Theodore I Laskaris AR Aspron Trachy

[John060167]

Hello everyone!

 

Here is a new coin I got, a pretty exciting piece for me as I rarely get coins quite like this! 

Empire Of Nicaea

Theodore I Laskaris (r. 1208-1222)

AR Aspron Trachy, 31mm, 3.36g, 6h

struck 1208-1212, Nicaea Mint

Sear 2064

Obverse: IC-XC (barred), Christ Pantocrator enthroned facing, wearing nimbus cruciger with pellet in each branch of cross, pallium and colobium, holding book of Gospels in lap; Two pellets on stock to either side of throne.

Rev: ΘΕΟΔΩPOC ΔEC-Π-OT ΘΕΟΔΩΡΟC, standing facing figures of Theodore I (on left), wearing crown with pendilia, divitision, loros and sagion, and St. Theodore (on right), nimbate and wearing military dress, each holding sheathed sword in outer hand; both grasping grounded staff surmounted by eight-pointed star between them.

Ex. CNG eAuction 537, lot 610 (26 April 2023)

Ex. Gasvoda Collection

Ex. CNG eAuction 455, lot 456 (30 October 2019)

Ex. JB Collection

Ex. CNG eAuction, 121, lot 223 (24 August 2005)

 

I’ve found late byzantine coins to be quite interesting with their scyphate shape and stylized designs.  I have a specialist trachy friend who keep on showing me all these different trachies & so I had to get another one, theyre just so cool! This particular one is an AR aspron trachy, although it is also categorized as electrum in some cases as it is 80-90% silver and the rest gold from what I have read. This was struck after 1204, when the Byzantines lost constantinople to the crusaders, so it is from one of the rump states. Personally i am really drawn into the design of the issue, Christ is very well struck on the obverse and the reverse depiction of the two Theodores is quite sharp.

Here is a comparison shot to other common AR issues, an Augustus denarius & an Alexander III tetradrachm. As you can see the diameter is pretty large even next to the tet, and the trachy looks to be of high purity silver as well, not much gold it seems.

Does anyone else have any cool AR or EL trachies? Please share!

 

Cheers!

[Hrefn]

Manuel I, likely struck 1160-64.  With St. Theodore, a military saint martyred in the early 4th century under Galerius or Licinius.   His legend as a dragon slayer is older than St. George’s. 

The question in my mind is which Saint Theodore is intended.  There is Theodore Tyron, “the Recruit” from the Latin word tiro.  English probably gets the slang word tyro from this, which is equivalent to “newbie” or “noob.”   There is also Saint Theodore Stratelates, “the General.”    Scholars differ on whether there were two different Theodores, or just the one.  Manuel and Theodore are both portrayed manu ad ferrum, hand on sword hilt.                                                                               Purchased from Solidus Numismatik, in Munich, Germany 9/23/2016   

The next one is a brand new purchase from the recent Heritage auction, so new it hasn’t arrived yet.  There are several interesting elements about this coin.  The OBV shows the Theotokos, the  Mater Theou with an icon of Christ.  Theologically, this is a visually powerful image of the centrality of the viewer’s attention onto the Christ, the object of worship.  

The REV shows the Archangel commending Isaac II, whose name is crystal clear on this specimen.  I think the pendilia on the emperor’s crown are meant to be Chi-Rho’s, which I have never seen described before, and would be rather exciting if true.  Comments invited.  

Poor Isaac II had a tumultuous reign which culminated in his deposition and blinding by his older brother, Alexios III.  Isaac’s son, also named Alexios (the IV) escaped Constantinople to appeal for aid from the West against the usurping Alexios III.  The forces of the Fourth Crusade were stuck in Venice, and subsequently in Zara, because they were short of the funds promised to the Venetians for transport to the Holy Land.  An agreement was struck amongst the Crusader leaders, Venice, and Alexios IV to divert the crusade to Constantinople and return the blinded and imprisoned Isaac II to the throne.  In return, his son Alexios IV promised the full monetary and military assistance of the Empire to further the aims of the Crusade.  

The Crusaders succeeded in restoring Isaac and his son to power in August 1203,  but soon discovered that the promised assistance was not promptly forthcoming.  Isaac and Alexios IV had neither the financial nor the political means.  Further political turmoil in Constantinople ensued.  In February 1204,  Isaac was killed (or died of mistreatment) and Alexios IV the son was imprisoned by yet another usurping Alexios, the Vth, nicknamed Mourzuphles.  The Crusaders insisted on the restoration of Alexios IV, but Mourzuphles had the youth executed and told the Crusaders to depart without their promised payment and aid.  

The Crusaders and Venetians attacked the city and took it on 12 April, 1204, this time as conquerors.  Sadly, a large part of the city had burned in the siege and the preceding turmoil.  

 

There are bronze or billon tetartera attributed to Isaac II and Alexios IV during their joint reign in AD 1203-4.  Given the financial and political circumstances, I would be surprised if there are any precious metal coins of their reign, or that of Alexios V.

 

 

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Ah, I listened to the respective Totalus Rankium podcasts concerning Alexius IV (who richly deserved his fate) and Alexius V Monobrow.

I have some electrum and gold scyphates, but no silver.  Cool coins were posted!

 

[Hrefn]

@John060167 I meant to comment that I love your trachy of Theodore.  Because of the method of strike, the obverse of these coins is frequently poorly struck.  Then, the convexity of the coin means this side will suffer most readily from wear.  

I have a hyperpyron of Isaac II and I thought I would check the pendilia  to see if they look like a Chi-Rho but they do not.  They look more like those on your coin of Theodore.

[Simon]

JOHN II BILLION TRACHY NOMISA IV DOC 10 Constantinople SBCV-1944
OBV IC XC in field
Bust of Christ bearded and nimbate, wearing tunic and kolobion, holds Gospels in l. hand. Pellet in each limb of nimbus cross.

REV Bust of emperor wearing stemma, divitision,collar piece and paneled loros of a simplified type; holds in r hand scepter cruciger and in l. gl.cr

Size 29.10

Weight 4.9gm

DOC lists 20 examples total with weights from 2.59gm to 5.00 gm and sizes from 28 to 30 mm. It has two variations A and B , both are equal in rarity , the difference is a stroke on shaft on type B.

This coin is very heavily silvered, it was part of a hoard that was once thought to be electrum, it is not, just very heavily silvered.

[TheTrachyEnjoyer]

theodore I Laskaris

 

John III Vatatzes

 

John III Vatatzes

 

Michael  VIII Palaeologus 

 

Michael VIII Palaeologus with Andronikos II

[John060167]

On 5/6/2023 at 11:39 AM, Hrefn said:

Manuel I, likely struck 1160-64.  With St. Theodore, a military saint martyred in the early 4th century under Galerius or Licinius.   His legend as a dragon slayer is older than St. George’s. 

The question in my mind is which Saint Theodore is intended.  There is Theodore Tyron, “the Recruit” from the Latin word tiro.  English probably gets the slang word tyro from this, which is equivalent to “newbie” or “noob.”   There is also Saint Theodore Stratelates, “the General.”    Scholars differ on whether there were two different Theodores, or just the one.  Manuel and Theodore are both portrayed manu ad ferrum, hand on sword hilt.                                                                               Purchased from Solidus Numismatik, in Munich, Germany 9/23/2016   

The next one is a brand new purchase from the recent Heritage auction, so new it hasn’t arrived yet.  There are several interesting elements about this coin.  The OBV shows the Theotokos, the  Mater Theou with an icon of Christ.  Theologically, this is a visually powerful image of the centrality of the viewer’s attention onto the Christ, the object of worship.  

The REV shows the Archangel commending Isaac II, whose name is crystal clear on this specimen.  I think the pendilia on the emperor’s crown are meant to be Chi-Rho’s, which I have never seen described before, and would be rather exciting if true.  Comments invited.  

Poor Isaac II had a tumultuous reign which culminated in his deposition and blinding by his older brother, Alexios III.  Isaac’s son, also named Alexios (the IV) escaped Constantinople to appeal for aid from the West against the usurping Alexios III.  The forces of the Fourth Crusade were stuck in Venice, and subsequently in Zara, because they were short of the funds promised to the Venetians for transport to the Holy Land.  An agreement was struck amongst the Crusader leaders, Venice, and Alexios IV to divert the crusade to Constantinople and return the blinded and imprisoned Isaac II to the throne.  In return, his son Alexios IV promised the full monetary and military assistance of the Empire to further the aims of the Crusade.  

The Crusaders succeeded in restoring Isaac and his son to power in August 1203,  but soon discovered that the promised assistance was not promptly forthcoming.  Isaac and Alexios IV had neither the financial nor the political means.  Further political turmoil in Constantinople ensued.  In February 1204,  Isaac was killed (or died of mistreatment) and Alexios IV the son was imprisoned by yet another usurping Alexios, the Vth, nicknamed Mourzuphles.  The Crusaders insisted on the restoration of Alexios IV, but Mourzuphles had the youth executed and told the Crusaders to depart without their promised payment and aid.  

The Crusaders and Venetians attacked the city and took it on 12 April, 1204, this time as conquerors.  Sadly, a large part of the city had burned in the siege and the preceding turmoil.  

 

There are bronze or billon tetartera attributed to Isaac II and Alexios IV during their joint reign in AD 1203-4.  Given the financial and political circumstances, I would be surprised if there are any precious metal coins of their reign, or that of Alexios V.

 

 

very beautiful coins, i especially love the design of the archangel on the second coin. I find the stylization on well preserved coins of this era to be pretty interesting , and yours seem to be of great quality. congrats on the win!

[John060167]

On 5/7/2023 at 7:37 PM, Simon said:

JOHN II BILLION TRACHY NOMISA IV DOC 10 Constantinople SBCV-1944
OBV IC XC in field
Bust of Christ bearded and nimbate, wearing tunic and kolobion, holds Gospels in l. hand. Pellet in each limb of nimbus cross.

REV Bust of emperor wearing stemma, divitision,collar piece and paneled loros of a simplified type; holds in r hand scepter cruciger and in l. gl.cr

Size 29.10

Weight 4.9gm

DOC lists 20 examples total with weights from 2.59gm to 5.00 gm and sizes from 28 to 30 mm. It has two variations A and B , both are equal in rarity , the difference is a stroke on shaft on type B.

This coin is very heavily silvered, it was part of a hoard that was once thought to be electrum, it is not, just very heavily silvered.

So well silvered! I haven’t seen many that look so silvered like that, is it quite rare or am i just not educated enough?

 

On 5/8/2023 at 12:27 AM, TheTrachyEnjoyer said:

theodore I Laskaris

 

John III Vatatzes

 

John III Vatatzes

 

Michael  VIII Palaeologus 

 

Michael VIII Palaeologus with Andronikos II

Beautiful silver trachy collection, i’ve seen a bunch of trachies with large flan cracks, should one be worried about the larger flan crack trachys being particularly fragile?

 

Cheers!

[TheTrachyEnjoyer]

24 minutes ago, John060167 said:

Beautiful silver trachy collection, i’ve seen a bunch of trachies with large flan cracks, should one be worried about the larger flan crack trachys being particularly fragile?

Ive had no issues to date

[Simon]

1 hour ago, John060167 said:

So well silvered! I haven’t seen many that look so silvered like that, is it quite rare or am i just not educated enough?

Rarely with this much silver. Most trachea issues had 8% during the time of Alexius I to John II, it drops after that during the rule of Manuel, he lowered it to 6 to 7% then falls to 2% by the time of Isaac II. John II sems to have the most with some recorded at 11%, I think my example has more than that. 

I think since John's coinage surpassed his fathers is the main reason John III chose to copy some of his coinage a century later. 

One interesting note that is a fact is in the empire before the Latin rule, it was illegal to not accept the new coinage (debased) as the same value of the old coinage. 

My coin posted earlier in the thread had an interesting story when I purchased the coin, two dealers in the Pacific Northwest had a dispute regarding the hoard this coin came from. One thought it was electrum, to settle the dispute the hoard was sent to David Sear, and he declared them to be heavily silvered. I have no paperwork regarding David Sears verdict, it was just a story retold to me when I purchased the coin. 

Here are two more that have a high silver content. The one on the left is A John II Type A no cross on shaft, the one on the right with the dark junk on it is Alexius I. (Pardon the photo, they were on my dresser, I am recouping from dental surgery this morning, so I just took a pic with my phone. )