14th. Bulgarian coin I want to thank Chris71 for this coin, he found some of these and picked one up for me...Thanks Chris...Awesome coin... Bulgaria...AR Second Empire Ivan Aleksander w/ Mihale Asen lV 1331- 1371..AD.. Type ll ....Wow we have a type ll in the 14th. century... Ob. Christ nimbate, standing facing, raising hands in benediction, IC XC flanking head, monograms and pellets to either side. Rev.Ivan and Mihail standing facing, each holding scepter, banner between, str's flanking, monograms around figures. Father and Son.. Bulgarian imitative coin.. 15mm x 1.36g.
Very interesting coin, but I know absolutely nothing about this era or it's coinage. However, I'm glad for you. :thumb:
Not Byzantine though, so you shouldn't call it that so as to avoid confusion. Its a Bulgarian imitative coin from the 14th century. 11th century Byzantine coins will most of the time be anonymous bronzes, as they are most numerous. However, gold coins are pretty common of the era as well. As for your coin, what people should pay attention to is the weight. These are very thin coins. They look nice, but in hand weigh not very much.
You are correct MM, i went back and looked at the notes i got, its a 14th century coin, struck by the Bulgarian's. not Byzantine, my bad..
Its still a terribly interesting coin, don't get me wrong. Interesting enough I own half a dozen or so. By this time the types being copied started drifting away from only Byzantine coins, and other areas started copying venetian issues. As a lover of Byzantium, its a sad period to read about, but numismatically you start to see how Byzantium is losing its economic power. In SE Europe, you have a hodgepodge of coins imitating various nations in the 14th century, where just a couple of centuries earlier you were guaranteed they would only imitate Byzantine coins since that was the major power.
here's my two from the same batch of coins....dig 'em! sorry ENG, i don't know anything more abou these coins other than what you listed above. but they are cool! and as med points out, very thin...i was surprised how delicate they are.
Both the Bulgarians and the Venetians borrowed that distinctive Byzantine style but to be honest, I like the execution of the Venetians best like this grosso: Whatever engraver first etched in this style influenced coinage for hundreds of years...this is my example.
Nice lookin' coin Eng (oh, and chrsmat71 & Drusus) ... thumbs-up all the way 'round!! :thumb::thumb::thumb:
Thanks...I waited a long time to find a grosso that didn't have some detail (mainly facial) worn out...they are hard to find (in my experience) with full detail.