I won this coin on ebay and even though its not perfect , it is very rare. It is an Alexius I City tetarteron, I have only seen several in my collecting career. The cost with shipping $12.00 Not perfect the above is a bit confusing. Not sure if it is a miss strike or a variation of sorts. It should have a U above the cross, the flan leaves them missing. The legend and cross fit the coin type perfectly. The left side of the cross is the issue. 1921 ALEXIUS Metropolitan TETARTERON S-1921 Doc 34 CLBC 2.4.2 Grierson 1043 Bust of Christ, bearded with cross behind head, wearing tunic and kolobion; holds gospels in l. hand. UU in fields of cross. Rev Bust of emperor wearing stemma, divitision, collar piece, and jeweled loros of simplified type; holds in r hand jeweled scepter and in l, gl. cr. Size 17.58 Weight 3.3gm 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 Cosmopolitan issues but intact fully silvered coins are very rare.) These more than likely were tariffed at a higher rate than the Thessalonica issues that have been shown to have no silver content. Cosmopolitan issue are in general far scarcer than the Thessalonica issues DOC catalog lists 3 examples with weights ranging from 1.6gm to 3.49gm and size is universal at 18mm Here is my primary example, 18mm 3.5gm It gives you a better idea of the design of the cross behind Christ.
Nice. I assume is one of the perks of having a narrow focus - you can identify rarities that others do not see. I am new to the byzantines and having problems with identification, especially if the coin is in F or worse. Seen a few cases where the price went through the roof for coins that I cannot identify (exactly) - can limit the possibilities to 3-4, but these possibilities generally range in Sear between 20-200 GBP. Maybe more are facing the same problem and prefer to stay away.
I just got lucky this time, no one else noticed it. You do not always see it on this board but the Byzantine market is very active these days. I do recommend you give yourself a goal and or focus when working with any ancient coins, it is much easier to be able to bring yourself up to speed. The best catalogs to use are Dumbarton Oakes , the reason Sear is more commonly used is because it was cheaper and it gave pricing info, not always accurate. DOC is now free and hopefully it will overtake Sear for ID information. https://www.doaks.org/research/publ...collection-and-in-the-whittemore-collection-1 https://www.doaks.org/research/publ...collection-and-in-the-whittemore-collection-2 https://www.doaks.org/research/publ...collection-and-in-the-whittemore-collection-3 https://www.doaks.org/research/publ...collection-and-in-the-whittemore-collection-4 https://www.doaks.org/research/publications/books/catalogue-of-the-byzantine-coins-in-the-dumbarton I specialize in the 12th century and in the past I specialized in one denomination exclusively, the post reform tetarteron. Why ? because no one else was interested at the time. I read as I found more published info and I watched the market, I found what was rare and what was not. Here is a cool graphic that breaks down lost coin finds ( not hoards) for 12th century coinage. ( From Athens and Corinth excavations.) It gives you an idea of rarity and as you can see Manuel coins are the most common for the century. The market does not always show that. It is run not just by rarity but desirability as well. This coin is rarely seen this nice but rarely commands a great price. It is a John II Comnenus Semi ( Half ) tetarteron DOC volume IV #16 , 2.2gm and 15.58gm. It actually has a heavy green patina but my photo is giving detail and loss of color. This coin on the graph is lesser seen ruler but its value in a common condition goes for only a few dollars. So my recommendation to you is to focus on an area of Byzantine coins, something that you find appealing and learn all you can while you build that collection. The Eastern Roman Empire ( Byzantine) if separated from Roman Imperial lasts for 1000 years. You can focus on a denomination, a family line or even a single ruler and truly add knowledge to our understanding of that area. This year we lost one of the last great collectors in this field, Simon Bendall, last year DM Metcalf and in the years before Grierson, Hendy. Right now more than ever we need new eyes and new ideas to help solve the mystery's of Eastern Roman coinage. I hope you find a focus ,If I can assist you any further feel free to pm me.
Love it! Please post here too, when you get a chance:https://www.cointalk.com/threads/post-your-jesus-coins.286132/ Someday I’ll get into ancients and will focus on Byzantine era coins with Christ. The more examples I have to choose from, the merrier.
Thank you, BenSi, you were kind enough to answer in my thread on byzantines as well. Indeed, i got all those materials and i started reading. I kept an eye on the market; Sear can provide some rough guidance on price, there is some correlation; i find DO nice for the extra info¬es. Your advises could guide someone on the numismatics path, both most will not dedicate to such extent. I missed today for 1 eur a lot with a Justinian I decanumium with NOC mintmark. I believe is rare. We move on...
One more catalog to consider. Sommer, I think his prices in Euro are more accurate than Sear but that's because Sear was last printed in 1987. Sommers catalog was published in 2010 and is in German, However he has prices and this is latest major catalog attempted for Byzantine coins. It has pictures of each coin listed. It tends to be used in Europe more commonly than the Americas. https://www.battenberg-gietl.de/sammeln/buch/die-muenzen-des-byzantinischen-reiches-491-1453 Click on the word LESPROBE Bellow the book image for a large sample. I also want to point out my original collection was for 60 different tetartera listed in Sear, I thought no problem a collection I can complete, it took 20 years and yes dragged me in to a whole new level of collecting. https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=5633 I am still updating the collection with better examples and better photos.
Nice find, this Alexius rarely comes to market and it is a Constantinople issue making it rare to begin with. In fact the Constantinople issue were so rare Phillip Grierson thought they were for ceremony use only. Modern info disproves this. When these were issued they would have had a silver coating on them like this one. This differentiated them from the Thessalonica issues. The Alexius Constantinople issues had around 4% silver content, not much, but a billion trachy only had 8%. I have only seen several still silvered but many with traces of silvering. It is a shame to say but this coin would be more attractive without the silver coating.
