint error that managed to escape the mint quality control officers. It is a full gram underweight, but it is perfectly struck from official dies. Normally coins struck on underweight flans would have been detected and melted down in the mint itself: perhaps the situation under Phocas may have been so chaotic that normal rules fell by the wayside?