Bowl Shaped Coin of Christ

This coins shape was very difficult to get a decent photo of. It’s shaped like a bowl, literally. And the coin has a crack on the outside edge. Yet it is without a doubt one of the most attractive and fascinating coins of its type I’ve ever seen.

Alexius III, 1195-1203 AD
Billon trachy, 26mm, 2.2g, 6h;
Constantinople mint, 1195-1197 AD,
Obv. IC-XC, Bust of Christ facing,
beardless and nimbate, wearing pallium and Colombian, holding right hand in sign of benediction and holding scroll in left.
Rev. ((I can’t type Greek on my cell) Alexius on left, St. Constantine bearded and nimbate or right, holding globes cruciger between them, each wearing a crown, divitision and loros and holds labarum.

This has silver but the content is so low it has a copper appearance. This fact brought about the decline in its value in relation to the hyperpyron (1/48), and by the end of the century it had fallen to 1/184 of the gold coin.

 

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That's a pretty well struck trachy. I haven't seen many with decently struck Christ sides.

I don't have a good one of the utterly corrupt Isaac II Angelus, the ruler right before (and after) Alexius III, with Christ but here is one with Mary on the convex side.

Isaac II Angelus
Billon aspron trachy
Constantinople mint
1185-1195 AD
Obverse: MP-theta V to left and right of Mary, nimbate, seated facing, holding before her the nimbate head of infant Christ facing left
Reverse: I CAA KI OC to left, DEC PO TH C to right, Isaac, standing facing on the left, crowned, wearing divitision, loros and sagion, and holding cross-headed sceptre and akakia, crowned by hand of God in upper right field

 

My Alexis III is also my favorite cup coin. To be well struck, these required two hammer blows with the die tilted between. To be well struck, they usually show signs of the double striking. My reverse shows this well with the doubled globe crucifer and halo. They are fun to photograph.

 

By both of your coins, which are very nice, I can see they both have a open crack in the rim area. I take it this was a common feature?

 

My only trachy which I consider unidentifiable. If anyone has any potential ID please advise....

 

..we call them 'cup' coins...

 

Sorry, mine is missing the handle so it resembles a bowl. Lol

 

My Soup Bowl

Or, maybe a Wine Cup... (mine won't leak)


Eastern Roman Empire
Manuel I Comnenus 1143-1180 CE
Aspron Trachy
35mm 4g
Christ Gospels
Labaran globus cruciger Virgin maphorium
SB 1966 scyphate

 

Interesting coin. I have problems (what @dougsmit calls fun) with cup coins. It took more than a few attempts to get ok pics of this coin.

 

"By both of your coins, which are very nice, I can see they both have a open crack in the rim area. I take it this was a common feature?"

Yes - it's not at all uncommon for the scyphate types (both the billon trachea and gold/electrum hyperpyra) to be "irregular" in more than one way. Edge splits were very common on these.
Dome- (or bowl-, your choice) shaped for strength because the metal of the flans was hammered-out so thin pre-striking. The curved fabric made them far more durable than if they had been flat - but generally was bad news for the convex obverses.

 

The problem with trachys was producing two dies with the exact same curve shape. If the obverse was more convex than the reverse was concave, the center of the design would be poorly transferred. If the obverse was less convex than the reverse was concave, the centers cold be clear but the edges would be weak. In order to produce a well struck scyphate it is necessary that both obverse and reverse dies have the same radius of curvature in order to match exactly.
Quoted from https://community.vcoins.com/celator-vol-12-no-06/


My Isaacus II Angelus Electrum Aspron Trachy, First reign
Constantinople, 12 Sep 1185 - 8 Apr 1195 AD
4.121g
Sear 2002; Sommer 65.4.3; DOC 2a; Ratto 2178-2179; BMC/B.12

Ob.: MP-ΘV, the Virgin enthroned facing, nimbate, wears pallium and maphorium, holding nimbate head of infant Christ
Rev.: ICAAKIOC ∆, Θ (between heads), X/AP/X/M (on r.), Archangel Michael, standing nimbate on right in military attire, scepter in left, crowing Isaac with right; Isaac standing on left wearing divitsion and chlamys; cruciform scepter in left, akakia in right

 

Thank you for those explanations. Makes more sense to me now.

 

No it won’t as you’re missing the split in the rim. A very nice looking coin.

 

That is a really wild piece. Thanks for posting it.

 

Schyphates are tough to photograph for sure. One technique I learned at the ANA
Summer Seminar photography class I would like to share with all, and I have attached a photo of the process. Basically one needs a photo stand to attach a camera to. I used my Canon 70D with a 60mm macro lens and got good results.
Secondly: One needs a bowl shaped plastic dome with a hole at the top to focus
through. Thirdly, three lamps to give all of the angles equal lighting.

That's the good news. The bad news is that you need to find someone to make one for you. At one time there was a small fabricator that made them who has gone out of business. So...find a handyman that can cut a commercial lighting dome to fit your needs. My guy cut it to a diameter of 13 3/4 inches with a top
hole for shooting through of 3.5 inches.

Depending on the lens you use one needs to adjust the heath accordingly to get a good image. Attached is the image I obtained. I'm sure you folks are creative enough to do some digging.

I highly recommend the ANA Summer Seminar which is a 4 day event. You will learn so much. We had attendee's with expensive equipment as well as phone cameras. It was amazing to see the progress made in that short time by all of the attendees no matter what level of experience. This is my hobby I do it for fun, and knowledge we can pass on to others. Merry Christmas.

 

Glad you like it. It’s nothing unusual for this type of coin. Read the posts on this page and read the last paragraph I wrote in my opening post.

 

Nice set up and good photos of these curved coins. All I have is my cell phone.

 

Yep, looks just like the guy.

 

Christ Emmanuel / Alexius III with Constantine Great
Sear 2012

 

Thanks!!! Interesting history as he was the ruler immediately before the 4th Crusade, no?