New Variation of a common coin John II Tetarteron

1953 JOHN II AE TETARTERON S-1953V DOC 14 Zervos Variation
OBV Half length figure of Christ, bearded and nimbate, wearing tunic and kolobion; holds gospels open in l. hand

REV. Bust of emperor wearing stemma, divitision and chlamys; holds in r. hand jeweled scepter on a long shaft and in l. Globus cruciger.

This is a variation of the normal SBCV-1953 first published by Orestes Zervos in Jan 2005, The difference is very subtle, the article deals with this being found in the excavations at Corinth in almost equal numbers of SBCV-1953 but I found it a difficult and rare coin to acquire. Just wanted to show t off and ask has anyone else have the half length variation.?

 

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The normal iss of SBCV 1954

 

Impressive, you will find kindred spirits here, welcome.

 

Nice!

 

I found comparing the two coins to be quite interesting, thanks for sharing!

 

A superb and interesting coin, thanks for posting!

Are there half-length versions for other emperors as well? The closest thing I have is an Alexius I (just the ordinary type):

 

@BenSi: do you think my Alexius is a Metropolitan issue? In which case it is a more interesting coin than I realized.

 

Yes any tetarteron minted in Constantinople (Metropolitan) had a silver content ( till Isaac II), they are much harder to find in collections, the regional coins had no silver content, not common knowledge among collectors but our main catalog Sear Byzantine coins and their values was written before Hendy published his findings in the DOC catalog. Hendy surmised that the coins had a greater value than the regional counterparts.

Since Hendy’s death his theory was proven, letters have been translated that mention the purchasing power of the two different denominations with the same name. The regional one could buy a small loaf of bread, the metropolitan one could buy 6 mackerel.

The half length figure is only noted for John II but I have seen it on Andronicus coins as well.

Your coin is Alexius SBCV -1920 in beautiful condition, If you ever want to part with it let me know.

 

I’ve never read about the buying power of Byzantine coins before. I didn’t know there were any references. What else is listed?

 

Okay that is one of the benefits of being so focused on one denomination. I found that information in one of the articles on the academics web site, I am working off memory but it would be by Pagona Papadopoulou, she is one of the academics who specializes in this time period .I try to follow her work whenever available.

 

Thank you!

 

Okay I found it. I can not cut and paste because it is a scan, but it is in the article " The big problems of little Change in the 12th century." It is on the second page and I screwed up , it was 10 mackerel. Pagona Papadopoulou is the author. It is on the academia.edu

 

Ok! Thank you very much!

 

I really admire your expertise and knowledge on Tetrateron!

 

Thank you for the info! I realized it was a SB 1920, but had no inkling of the silver content difference, nor of its relative scarceness, until seeing something about it on your Forum page. I think I was already too fond of it to consider parting with it... and you've just made me like it more.

 

How were/are metropolitan issues distinguished from their, presumably lower quality and evidently lower value, provincial counterparts? Style differences? Weight differences? Is the silver content in metropolitan issues noticable by the naked eye? A piece of bread versus 10 whole juicy delicious mackarel seems like a huge value disparity to me.

 

Good question, the Metropolitan issues had a silver wash on them, however that is speculation on my part, I have seen silver washed tetartera ( 3 or 4 in twenty years.), I have owned coins with traces of the silver wash on them but the issues of Constantinople are rare compared to the regional issues. In fact Grierson thought they were for ceremonial use only, Hendy disagreed and I must agree with Hendy.
So the coins we see today regional and metropolitan look very similar for the simple fact the silver wash did not last.


Here is SBCV 1922, not normal, not silver washed but heavy silver content. This coin was minted by Alexius in Constantinople. Don't confuse this with the prereform tetartera that were minted before 1092, they were silver , this one should not be.This coin is in my collection.

 

http://auth.academia.edu/PagonaPapadopoulou

 

I recently acquired a metropolitan tetarteron that was still silvered. It is an Alexius I coin and it is a aEF condition, the silvering actually kept the cost of this auctioned coin down because it detracts from the beauty of the coin.

As I wrote above tetartera minted in the capital were issued with a silver wash making it easier for the user to distinguish it from the lower valued regionally issued tetartera. It is rare to find the coins with silver intact, sometimes you can see traces of silver but with handling of the coin it wears off easily.


Alexius Comnenus I SBCV-1923 3.83gm 19mm.

Here is another example of the same type of coin. No silvering still present. Also an excellent example.


1923 ALEXIUS METROPOLITAN TETARTERON S-1923 DOC 36 CLBC 2.4.4


OBV Christ bearded and nimbate, wearing tunic and kolobion, seated on throne without back; r. hand raised in benediction holds Gospels in l.

REV Full length figure of emperor wearing stemma, divitision, jeweled loros of simplified type, and sagion; holds in r. hand labarum on long shaft, and in l. gl.cr.

Size 18mm

Weight 3.96

A really nice example

Metropolitan Issues were minted in Constantinople, each of these coins had an added silver content of 3% and were also issued with a very light silver wash (Silver traces are common on Metropolitan issues but intact fully silvered coins are very rare.)

DOC Catalog lists 4 examples with weights fairly consistent from 3.49 gm. to 3.99gm and size from 16mm to 18mm

 

I have no idea why I posted this!!!