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Aspron Trachy - Manuel I second coinage
| Issuer | Byzantine Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1152-1167 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Aspron Trachy (1⁄120) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Christ enthroned facing, bearded and nimbate, the nimbus cross decorated with a pellet within each limb. He is clad in tunic and kolobion, holding the Gospels in his left hand and raising his right hand in benediction. The throne is rendered without a back. The Christogram abbreviations IC and XC flank the figure in the left and right fields respectively. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Greek |
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| Additional information |
Manuel I's second coinage aspron trachy reflects the ongoing debasement that had been slowly degrading Byzantine electrum since the reign of Constantine IX in the 1040s. By Manuel's era, the electrum content had fallen so far from the original nomisma standard that contemporaries and modern metallurgists alike have struggled to characterize the alloy consistently — some specimens in this type register well below 20% gold. The monetary reforms his successors were forced to undertake were a direct consequence of this incremental erosion.