Grosso?

[moonmoth]

This was sold as "Byzantine?" but I believe it is actually a Venetian grosso of the type copied by the Byzantine Palaeologus dynasty, with a Doge and St. Mark on the obverse and Christ seated on the reverse..  19x20mm, 1.65g.

Can anyone confirm this, please, and give me a hint as to the Doge, the date and what the legend should be?

Thanks!

[tacrolimus]

Well, having studied the coinage of Venice for years, i must admit i'm in real trouble with this coin.
The first letters i seem to read are ANDR, starting at 8 o'clock, and for this reason my best guess would be Andrea Dandolo. The ending portion of the of the half legend, however, doesn't seem to fit; this must be ANDR DANDVLO, while on yours i read ... (N)DLO.
The second half of obverse legend, mainly out of flan, is always SM VENETI.
If my reading is correct (likely i'm not), this variant is not listed in Papadopoli, Paolucci and Biaggi. Of course if the first four letters are not ANDR, i have to reconsider all the above arguments.
A couple of details fears me. The dots on the throne and on the Doge's drapery are generally well done on these issues; instead they looks quite crude on this coin.
Also, the weight is a bit low (even considering the hole).
In general the coin looks official to me, but the grossi have been largely copied in the east.
I'm sorry, but that's all i can tell from the picture alone.

Luigi

[moonmoth]

Thanks for that interesting analysis.  Looking at the obverse legend, ANDR fits well, and the second part depends on the reading of the two nearly vertical strokes before the O.  If the first of those strokes could be a very skinny V, making DANDVLO, then it could be official.  But that looks not very likely. If not, then it seems to read DANDILO, or possibly DANDVO, and with a blundered legend it would have to be a copy.

As for the weight, perhaps it has been clipped.  Parts of the edge look very flat.  Or perhaps it's just a fake!

Bill