Hello, fellow numismatists, I am struggling to identify this piece. It is from the Byzantine Empire, so I hope the thread fits in well with the "Ancient Coins" forum. I just started thinking about that and wondered why there is not a separate forum for medieval coins? Anyways, this coin has certainly seen better days. I know little about these coins and only have a few in my collection. If anyone could help point me in the right direction, that would be very helpful! I can make out an "S" and "A" along with a smaller "C," but I have had no luck trying to research this coin. Is this even the obverse? (The other side is even worse for wear, so I do not think that posting it would be of much help).
Welcome to Coin Talk. Personally, I like the broken and the battered, so your coin is just fine, I think. I am not sure what it is, however. It does look to be Christ, or a saint, given the nimbus (if I am seeing it correctly). There are several Byzantine experts on CT who might be able to identify it, or at least narrow it down. A size might be helpful. Again, welcome aboard.
Welcome! You have not a Byzantine coin, but a Hungarian one. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces33692.html Your coin has most of Mary's head and SANCTA of SANCTA MARIA Bela III was sent to live in Constantinople in his youth and was at one point poised to inherit the throne there, but he was bumped out of the line of succession when Manuel I had a son. Bela was recalled to Hungary when his brother king Stephen III died, and he briefly tried to introduce Byzantine-style copper scyphate coins, which were rejected by the people who were accustomed to tiny silver coins rather than large copper ones. These "rezpenz" are common, rarely found circulated, but often found damaged as people sometimes tried to hammer them flat.
Contemporaneous with the scyphate, faux Byzantine trachea (of which your coin appears to be a fragment) Bela III also struck another large-module, flat-fabric faux Islamic piece in copper. http://old.stoa.org/gallery/album173/FauxArabicRezpenz?full=1 I have seen (and have an example of) what appears to have been an attempt to popularize these large-module, copper pieces - which tended not to be very popular as Finn235 mentioned since the public were used to using relatively tiny "fishscale" silver and billon coins - by creating an official flat version of the "two seated figures" rezpenz. These somewhat emulate what must have been, at the time, relatively well-known folles of Justin II, and local copies thereof, showing Justin and wife Sophia seated side-by-side, several centuries after their reign in the later 6th century. These flat-fabric pieces were either produced officially, or some of the attempts to flatten scyphate pieces were far more successful and less destructive - and accomplished on a mass basis - with the thin coins than other, ad-hoc attempts at flattening them which usually resulted in profound flan-splitting. From the overall condition, however, these appear to have been struck on flat flans to begin with rather than being flattened from a scyphate fabric. This is an example of what I believe to be an official flat-fabric Byzantine imitative rezpenz: http://old.stoa.org/gallery/album173/BelaIIIFlat?full=1
@Marsyas Mike , @Finn235 & @lehmansterms Thank you all for the information! I am impressed with how quickly this community can respond and identify coins. Marsyas Mike, I also like the more dilapidated coins, especially on my law school budget. Finn325, I appreciate the correction! By the size and metallic composition, the coin seemed Byzantine to me. I would never have figured it was Hungarian, even though I bought it along with a number of other Hungarian coins. It is perfect that this coin fractured in a spot that would leave just enough of the legend for you to spot it. Lehmansterm, thank you for the images and the history. I just noticed that the obverse of that coins seems to fit less nicely on the flan than the reverse. Interesting. From the same lot, I have about 11 other coins that I am having difficulties identifying, so I may be posting more "Help Identifying" threads. Thanks again for the help!
