AR 1/2 Stavraton - John VIII 'Palaeologus'

John VIII ruled during the terminal decades of Byzantine power, when Constantinople controlled little more than the city itself and a handful of coastal enclaves. The half stavraton was introduced as part of a late Palaiologan monetary reform attempting to maintain a functioning silver coinage while the empire's tax base had effectively collapsed. These issues circulated alongside Venetian and Genoese silver in a city economically dominated by its Italian creditors.

The DOC V-1 attribution combined with the BCV variant designation signals meaningful die variation within this type — not unusual given the informal conditions under which late Byzantine silver was struck.