John II is one of least known Emperors because he was successful in keeping the edge over
his enemies and keeping the
peace amongst
his allies.
His sister Anna is one of the main reasons
his history is a
bit scarce, she loved her father and barely mentioned her brother in her historical writings, she
had attempted to have him overthrown upon
his succession to the thrown and it was unsuccessful, and he
had her live the rest of her life in a convent. I would suspect her final revenge over her brother was to ignore him and
his accomplishments during
his 25 year rule.
It was said if he
had lived just a few years longer the empire would have been stronger and would have surpassed the empire of the 11th century but a hunting accident with a poison arrow shortened
his rule.
His nickname was given to him because of
his pious ways, in real life he was considered unattractive.
In regard to
his coinage, the 25 year rule the coinage was kept simple, he followed
his father's coin reform within some notable case increases the purity levels that were originally decided upon. In fact,
his coinage creates a
bit of a problem with coin collectors because
John III thought it would be a
good idea to copy the
Hyperpyron coinage held in such esteem, he copied legends that
John III had no right to. Such as being born in the purple basically , he was born to rule. Elaina
Lianta wrote a paper that the conclusion was there is no visual way to tell the difference, only the purity of
John II coins were at 20 carats and
John III at 17 carats.
Here is a near
complete collections of
his coinage, I chose not to add a few pieces because they were so difficult to determine on the web that they were attributed correctly. The missing are
Thessalonica Hyperpyron issues SBCV-1949 and SBCV-1950, the trick to the
Thessalonica issues are they are slightly thicker with a slightly smaller die. The two
Thessalonica Hyperpyron issues I do have were purchased from reputable
auction houses. (
CNG and Classica Zurich)
The following has every example (With the exception of the two noted above.) Every coin was pictured in
scale so you can see how each
denomination compared
side by
side.