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Message:: [QUOTE="Voulgaroktonou, post: 2975337, member: 84047"]As Doug points out above, Bulgarian, other Balkan, and Latin Empire copies can muddy the waters in the case of partially struck or worn examples. Except for the two  Nicaean and Manuel I pieces above, most of the above resemble Latin or Bulgarian imitations. Various reasons for the curious technique of the concave issues or more correct trachy (plural: trachea) have been proposed, among which are a means to distinguish debased from purer issues, an attempt to increase structural stability of thinner, broader coins, and ease of stackability. The Greek adjective "trachy" usually means "rough", i. e., not flat. Further, a paper given by Jonathan Jarrett at the 2015 International Numismatic Congress at Taormina suggests that the initial appearance of these coins with the first Bulgarian imitations of Byzantine issues was an attempt to provide a "copy protection for the Byzantine state's prestige coinage", by making these technically complicated coins harder to reproduce. Below are a few of my examples. Don't know why the first image was duplicated. Sorry! And I'm not certain if my reverse of the last coin, Sear 1941 displayed properly. Technical issues! Mea culpa! [ATTACH=full]730859[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]730859[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]730860[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]730863[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]730866[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]730868[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]