ABSTRACT
A particular feature of the Athens specimen is an overstrike. The obverse of the initial strike features a representation of the Virgin enthroned holding Christ on her left arm. The Athens specimen may be confidently assigned to the reign of Nicholas I on the basis that the epigraphy of the overstrike dates from the first half of the 10th century. The star/cross decoration also appears on the reverse of the Vatican seal. The seal of Patriarch Nicholas II bears an image of the Virgin and Child, which in some variant iconographic type becomes the standard post-Iconoclastic patriarchal sphragistic image beginning with Methodios I in 843 and continuing until the end of the empire – and even into the post-Byzantine period.
