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Home ▸ Catalog ▸ |Byzantine Coins| ▸ |Comnen Dynasty| ▸ |Andronicus I||View Options:   | | | Andronicus was a wanderer and soldier of fortune. His reign was short and violent. When called to the throne to replace his cousin, Manuel I, he was determined to eliminate corruption. When the Normans sacked Thessalonica and Constantinople was threatened, Andronicus was killed by a mob. |
In 1185, Henry II of England knighted his heir John and sent him to Ireland to enforce English control. It was a disaster which united the scorned Irish chieftains against a common enemy. By the end of the year, John returned to England in defeat. Nonetheless, Henry had him named King of Ireland by Pope Urban III and procured a golden crown with peacock feathers.SH73348. Gold hyperpyron, DOC IV-1 1; Hendy pl. 18, 9; Wroth BMC 1, Morrisson BnF 62/Cp/AV/1; Berk 355; Sommer 62.1, SBCV 1983; Ratto -, VF, scyphate, double struck, creases in margins, weight 4.437 g, maximum diameter 30.8 mm, die axis 180o, Constantinople mint, Sep 1183 - 12 Sep 1185 A.D.; obverse the Virgin seated facing on square-backed throne, nimbate, wearing pallium and maphorium; she holds before her the nimbate head of the infant Christ, MP - ΘV (Greek abbreviation: MΗTΗP ΘΕOY - Mother of God) flanking her head; reverse ANΔPONIKOC ΔECΠOTHC, Andronicus (on left) and Christ standing facing, Andronicus, with forked beard, wears crown and loros, labarum in right hand, globus cruciger in left hand, Christ crowning him, wears nimbus and colobium, holds Gospels, IC - XC (Jesus Christ) flanking His head; from the Robert Watcher Collection; very scarce; SOLD
This type usually reads only ANΔPONI-KOC, without his title as despotes. None of the major references list this legend variant. Morrisson BnF lists the type with the title abbreviated ΔECΠ and from auctions we do know of a few other specimens with the full title.BZ99286. Bronze tetarteron, Morrisson BnF 62/Th/AE/04 var.; DOC IV-1 6 var.; Wroth BMC 15 var.; Hendy pl. 19, 2 var.; Sommer 62.5 var.; SBCV 1987 var. (none this rev. legend), Nice VF, brown tone, highlighting deposits on obv., struck on a 7-sided cut planchet, small edge cracks, weight 5.882 g, maximum diameter 22.2 mm, die axis 180o, Thessalonica (Salonika, Greece) mint, c. Jan - Jul 1185 A.D.; obverse facing bust of the Virgin Orans, nimbate, wearing pallium and maphorium, the nimbate head of the infant Christ at her waist, MHP (ligate) - ΘV (Greek abbreviation: MΗTΗP ΘΕOY - Mother of God) across field; reverse ANΔPONI - ΔECΠOTHC (Andronicus, despotes), half-length figure of Andronicus facing with forked beard, wearing crown, scaramangion, and sagion, vexillum in right hand, globus cruciger with four pellet cross in left hand; from the S. Lindner Collection; rare legend variant; SOLD
Marchev and Watcher suggest the scarcity of this type my be due to limited or no minting during the Norman siege of Thessalonica.BZ95147. Bronze half tetarteron, CLBC 5.4.4; DOC IV-1 8; SBCV 1989; Hendy pl. 19, 4; Morrisson BnF - (p. 731); Wroth BMC 17-18; Ratto 2172; Sommer 62.6; Grierson 1115, aVF, weak strike, ragged flan with edge splits typical of type, weight 1.781 g, maximum diameter 16.1 mm, die axis 180o, Thessalonica (Salonika, Greece) mint, Sep 1183 - 12 Sep 1185 A.D.; obverse facing bust of the Virgin Orans, nimbate, wearing pallium and maphorium, the nimbate head of the infant Christ on her chest, MP - ΘV (Greek abbreviation: MΗTΗP ΘΕOY - Mother of God) across field; reverse ANΔPO, half-length figure of Andronicus facing with forked beard, wearing crown, scaramangion and sagion, labarum in left hand, globus cruciger in right hand; from the S. Lindner Collection; rare; SOLD
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