870-879 AD., Basil I. with Leo VI. and Constantinus, Constantinopolis mint, Æ Follis, Sear 1712.

Basil I. with Leo VI. and Constantinus, Constantinopolis mint, 870-879 AD.,
Æ Follis (25-26 mm / 7,30 g),
Obv.: + LЄON bASIL S CONST AYCC , acing half-length figures of Basil in the center, with his sons Leo on the left, and Constantine on the right. Basil wears a short beard, crown, and loros, and holds an akakia in his left hand. Each of his sons wears a crown and chlamys.
Rev.: +bASIL / CONSZAN / ZS LЄON ЄN / ΘO bASILS / ROMЄON / * , in five lines, with a star beneath.
Sear BC 1712 ; DOC 11 ; R. 1864-5 ; B.N. 12-18 .

Minted during the reign of Basil I, who ruled from 867-886 AD. Basil was a peasant from Macedonia who had been a groom in the imperial court. His ambition led him to engineer the assassination of the Caesar Bardas. Then, he convinced Michael III to crown him as co-emperor, and he would murder his unfortunate patron on September 23, 867 AD. Despite his dubious method of obtaining the throne, Basil proved to be most competent ruler, and the founder of the greatest Byzantine imperial dynasty, the Macedonian. He died in 886, following a hunting accident.