1/4 Hyperpyron - John VIII Constantinopolis

John VIII ruled during the Byzantine Empire's terminal decades, when Constantinople controlled little more than the city itself and a handful of Aegean outposts. The hyperpyron, once the dominant gold coin of eastern Mediterranean trade, had so thoroughly debased over the preceding two centuries that by John's reign fractional silver issues like this quarter had effectively replaced it in day-to-day commerce. John spent much of his reign abroad seeking Western military aid — most famously at the Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1438-39 — leaving a treasury too depleted to sustain consistent mint output.