Catalog
Trachy Bulgarian imitation of trachy of Isaac II Angelos, unknown date and mint
| Issuer | Second Bulgarian Empire |
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| Year | |
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| Technique | Hammered (scyphate) |
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| Obverse description | Bust of the Virgin Mary orans facing, depicted frontally within a dotted nimbus, wearing maphorion with elaborate drapery rendered in dotted and linear detail. The figure is shown from the waist up with hands raised in the orans position. Flanking the bust are partially visible Greek inscription fragments in the field. The die work is characteristic of a provincial Bulgarian imitation, with somewhat crude rendering compared to contemporary Byzantine prototypes. |
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| Reverse description | Full-length frontal figure of Emperor Isaac II Angelos in imperial loros costume, standing and holding imperial regalia; the figure wears a crown with pendilia and is dressed in jewelled loros with columbian detail rendered in raised relief. The treatment of the imperial vestments is simplified relative to Byzantine originals, consistent with Bulgarian imitative production. The flat field surrounding the figure shows minimal inscription remnants, largely illegible due to the crude die cutting characteristic of this series. |
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| Additional information |
The Second Bulgarian Empire struck imitative trachea in significant numbers following the 1185–1186 revolt of the Asen and Peter brothers, which broke Byzantine dominance over the Balkans after nearly two centuries. With no established imperial mint tradition of their own, early Bulgarian rulers borrowed Byzantine coin types wholesale — Isaac II Angelos being a frequent model, partly because his reign coincided almost exactly with the Bulgarian resurgence. These copies circulated alongside genuine Byzantine issues in a region where monetary infrastructure was thin and origin mattered less than weight and familiarity.
Attribution remains difficult; no Bulgarian mint of this period has been conclusively identified archaeologically.