A Byzantine Puzzle. I got this last year and I did some information from a fellow collector on the inscription. "Mother of God, help John" ( ) But still no positive ID. 19mm 4.0 gm This coin is not lead and it is not AR ( Maybe billion.) l, it is AE. It is the same aprox weight as a tetarteron Anyone seen this before? Thank You.
Man, I wish I could help...but that is an interesting coin. I would have guessed it to be a seal, but I don't know if they made seals that weren't Pb?
Its a real shame it does not have the rest of the legend showing. Dating the coin by looks, its John II , but what would have John needed help with, I thought his rule was peaceful, in between crusades. He died in a hunting accident poisoning himself. Perhaps it is a tesserae,? someone once presented it as an test tetarteron? Unless someone has seen another, this story cant go very far.
