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A trachy of Isaac II Angelus


CaveBear2

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I want to buy this trachy from Variana Coins. Nicely struck for the type, full readable legend.

Problem :

  • At 6,1g it's very overweight;
  • The pattern on the loros waist (5 pellets forming an upright cross without decoration around).

In DOC, I can't find that pattern, I also can't find that arrangement of the legend and there is no Isaac II trachy that heavy mentioned. I also tried acsearch to find a reverse die match without success.

The seller says it's a trachy of the "A" variety, but it doesn't match the information I found :

Sanstitre2222.png.7ab03341c8cc63ce4b7c5e5e7df15c5c.png

 

 

I'd be happy to hear any opinion about that coin.😊

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The OP is not listed in DOC. The closest would be var B(a) minus the / and \ at each corner. ICA AK I O C is also not listed. I would not be concerned that this variation is not listed, there are probably more out there as these are a very common type in general. The premium they are asking is due to its larger size and condition. 

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I would not be too concerned with the weight, in the Wildwinds database there are two examples weighing 5,65 and 5,1 grams, see link:

https://wildwinds.com/coins/sb/i.html Your very nice coin looks almost unclipped, which may explain the weight.

Sear, in his description of the coin notes several slightly diverging forms, that may include the loros. In other variations (DOC IV part I, pp411 onwards) the emperor's loros waist holds five points as on a dice. The same "dice" can be found on a trachy sold by Aquila Numismatics recently on this link: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=12488098

From all I see this is the real thing, just a very fine example.

image.png.f0c00ae32ce6ab20916b856222448c61.png

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Petzlaff covers just about every known variety of the Isaac II trachy in his comprehensive study "Die Billon-Skyphaten der Komnenen und Angeloi 1092-1204", but not it seems this particular variant with the unusual upright 5 point cross in the waist girdle.

Ross G.

Edited by Glebe
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Your post @CaveBear2 motivated me to go over an older purchase I had not attributed yet. It was a group lot and judging from the common patena it was more than likely a hoard. The vast majority were Isaac II first reign. It contained 32 examples, none as nice as yours and nothing near that weight. I will examine them more closely in the future. The second most coins were Alexius III , a couple of Manuel and a couple of Latins. 

So Congratulations on your excellent acquisition. Even in my best of collection yours would win. 

Here are the 32 examples from the lot last night. 

20241102_170005.jpg.2ff9118ae547f01ad6956f40aea528af.jpg

 

Edited by Simon
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