Coin of Constans II c. 654 - 659

Editor: This is an image of a gold coin, attributed to Constans II. What strikes me is how much information and labor is concentrated into such a small material object. How should we interpret it? Curator: Let's consider this coin not just as currency, but as a product of specific social and economic forces. Gold, the material, its extraction, its transformation into this coin – what does that tell us about the Byzantine empire’s reach, its access to resources, and its systems of labor? Editor: So, thinking about the literal cost of production changes how we see the face value? Curator: Precisely. The coin's imagery, the cross, the imperial portrait, all served to legitimize power. But it’s the coin’s material reality – the gold, the skilled labor – that truly underscores the empire's material power and its systems of production and consumption. Editor: I never considered the extraction of gold itself a signifier, but it makes so much sense. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure. Considering the means of production always offers a new lens through which to understand art, or even currency.