My Top five 2019 Acquisitions of Eastern Roman Coins.

My favorite coins of 2019.

I am finding the longer I collect Eastern Roman coinage the more I am attracted the perfect or beautiful examples, for Eastern Roman coinage that is a rarity.

One coin made my list because I had to work so hard for it. To start finding an example was difficult, it is a Thessalonica minted Hyperpyron of John II, the first one I found, I lost, not because I was not the highest bidder but because the auction house did not accept the bid, nor did they take the time to let me know they needed more info. I was bitter and hungry. The next one that came up was from an auction house in Zurich, they told me they needed more references from me, the gatekeeper was very adamant about it and I was adamant I would win the coin. So while waiting for my car to be serviced at the delearship, I wrote emails to all the major auction houses I had worked with, most replied to the auction house quickly and professionally, my privileges were granted. I won the coin, now because of the pain of the acquisition I will treasure it always.

JOHN II HYPERPYRON NOMISMA IV DOC 1 Thessalonica First Coinage SBCV-1947

#5



My next choice is a very simple but beautiful strike and attractive patina and a wonderful Baby face.

Manuel I AE Trachy SBCV-1962 Constantinople DOC 13

#4



This beauty is very rare in this condition with a wonderful green patina. The real rarity here is it is a small ½ tetarteron that someone struck with near perfection. At 17mm and 2.4gm I must also mention I got this one in a million coin for under $10.00.

MANUEL AE HALF TETARTERON S-1980 DOC 23

#3



I am extremely happy to add this beautiful coin to my collection. After 20 years I saw this awesome example and acquired at a very good price. This is a Constantinople minted tetarteron so that alone makes it rare. Acquired from aa auction house in Poland.

ANDRONICUS Constantinople TETARTERON SBCV-1986 DOC 5

#2




My number one coin for the year is a near perfect strike of a complex trachy, you don’t see this occur often.

Manuel I AE Trachy S-1966 DOC 13

#1




Best of luck to all for your 2020 purchases and goals. Happy Holidays!

 

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Very nice Byzantines. Congrats on these 2019 additions to your collection.

 

Beauties BenSi! I like you, can appreciate your love of high quality Eastern Roman coinage. My problem is that i love all eras, so can never finish a goal. I hope you have a great 2020 coin year!
John

 

I must laugh a bit, I started my collection with the simple goal of getting all the post reform tetartera of Alexius to Alexius III, I thought hey, their is only 60 of them. That was 20 years ago, since then I keep expanding my collecting goals , adding different denominations , finding new variations and also finding new and better examples. It will never end.

Happy Holidays to you and yours John.

 

Splendid additions, Bensi! They are all very beautiful.

 

Your coins are wonderful. You really showcase Eastern Roman / Byzantine coins well with fantastic photos and engaging write ups on the forum. My collection is embarrassingly under-stocked in Byzantine material but I certainly appreciate them and even more so after seeing some of your collection.

My favorite of your 2019 coins is the #2 (ANDRONICUS). What a fabulous coin.

 

#1 was my favorite.

 

#2!!! Wow, what a great coin .

#4 is also very appealing.

 

All of these are stunning ! The AE Trachy of Manuel I must be the finest extant .

 

To me, #1 is amazing. It was double struck as most of these (the sides of the halo don't line up) but everything aligned in such a way that it looks perfect. My second choice is #3. I don't have a half but felt lucky to find a whole with most of the legends. I would think the smaller coin would be much harder to make well and the patina is great.

 

I don't know why Number 2 appealed mostly to me. Hap. Happy Byzantines. Cheers.

 

Your so right, the small ones with legends are difficult finds. Here is a large one 22mm 4.9gm you will appreciate. A dealer gave me when I was starting out, this was before tets had value. A dark patina covers the copper in a very eerie way.

Now its reverse, this is why it was a freebie. Don't take me wrong I have loved this coin for years. I believe it was preserved as stuck, its just the reverse had badly worn dies or was worn with running water. I am really not sure.

 

BenSi, your tetarteron collection must be the envy of major museums, and if you keep adding coins like #1, so will your trachy collection!

Here are a couple of my more recent tetartera. I thought the designs were interesting.


Theodore II Lascaris of Nicaea (1254-1258), AE tetarteron, SB 2145


Uncertain Palaeologan of Nicaea (1227-61), AE tetarteron, SB 2155

 

An excellent group with AE in remarkably nice condition. #1 has a super strike with no doubling and with legible legends. That's very unusual!

 

#2 and 1 are awesome, thanks for sharing! Can you tell us the weight and diameter of the Manuel I trachy? Is that a larger flank than usual for the issue?

 

MANUEL COMNENUS, Billion Aspron Trachy SBCV-1966 DOC IV -13c
OBV Christ, bearded and nimbate, wearing tunic and kolobion, seated upon throne without back; holds Gospels in l. hand. Pellet in each limb of nimbus cross

REV Full length figure of emperor, bearded on l., crowned by Virgin nimbate. Emperor wears stemma, divitision, collar piece, jeweled loros of a simplified type ; holds in right hand labarum-scepter, and inl. Gl cr.Virgin wears tunic and maphorion.

Size 31mm

Weight 4.63gm

A nearly perfect strike and that is exceptional. If you notice Christs head you will see the nimbus dots ever so slightly out of alignment. The dies were fresh when struck. Truly Exceptional.

I think it is completely in the norm regarding size and weight, just a really lucky strike at the mint.

Dumbarton Oakes asked for some particular coins their collection was missing, I was much younger then , said no , they said how about leaving them to us. I don't remember how I responded but I was only 35 then.

As for Trachy collection, that was a unusual coin because of the strike, the issue was abundant, their is Andronicus issues that can be found that well struck. I guess they got better then. I still am on the lookout for exceptional coins from the rules of the Comnenus family.

I agree, they are wonderful designs and your examples are really nice.

Thank you for the compliments and have a very Happy Holidays!

 

All beautiful; number 2 really "speaks" to me.

 

Wow man, that is the best Manuel trach I can remember seeing! That double strike the scyphate coin thing usually leads to some wacky results, like this Alexuius III.

 

Great Byzantine additions @BenSi! I knew that Andronicus Tetarteron would be there, such a great coin for such a great price
Also, that manual I trachy is so appealing to the eye, I have never seen such an exceptional issue before! Perfect strike.