Alexius I Pb (lead) Issues
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Alexius I CLBC 2.5.3Alexius I Comnenus (1081 – 1118 CE) Pb Tetarteron (?), weight 4.57g, diameter 16mm.
This type is something of a mystery. The two other lead varieties produced under Alexius I exhibit ‘family’ iconography and are credibly linked to a special event, the coronation of John II as co-emperor in 1092. But here the standard busts of Christ and of Alexius I hardly mark the issue out as ‘ceremonial’.
And the question arises: what was their actual function? DOC IV designates them ‘lead tetartera’ from an uncertain mint (Thessalonica or Constantinople); Grierson suggests half-tetartera originating in Constantinople. But there is no Byzantine tradition of pure lead coinage, so CLBC argues for the alternative, that they were sphragidia, i.e. tokens exchangeable on a once-only basis, marking participation in some celebratory event or perhaps entitling the bearer to a food distribution. Since lead coins in circulation quickly become featureless lumps, this sphragidion explanation seems not implausible.
Ex FORVM.
Abu Galyon
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![Alexius_I_Pb_Tetarteron_CLBC_2_5_3_[2].jpg](albums/userpics/24418/thumb_Alexius_I_Pb_Tetarteron_CLBC_2_5_3_%5B2%5D.jpg "Filename=Alexius_I_Pb_Tetarteron_CLBC_2_5_3_[2].jpg
Filesize=1264KiB
Dimensions=1920x1012
Date added=May 21, 2018")
Alexius I CLBC 2.5.3Alexius I Comnenus (1081 – 1118 CE) Pb Sphragidion (?), weight 4.32g, diameter 16mm.
Ex FORVM.
Abu Galyon
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