Alexios IV - Asper

Alexios IV ruled Trebizond through a period of acute pressure from the expanding Ottoman sultanate, paying tribute to Mehmed I while simultaneously cultivating ties with Venetian merchants whose Black Sea trade kept the empire economically viable. The asper was the engine of that commerce — a denomination trusted by Genoese and Venetian factors who handled it alongside coins from half a dozen competing powers in Trebizond's busy port.

Retowski's classification of this type, published in 1905 and still the foundational reference for Trapezuntine coinage, drew heavily on a handful of institutional collections; well-attributed examples remain genuinely scarce in the trade.