At first , this looks like a denier of John II Orsini minted in Arta . But after receiving the coin I wasn’t able to find an match in Malloy or Roberts . So what is it ? An imitation, variation , or something else ? 0.7 gr. Thanks
The basic fact is that nobody bothered to systematize these imitation tornesi from the 14th century, so there is no simple answer to your question. Mostly these copper tornesi copied the tornese of Arta minted by Orsini around 1325 and they come usually from southern Bulgaria and Albania. My experience is that they are more prevalent than their original blueprint, that was struck in billon at about the same finess as the tournois of Achaea under Giovanni di Gravina. Late last year a hoard of Arta tornesi and imitations was offered from Greece on ebay, I'll check my database to see if your coin comes from there and will get back to you on that.
It's the same story, I'm afraid. The official issues are billon (so they might look metal-green or blackish patinated) and should read DE ARTA CASTRV.
It doesn't mean they are unremarkable. Also there are so many of them that they had to be a distinct coinage (kind of like the tournois of Catalan Athens or the Aciaioli), likely by a population that was used to Latin coinage (which makes good sense for the general area of Albania) sometime between 1325 and 1350 when the Balkan area came under the rule of Serbian emperor Dusan.
