1921A ALEXIUS Metropolitan TETARTERON S-1921 Doc 34 CLBC 2.4.2 Grierson 1043

Bust of Christ, bearded with cross behind head, wearing tunic and kolobion; holds gospels in l. hand. UU in fields of cross.

Rev Bust of emperor wearing stemma, divitision, collar piece, and jeweled loros of simplified type; holds in r hand jeweled scepter and in l, gl. cr.

Size 18mm

Weight 3.5gm

Metropolitan Issues were minted in Constantinople, each of these coins had an added silver content of 3% and were also issued with a very light silver wash (Silver traces are common on Cosmopolitan issues but intact fully silvered coins are very rare.) These more than likely were tariffed at a higher rate than the Thessalonica issues that have been shown to have no silver content. Cosmopolitan issue are in general far scarcer than the Thessalonica issues

DOC catalog lists 3 examples with weights ranging from 1.6gm to 3.49gm and size is universal at 18mm

All of the Constantinople coins are uncommon but this one appears very rarely, I would mark its rarity 4/5 This example has a very dark patina in hand, I lightened this pic for a better view of the details. This is one of the most difficult of Alexius coins to obtain.