Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Aspron Trachy - Isaac Komnenos Usurpation of Cyprus
| Issuer | Byzantine Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1187-1191 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Christ Emmanuel depicted youthful and beardless, enthroned facing on a high-backed throne in the scyphate concave field, nimbate with a cross nimbus bearing a pellet in each arm, clothed in colobium and pallium. The right hand is raised in benediction while the left hand holds a scroll. Greek inscription abbreviating IC XC flanks the nimbus, with the vertical legend ЄMMANHΛ (Emmanuel) distributed in the left and right fields. Beaded border encircles the design. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Greek |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Isaac Komnenos seized Cyprus in 1184 after forging imperial letters to secure the island's governorship, then simply refused to relinquish it when the forgery was discovered. He ruled as a self-proclaimed emperor for seven years — an autonomous thorn in Constantinople's side — until Richard I of England conquered the island in 1191 during the Third Crusade, partly provoked by Isaac's mistreatment of shipwrecked crusader survivors. This trachy is among the very few coinages attributable to that breakaway Cypriot regime.
The series is genuinely rare in any condition. Cyprus lacked the minting infrastructure of the mainland, and the short effective window of Isaac's independent coinage compressed production considerably.