Aspron Trachy - John II Komnenos Constantinopolis

John II is generally regarded as the most capable of the Komnenian emperors — disciplined, personally austere, and relentlessly campaigning. His reign saw sustained military pressure on the Seljuks in Anatolia and the recovery of Cilician Armenia, which may explain why his coinage survives in such varied condition: these were not peacetime issues sitting in temple hoards but currency moving with armies and through active frontier markets.

The electrum content of Komnenian trachea was already well below the earlier Byzantine standard by this period, a debasement that had accelerated sharply under his predecessor Alexios I. BCV 1941 falls within the reformed tariff system Alexios established around 1092, which John inherited without further major alteration.