Follis - Michael VII Doukas Constantinopolis

Michael VII's reign coincided with the catastrophic aftermath of Manzikert — the 1071 defeat that effectively ended Byzantine control over Anatolia and gutted the empire's primary tax base and recruiting ground. His government responded by debasing the gold coinage so aggressively that the historian Attaleiates recorded grain prices spiraling beyond the reach of ordinary people, earning Michael the sardonic nickname "Parapinakēs," meaning he had shaved a quarter off the measure of grain.

Bronze folles of this period circulated into an economy already fracturing under military collapse and fiscal desperation. BCV 1878 is among the anonymous-style transitional issues before the coinage reform attempts that would fall to his successors.