Gert,
Thanks for taking the time to post, it is much appreciated.
‘Andronikos en Christo
despotes ho Palaiologos’
I believe that this is the expected
legend for these coins, but that there are some that appear to not conform to this. I am wondering if the coin here is one that has a different
legend.
I agree that the
legend is so garbled on this coin in question that reading it from what is visually present might not be possible.
I have KIBC instead of KEBO because of the
DOC 225 image (same
reverse die), where it looks like C rather than an O to me (the
DOC coin seems to clearly be a C). However, I agree that it looks more like an O on the coin here, at least in the photo. I
still feel somewhat confident in my KIBC reading of these characters (the I seemed reasonably clear with the coin in hand), but with KEBO being normally an abbreviation for ‘kyrie boethei’, this could be what is intended. I was speculating ANDRONIKI BC (BACIΛЄYC).
Grierson has
Basileus still in use during this time:
Philip
Grierson ‘
Byzantine Coinage’ (1999)
Page 12, coin number 18, variation:
sigla. “The
obverse shows the Virgin Blachernitissa inside the walls of
Constantinople, and the
reverse, the emperor kneeling before
Christ in the position of proskynesis. The long, garbled
inscription reads ‘Andronikos en Christo
despotes ho Palaiologos’, but other inscriptions are known with the full imperial title, ‘Andronikos en Christo to Theo pistos
basileus kai
autokrator Komnenos ho Palaiologos’, individual words being abbreviated as necessary.
Philip
Grierson ‘
Catalogue of the
Byzantine Coins in the
Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore
Collection’ Volume 5 (1999)
Part 1
Pages 95-97, Inscriptions.
Page 96, “The full titulature in documents would usually be the emperor’s name continued by the phrase en Cristw tw Θew pistos
Basileus kai
autokratwr Rwmaiwn, ‘in
Christ the Godhead faithful sovereign and emperor of the
Romans’. The main elements of this do sometimes occur on Palaeologan coins, for example, on hyperpyra of
Andronicus II, ANDRONIKOC ЄN Xw Θw PICTOC BACILЄVC O
PAL (AIOLOGOC) or varied as ЄN Xw DЄCPOTIC O
PAL (ЄOLOGOC). More usually, especially under
Andronicus III,
John V, and
John VI, we find ЄN Xw Θw, or ЄN X only, without anything to follow, however incongruous this may seem. It must be remembered that the letters were often minute in size and very roughly formed, and that most users would have
had better things to do with their time than attempting to decipher them.”