Zimm

I’m glad to see trachea get some love here on these forums. In most circles there are little to no collectors of them, let alone experts like here, so thanks for the great write-up for the types @seth77!
 

Still being a relative novice when it comes to trachea, my collection is pretty small. I did however manage to snag this beauty recently:

Michael VIII - Sear 2271 - 27mm -2.7g

Here's one of my scarcer folles that I won just recently:

At first glance it looks like any other standard small module follis of Anastasius. On the obverse you have the standard draped and diademed bust facing right and on the reverse there's the usual M along with the other usual symbols. What sets it apart from the rest is, however, is the presence of a wreath encircling the reverse design (whereas normally there's just a simple dotted border).

Here are my guesses:

1. Absolutely idea who this could be (Maybe Septimius Severus?)

2. Severus Alexander

3. Philip the Arab

4. Valerian

1. Julia Domna

2. Septimius Severus

3. Gallienus 

4. Antoninus Pius

I currently have two letters in the mail;

One of them has been in the mail for over 2 months now. I was almost certain it was lost, but just last week I received a message from the dealer informing me that the letter had been returned to him and that he'd mail it again shortly. The contents weren't necessarily interesting aside from a scarce trachy of Andronicus III.

The second batch of coins I ordered last weeks is, at least in my opinion, far more interesting. Aside from a few scarce issues of Michael VIII and John III, it has two coins that stand out from the rest. One of them being a rare trachy of Andronicus II with very few examples known (albeit mine is in awful condition) and the second one an unpublished Nicaean trachy that I presume is either an issue of Theodore I Laskaris or John III (though I suspect the former). 

12 minutes ago, quant.geek said:

I tend to agree.  Something got messed up and we ended up with some crappy coppers, but the gold coins maintained their beauty...

Byzantine Empire: Anastasius I (491-518) AV Tremissis, Constantinople (Sear 8; DOC 10; MIBE 12)

Obv: DN ANASTASIVS PP AVG; pearl diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right
Rev: VICTORIA AVGVSTORVM; Victory advancing right, head left, holding wreath and cross on globe, star to right; CONOB in exergue

 

Imo Byzantine copper can look fine if you look hard enough for good examples (and in my opinion even the awful ones have their own charm).

For instance just this year I found this nummus of Anastasius that still looks somewhat decent, at least in my opinion

37 minutes ago, Furryfrog02 said:

Love everyone's examples!
The coinage from Syracuse was pretty awful. Oddly shaped flans and lackluster portraits were the norm instead of the exception. The one thing I like about them though, is that you can get multiple rulers on just one coin.

Here's a follis with Leo IV, Constantine V, and Leo III. The only way I can tell the difference is because they are named. Otherwise, they might as well be triplets IMO 🙂

That‘s a great example. I‘ve always had a soft spot for Syracusan dynastic folles. The small flans and poor style combined with designs that have so much going on makes the coins just have a different feel to them. Also the emerald coloured patina on your example looks amazing! 

Here‘s my example of the type (though the patina isn‘t nearly as nice)

On 6/1/2022 at 10:44 PM, seth77 said:

I have a crack problem right now.

A flan crack problem.

What a coincidence, I bought that exact same type just today. You could say the crack problem is a bit more severe on mine (given how a part of it has already cracked off 😅)

Here‘s what the random number generator gave me

A follis of Constantine VII and Zoe (as regent), Sear 1758

Although in the photo it may not look that special, in hand the coin great with almost all of the details preserved, which is what drove me into buying it. It simply looked too nice to pass up on.

Here‘s one that got lost quite recently

A decently rare trachy of Andronicus III that‘s actually in pretty nice condition for the issue (Sear 2482)

I bought the coin (along with some more common types I really didn‘t care that much about in the first place) in early April. After a week of moving around in Germany (where the seller is located) it was, for some unknown reason, sent to France instead of Finland. Then in early May it supposedly left France and arrived in Finland. After that the tracking went silent and I still haven‘t heard anything about it since the supposed arrival in Finland.

Click on your username (next to your profile picture) on the top right, which should open a dropdown menu. From the menu you should go to "account settings". Then on the right you should see a button called "notification settings". Click that and you should be able to customise your email notification settings.

Definitely a very ambitious goal, but with a colossal budget and years of patience it might be doable (Coins of Constantine XI for example can cost over 10000€ for even a tiny 1/8 stavraton. Also emperors like Matthew Kantakouzenos are extremely rare with only a few coins known). I‘m personally only focusing on the more affordable emperors for my "emperor type set".
 

Personally I don‘t mind weird-looking portraits. Sure, I‘d rather have a more realistic one, but squashed faces have a charm of their own.

Best of luck with the project!

Here's my only dual portrait type; 

An AE type from Tarsus with the jugate busts of Annius Verus and Commodus Caesars

An AE trachy of Alexius III Megas Komnenos (Sear 2629)

Next: a coin with less than 10 examples known

Here’s a little tip, on PC if you simply copy a picture and paste it into the text field, it doesn‘t actually count as an attachment, but rather as a part of the text itself. Even though I‘ve uploaded dozens of pictures by now, I haven‘t used up a single byte of my attachment limit.

Next up: A coin struck by a ruler who reigned for less than a year

Theodore I Laskaris also happens to be the most abundant ruler in my collection, so I guess I'll be posting coins from his reign too 😅. (I'm not the greatest at taking photos so this will have to do)

(Sear 2061, 5x Sear 2062, Sear 2067)

1 hour ago, TheTrachyEnjoyer said:

Byzantine coins have some awesome depictions of tiny architecture!!

Thessalonican:

Here the Arch Angel Michael is holding the city of Thessaloniki with Thessalonican emperor Theodore Ducas. The strike is a bit weak at the center which is typical for these but you can see two towers from the mini city rise to above shoulder length. 
 

An entire city is being held by a measly man! Talk about tiny architecture!

This trachy is otherwise is amazing shape!

 

Palaeologan:

Another example of this type I have is emperor Michael VIII holding the city of Constantinople while sitting on the imperial throne. Michael VIII recaptured the city and this was his way to show it off 😎 

The son of Michael VIII (Andronikos II) issued a similar (albeit) more crude type. Here the emperor is winged and facing left.

Andronikos also issued hyperpyra with the city of Constantinople on the obverse. The Virgin Mary stands in orans at the center, blessing the city walls. A recent dissertation I read made the case that these palaeologan wall obverses could actually represent the long walls of Nicaea, home of the empire in exile before its recapture of Constantinople. Since no legends exist to identify the walls, this very well could be the case! Tradition has them as the walls of Constantinople, however.

Those are some astonishing examples!

I actually happen to also have two of those types, albeit in significantly worse condition than yours

Here‘s a pretty fun coin I bought a while back

A small module trachy of John Komnenos Doukas (from the Empire of Thessalonica). The pictures are awful since the coin is about 8mm in diameter and has a dark black patina. It's in amazing condition for the issue though

Sear 2208

(Rev. John holding labarum and akakia)

(Obv. Brockage) 

12 minutes ago, noname said:

Dang, thats exceptional silvering, especially for a later Gallienus issue, with very little silver content. 

The silvering actually looks a lot brighter in pictures than in hand. The coin has a greyish patina that makes the surface silvering look a lot less pure than it actually is (though from certain angles you can see the shiny silvering just like in the photo)

My profile picture is quite recent. I made it less than a month ago from one of the trachies of Theodore I Laskaris I bought that I thought had a nice portrait. Even though most of the coin is pretty worn, the face and upper torso are in in great condition, which makes it suitable to be used as an avatar. (I did remove the portrait from the rest of the coin though and used another part of the coin as a background)

Here's the coin in question

Here's one of the trachies I bought recently

On top of being a desirable (and scarce) type with a seraph, this example also has full legends, which is quite rare for trachies from the period

Andronicus II (Sear 2352), Constantinople

Obverse: Andronicus holding sceptre and akakia

Legend: ΑΝΔΡΝΙΚΟϹ ΔΕCΠΟΤΗϹ O Π — ΑΛΕΟΛΟΓΟϹ (Full legends(!))

(ANDRONIKOS DESPOTES O P - ALEOLOGOS)

Reverse: Seraph

1 minute ago, Spaniard said:

Interesting....trying to like a couple of posters that already have 10...It won't allow me to like...Anyone else having the same problem??

 Tried it and I can like them just fine

A trachy of Michael VIII with Andronicus II, Sear 2318

Obverse: Bust of St. Nicholas

Andronicus II on the left, Michael VIII on the right, holding patriarchal cross between them, crowned by Christ above

Next: A coin struck by the Latin Empire

2 minutes ago, Helvius Pertinax said:

Oh no, accidentally posted it already! I wanted to write a bit more. Where can I delete?

You can edit the original post and add more text as well as attach pictures that way

On the top right you can see your profile picture as well as your name. Click on that and then click on "Profile". Then you should be on your profile page. After that you can click on the small button next to your current profile picture that looks like a small photograph (picture below). Then you can choose a photo to use as your avatar and click continue and save (after adjusting the size of the photo).

Edit: Responded to the post before the page had refreshed to show that @expat had figured it out on his own 😅