Hello there ancients collectors! I have a quick question, particularly for anyone who has Sear's Byzantine Coins and Their Values. I recently got two Byzantine "cup" coins, which I believe are called trachea. My firsts of the type! One of them is an Alexius III from 1195 to around 1203/1204. The obverse features the bust of Christ and the reverse features Alexius III and I believe a saint (I have read it's St. Constantine). Now, I double checked this identification on WildWinds and it all lines up. The seller noted it as Sear 2012. I cannot help but notice that Sear 2012 and 2013 are very similar. I believe Sear 2011 does not feature the obverse legend "KORO ....", which is clearly visible on this coin. According to WildWinds, the difference between Sear 2012 and 2013 is in the reverse legend: Sear 2012: "AΛEZIΩ ΔECΠ O KΩNTANTI" Sear 2013: "AΛEZIΩ ΔECΠ Tω KOMNHNΩ, ΘV-WL" Now for the question: Can anyone confirm that this is the way to identify between Sear 2012 and Sear 2013? Or does anyone know any other ways to do distinguish the two? There are not that many helpful pictures online and I do not own this reference source, so I am here to ask those who know more than I do. Some of the reverse legend on my coin is visible, but I can not follow where each part of the legend is supposed to be on the coin. I cannot make much sense of it! I will certainly add some pictures when I have some time tomorrow, but I did not think it was absolutely necessary at this moment. Hopefully someone here knows how to differentiate Sear 2012 and 2013. Thanks for any help, SorenCoins
Hi @SorenCoins, I don't know about this series but here is the page from Sear in case it helps. - Broucheion
Actually it's not quite as simple as Sear makes out. See the Dumbarton Oaks catalog vol. 4 for more details: https://www.doaks.org/resources/pub...collection-and-in-the-whittemore-collection-4 You can now download vols 4-1 (the text) & 4-2 (the pics) for free. Ross G.
Wow thank you both for the resources. I greatly appreciate them. I am still very novice at Byzantine coins (and even ancient coins), so I am not sure how well I will be able to decode this haha. Especially the Dumbarton Oaks catalog, but I will take a look and try my best. Also @JohnnyC, when you say that it's not as simple as Sear makes it out to be, do you mean that there are more "subvarieties" of this issue than just Sear 2012 and 2013? Thanks for the help guys.
I am only 3 years late with this... The difference between Sear 2012 and 2013 is that 2013 has the KE ROHQCI around the bust of Christ. I am about to replace the incorrect Sear 2012 with the correct type (with only IC-XC across the fields). I noticed that 99% of sellers on CoinArchives Pro describe their Sear 2013 coins as Sear 2012.
In Sear he notes three. In DOC they have 11 different variations. I believe there is more. 2013 is very difficult to find. The main difference has to do with the legend. In it Alexius III tries to associate himself with the Comnenus family. Here is SBCV-2013 Alexius III Angelus-Comnenus, 1195-1203. Aspron Trachy (Bronze, 26 mm, 3.66 g, 6 h), Constantinople. KЄ ROHΘЄI / IC - XC Bust of Christ Pantocrator facing, raising right hand in benediction and holding scroll in left. Rev. Alexius and St. Constantine standing facing, holding between them globus cruciger, and each holding a labarum. DOC 3a. SB 2013. Good very fine. Here is SBCV-2011 Here is SBCV-2012 But you wont find each description in sync with the catalog. Alexius III coinage is not as uniform as the other 12th century rulers. Here is one with stars. His coinage has many variations, the half tetartera also have many types. I specialize in the century, and you will find his coinage to be challenging.
