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SBCV 2600 of Manuel I Comnenus of Trebizond.

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glebe:
The silver asper SBCV 2601 of Manuel I Comnenus of Trebizond is a very common type, as most Byzantine collectors will know, but it’s immediate predecessor, the silver trachy SBCV 2600, is (or at least was) one of the hardest Byzantine coins of all to find, in the west at any rate (see examples below).

Until recently no examples of this type had appeared on the market in modern times that I’m aware of, but now no less than four copies have been offered since October last, supposedly “from the inventory of a German dealer”.

The interesting thing about these coins is that all four examples seem to be from different dies, so perhaps this type was originally not all that rare, as the 10 examples listed in Retowski suggest.

Hence it would be interesting to know whether examples of the type have turned up in places like the Crimea, which seems to have been the source of Retowsi’s examples.

Ross G.

Strategos:
Hi, glebe
All coins of this type that I have come across, I have posted here: https://coins.labarum.info/ru/catalog/2177

This is a coin from my collection, found in the Crimea:
https://coins.labarum.info/ru/catalog/2177?cid=8281

glebe:
Yes I thought there might be a few more around.
Although it's still hardly a common type.

Ross G.

glebe:
The drip feed of examples of the silver trachy SBCV 2600 of Manuel I of Trebizond onto the market continues.

What is now clear is the stark contrast in the quality of these crude types as compared with the numerous well-made examples of the anonymous silver trachy SBCV 2148 which have appeared in recent years, and which dealers like to attribute to Manuel’s near predecessor in Trebizond, Andronicus I Gidon. (See some examples of both types below, and search in acsearch or CoinArchives for plenty more).

It is very difficult to see how these two types can both be attributed to the same mint, and hence the popular attribution of S.2148 to Gidon has to be questioned, as I have noted on my website.

Ross G.

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