Cilician Armenia. Hetoum I (1226-1270)

Bedoukian Group III, 1096 var. (reverse legend); cf. Nercessian 337

AR tram/drachm (average weight 2.96 grams; average purity 92%), 2.90 g., 20.10 mm, max, 0°.

Obv: + ԿԱՐՈՂՈ – ԹԻՆ ԱՅ Է (= Garoghout Iun Aye = By the Will of God), Queen Zabel (left and King Hetoum right crowned and wearing royal vestments, standing and facing, both holding a long cross, dot on cross.

Rev: ՀԵԹՈՒՄ ԹԱԳԱՒՈ ՀԱ (= Hetoum Takavor Hayots = Hetoum King of the Armenians), crowned lion walking right with left paw raised, cross behind lion.

The obverse showing the king and queen openly acknowledges the fact that Zabel was of royal lineage and that Hetoum was her consort. Although Zabel died in 1252, Hetoum continued to strike coins with this design until his resignation in 1270.

The obverse inscription and long cross are a match for Bedoukian 1095-1098. The final word of the reverse inscription in this sequence becomes progressively shorter, from ՀԱՅՐ (on B. 1095) to ՀԱՅ (on B. 1096) to just Հ (on B. 1098). There is no ՀԱ (this coin) which would correspond to the missing catalog number B. 1097 in the sequence.

The coins are divided by Bedoukian into seven groups (as well as a transitional period), with the numbering of the groups based on the order of issue. Although critical of Bedoukian's classification of the trams of Levon I, Metcalf approves his classification of the Hetoum I trams.