AE Tetarteron, 4.6g, 20 mm, 6h; Thessalonica mint. Obv. Q?E to left, ??IOC to right of bust facing of St. George, I bearded, numbats, wearing tunic, cuirasses and cloak, holding spear and shield/ Rev.: MANVH? ?ECIIOTH, crowned, unbearded bust facing of Manuel, wearing loris, holding labarum and cross on globe. I can’t make it all out but that’s what it looks like to inexperienced me.
You are correct. MANUEL AE Tetarteron S-1975 DOC 18 CLBC 4.4.5. OBV Bust of St. George facing beardless wearing nimbus, tunic, cuirass and sagion and holding spear in r. hand and in l. hand shield. REV Bust of emperor, bearded , wearing stemma, divitision, collar piece and jeweled loros of a simplified type; holds in r. hand labarum headed scepter, and in l. Globus cruciger
Nice coin @Collecting Nut . Here is my Manuel I Tetarteron. Byzantine Empire Manuel I Komnenos (AD 1118 – 1180) AE Tetarteron, Constantinople mint, struck ca. 1143-1180 Obv.: St. George draped and cuirassed, bust facing, holding spear and shield. Rev.: Manuel I crowned, bust facing, holding labarum and globus cruciger. Ref.: SB 1970 Ex Sallent Collection
Nice coin of an historical figure of some prominence at the time. By this time the empire had been bedeviled by the Seljuk Turks since the Battle of Manzikert, losing most of Asia Minor. By forcing the Crusader leaders to swear an oath of fealty and promise to rule in Manuel's name, he gained significant new amounts of territory and enhanced the Byzantines' sphere of influence significantly.
This is an interesting denomination, the DOC collection has a specimen above 7gm, my own collection I have several past 5 gm The denomination has a waring saint, St George, like the pre Byzantine period messages were sent via the coinage, instead of Gods they replaced the message to be sent with Saints. as for waring saints two were used during this century. St George and St Demetrius. Manuel as @ancient coin hunter pointed out had his fame, his is the most common of 12th century coinage because of his long reign and the changes in the economy, money was replacing goods as wealth. He did lower the standards of the coinage again. It was the beginning of the decline of the Alexius coin reform. Here is one of my first , the reverse (not shown) in not as nice but the obverse is one I gazed at many times. And here is my most complete example. And the half sized version. Their is an even smaller one but I do not have a photo handy.
@BenSi, your examples "blow everything else out of the water." I don't have pictures of any of mine, but compared to yours, no one would be missing a lot.
