A Trachy Made Right!

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by BenSi, Feb 1, 2019.

  1. BenSi

    BenSi Well-Known Member

    Can trachea be perfect? This one is close to it, its silver wash has gone, just a few specks left, but the dies were new and the strike was excellent.

    e6.jpg
    Manuel Comnenus I 1143-1180 , SBCV -1966 31mm 4.63gm

    The seller thought it was a late issue 1167-1183 but I am not sure why, I will need to do a little bit of reading. The three years after his death it is believed that his coinage was minted during his young sons rule Alexius II.

    It is a remarkable example, I paid a bit more than I wanted but it really shows how perfect these coins can be.
     
    Orange Julius, cmezner, Ryro and 22 others like this.
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. Mat

    Mat Ancient Coincoholic

    That is a great example, congrats.

    [​IMG]
    Manuel I, (1143-1180 A.D.)
    Billon Trachy
    O.: Christ, bearded, seated facing on throne without back, wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium, colobium, Gospels in left; no stars; in field / IC – XC
    R.: MANYHΛ ∆ECΠ; the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) standing facing at right, crowning the emperor standing at left, holding labarum and globus cruciger; M above Mary's outstretched hand.
    Constantinople mint, 1167 - 1183 A.D.
    28mm
    4.1g
    SB 1966
     
    cmezner, Ryro, gogili1977 and 10 others like this.
  4. Alegandron

    Alegandron "ΤΩΙ ΚΡΑΤΙΣΤΩΙ..." ΜΕΓΑΣ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ, June 323 BCE

    WOooooooaah @BenSi , just woooah! Nice.

    My only Trachy

    upload_2019-2-1_17-35-53.png
    BZ Manuel I Comnenus 1143-1180 CE Aspron Trachy 35mm 4g Christ Gospels Labaran globus cruciger Virgin maphorium SB 1966 scyphate
     
    cmezner, Ryro, gogili1977 and 9 others like this.
  5. Ancientnoob

    Ancientnoob Money Changer

    Your example is probably the best I have seen. Holy Cow!
     
    BenSi likes this.
  6. BenSi

    BenSi Well-Known Member

    Thank You, I have had a few in my collecting career but this one was just soo nice.
     
    Ancientnoob likes this.
  7. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    As I understand the matter, the problem with these coins was the dificultly 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 were less convex than the reverse was concave, the centers cold be clear but the edges would be weak. BenSi's coin appears to be the rarity of a perfect match. To correct mismatched curves, they rocked the dies between multiple strikes explaining why most of these coins show doubestriking that ruin one side or both. I feel lucky seeing a coin where the multiple images line up well. This one shows just a trace of misalignment on the obverse showing even it was doublestruck but this is clearly the best I have seen.
     
    cmezner, arizonarobin, dadams and 2 others like this.
  8. dadams

    dadams Well-Known Member

    Excellent coin @BenSi !

    I've been pretty happy with this one, which seems decent as far as Trachys are concerned:


    [​IMG]
    Alexius III Angelus-Comnenus, AD 1195-1203
    Billon Aspron Trachy, 30mm, 3.3g, 6h; Constantinople mint.
    Obv: IC - XC; Facing bust of Christ Pantokrator.
    Rev: Alexius and St. Constantine standing facing, holding labara and a globus cruciger between them.
    Reference: Sear 2011-2013
    From the YOC Collection via JAZ Numismatics
     
  9. BenSi

    BenSi Well-Known Member

    Thank You Doug,I agree its the best Ive seen, especially for a complex trachy design that could have many elements go wrong. Here is a focused view of Doug's observation . I cropped the photo on the misalignment on Christ's Nimbus, notice the two dots are not even, and outside die line is slightly off. e7.jpg
    I love the Christ on that Alexius III Dadams
     
  10. Jwt708

    Jwt708 Well-Known Member

    What a stunner! Here is my only one:

    [​IMG]
    Manuel I, AD 1143-1180
    Billon trachy, 30mm, 2.7g, 6h; Constantinople mint, AD 1167-1183.
    Obv.: Christ, bearded, seated facing on throne without back, wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium, colobium, Gospels in left; no stars; in field / IC – XC
    Rev.: MANYHΛ ∆ECΠ; the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) standing facing at right, crowning the emperor standing at left, holding labarum and globus cruciger; M above Mary's outstretched hand.
    Reference: SB 1966
    From the YOC Collection

    Sadly I cannot help with the attribution.
     
  11. Theodosius

    Theodosius Fine Style Seeker

    I did not know they could be this nice.

    Awesome.

    John
     
    BenSi likes this.
  12. randygeki

    randygeki Coin Collector

  13. Severus Alexander

    Severus Alexander find me at NumisForums

    Spectacular!!

    Here's a weird one that has been flattened:
    image00768.jpg
    John Comnenus-Ducas of Thessalonica (1237-42), SB 2200
     
    cmezner, seth77, gogili1977 and 6 others like this.
  14. BenSi

    BenSi Well-Known Member

    More information on creating these coins, The Celator had a great article written by Simon Bendall on the striking of trachea.
    Go to Page 20 for the article.

    https://community.vcoins.com/celator-vol-12-no-06/

    I miss the Celator and I am glad vcoins has all of the old issues online.
     
    dadams likes this.
  15. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    Those here who have started collecting since the Celator folded could do worse than reading all those back issues BUT you do have to read critically. There were some good articles and there were some that were trash. There were full page ads and editorials that promoted a similar range of qualities. I can say there were some articles written by complete amateurs because I was one. I can't even remember what I had published there or whether I would be proud of them or not so I can't say you should read and value them. What I do recommend is that you read these old magazines and decide if you found value there. I stopped subscribing to the Celator several years before it ceased altogether and certainly missed some things of value. Now I can go back and see what I missed.
     
    BenSi and dadams like this.
  16. gogili1977

    gogili1977 Well-Known Member

    Superb trachy BenSi.
    Manuel I Comnenus
    image(2).jpg image.jpg image(1).jpg
     
    arizonarobin, BenSi and Johndakerftw like this.
  17. BenSi

    BenSi Well-Known Member

    This one, not perfect but still beautiful enough to share. The seller gave it an aEF grade. CLBC grades it as common but notes it the most difficult of the Billion issues to acquire. Issued early in his reign , he is depicted as beardless.

    Manuel Comnenus SBCV-1962 4.04gm

    w6.jpg
     
  18. Clavdivs

    Clavdivs Well-Known Member

    That is a real beauty!
     
    BenSi likes this.
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page