Trachys are hard enough to identify, but when they are fragmented, it is sometimes nearly impossible. I picked up a lot of these types of coins that have several fragmented coins with chips and missing pieces. Either way, there are some very interesting and scarce coins in the lot. Here are a few that I managed to identify: Byzantine Empire: Andronicus III Palaeologus (1328-1341) Æ assarion (Sear-2487; DOC 929; LPC 240.11; PCPC 261; Lianta-839) Obv: St. Demetrius, beardless and nimbate, seated upon throne without back; holds sword across knees Rev: Three-quarter-length figure of Andronicus wearing stemma, holding lis and cruciform scepter; stars in field Byzantine Empire: Michael VIII Palaeologus (1261-1282) Æ Trachy, Constantinople (Sear-2288; DOC 121; Lianta 567-68; Grierson 1369; Bendall-Donald C.28; PCPC 49) Obv: Large patriarchal cross with pelleted ends on floriate base Rev: Χ/Μ/ΔЄ/Π/ΤH to left, Ο/Π/Λ/C to right; Half-length figure of emperor wearing stemma, divitision, collar-piece and panelled chlamys (?); right hand holds labarum-headed scepter; left hand holds globus cruciger; Manus Dei in upper right field Kingdom of Thessalonica: John Comnenus-Ducas (1237-1242) BI Trachy, Thessalonica (Sear-2211; DOC 25b) Obv: IC XC in field; Cross on base, top of shaft formed by large, letter ᗺ Rev: John, holding akakia, and St. Demetrius, holding sword, holding between them a long cross surmounted by pellet I will be posting more of them as I go through the lot and try to identify them, but in the meantime, lets see those piecesty beasties...
Even though those are in chunks, they have pretty good details. All of the few I own are pretty well intact, but some have very poor details and were (and still are) a pain to figure out what they were. Like this one.. Latin Empire of Constantinople. A.D. 1204-1261. small module trachy (21 mm, 1.8 g). Christ standing facing / Emperor standing facing with labarum and orb. SB 2035. Constantinople.
The attribution is not correct as the obverse is Virgin Mary as opposed to Christ. It is probably this one... Latin Empire of Constantinople: Anonymous (1204-1261) BI Trachy, Constantinople (Sear 2021; DOC IV, Type A, pl. XLVIII, 1) Obv:MP - ΘV in upper field; Virgin seated upon throne with back; holds beardless, nimbate head of Christ on breast Rev: ΜΑΝOVΗΛ - ΔЄCΠΟΤΗC or ΜΑΝOVΗΛ - ΠΟPΦVPOΓЄN; Full-length figure, of emperor wearing stemma, divitision and chlamys; right hand holds labarum on long shaft; left hand holds anexikakia Examples from the Ashmolean Museum:
Another one identified... Byzantine Empire: Andronicus II Palaeologus (1282-1328 CE) Æ Trachy, Thessalonica (Sear 2366; Grierson 1433; LPC 208.8) Obv: Long cross with wing to left Rev: Three-quarter length figures of Andronicus left, and St. Demetrius right with large cross between them Here is the plate coin from Grierson:
Any of them would've probably set you back hundreds of dollars if not for their condition. All are scarce to very scarce.
Not as fragmented as the others... Latin Empire of Constantinople: Anonymous (1204-1261) BI Small Module Trachy, Constantinople (Sear 2023; DOC 3; Lianta 34) Obv: MP - ΘV in upper field; Virgin seated upon throne with back; holds beardless, nimbate head of Christ on breast Rev: ΑΛЄΞΙΟC ΔЄCΠΟΤ; Emperor seated upon throne without back, wearing wearing stemma, divitision, collar-piece and panelled loros of simplified type; right hand holds labarum-headed scepter; left hand holds anexikakia; Manus Dei in upper field
This looks like Hendy Latin Constantinople type C. Check out this sequence of Latin types according to known and researched hoards for a more precise (although still rather conventional and circumstantial) dating here: http://glebecoins.net/paleos/Articles/Sequencing_the_Latin_Types/sequencing_the_latin_types.html
Thanks @seth77. Going back to Hendy clearly indicates that it is Type C, small module. Between these series and the Bulgarian Imitative, the skill needed to properly identify these coins goes up astronomically!
A few more... Byzantine Empire: Andronicus III Palaeologus (1328-1341) Æ assarion (Grierson 1473; DOC V 936-40; Sommer 82.14; Lianta 843-44) Obv: Palaeologan monogram Rev: Half-length figure of St. Demetrius, beardless and nimbate, on left, and of bearded emperor; between them staff surmounted by large lily; Saint holds in right hand spear, Emperor holds in left hand scepter cruciger The one below is the plate coin from labarum.info for reference: Byzantine Empire: Michael VIII Palaeologos (1261-1282) Æ Trachy, Constantinople (Sear 2283; Bendall-Donald C.23; PCPC 2) Obv: X/M to left or X/A/P/Γ to left and X/M to right or variation; Full-length figure of St. Michael, beardless and nimbate, wearing runic, breastplate and sagion; right hand holds spear; left hand rests on shield Rev: Χ/ΜΙ/ΔЄ/CΠ/Ο/Τ/S to left, Ο/ΠΑ/Λ/Є/O/Λ/O/Γ/S to right, or variation; Full-length figure of emperor wearing stemma, divitision, jeweled loros of simplified type and sagion; right hand holds labarum-headed scepter; left hand holds anexikakia and one that exists in my collection (and it also happens to be the plate coin in labarum.info)
Thanks. Its not easy at all! Had to go through several books and labarum.info for confirmation. There are still over 20 coins to be identified...
Now we are getting close to the ridiculous. This particular one seems to have been issued during latter period of the Empire, before its demise. Identification of those types of trachys are extremely hard. For instance, this particular one seems to have a bust of Christ (looks more like Zoidberg) and the reverse seems to be the emperor and a saint holding a cross between them. Unfortunately, one of them is off flan Here is the other one I identified, but it took a while as a good image of the obverse is hard to come by... Byzantine Empire: Andronicus II Palaeologus (1282-1328) Æ Trachy, Thessalonica (Sear-2379; DOC 846-8; LPC, p. 216, 20) Obv: Half-length facing bust of St. Demetrius, holding sword and shield; large stars in fields Rev: Andronicus, wing to right, standing facing, holding patriachal cross and scepter One that is better in my collection... There are still a boatload of them to be identified and I haven't even scratched the surface...
Thought I might revive this old thread with the following. I still have tons to go through... Byzantine Empire: Michael VIII Palaeologos (1261-1282) AR Aspron Trachy, Constantinople (Sear 2256var; DOC V 38; PCPC 18; Lianta 507) Obv: Seraph facing between B B Rev: Χ/Μ/ΔЄC/ΠO/Τ to left, Ο/ΠΑ/ΛЄO to right; Full-length figure of emperor between B ᗺ wearing stemma, divitision, collar-piece, and jeweled loros of simplified type; right hand holds sword point downward; left hand holds anexikakia Dim: 24 mm, 0.86 g
I am completely at a loss on coins of this period. I was at a LCS in a town I will never again see and bought two coins from a junk box. They are almost too good compared to others.
The first coin is a Bulgarian imitation of an Alexius III trachy, specifically Sear 2011-2013: Here is an example of an imitation: Second on is probably Sear 2050 from Theodore I Comnenus-Lascaris of Nicaea using the coin from Labarum (http://labarum.info/lbr/show.php?coin=20611):
