ROMAN. Late 4th to 5th centuries. Exagium Solidi (?) (Bronze, 22 mm, 4.43 g, 12 h). Two crowned, nimbate, draped and cuirassed facing imperial busts; below, floral ornament; all engraved in outline, the faces inlaid in silver. Rev. Large central cross; annulets in upper and A-Ⲱ in lower angles; all within wreath; all engraved in outline, the cross inlaid in silver. A highly interesting and carefully engraved piece. Light deposits, otherwise, about extremely fine.
At 4.43 g, this carefully made Late Roman or Early Byzantine object was most likely a coin weight for one solidus, or nomisma, despite the absence of an explicit denomination mark such as the commonly used N. The letters Α–Ⲱ probably represent Alpha and Omega, alluding to Christ as the Beginning and the End – a Christological formula frequently associated in Late Antiquity with the cross or Christogram