Andronikos III Palaiologos, Copper, Assarion, Thessalonike, 1328-1341
Obverse
Three-quarter-length figure of St. Demetrios with spear and shield. O| in left field and Δ|M|T in right field.
Reverse
Andronikos III Palaiologos standing and holding two patriarchal crosses.
Obverse
Three-quarter-length figure of St. Demetrios with spear and shield. O| in left field and Δ|M|T in right field.
Reverse
Andronikos III Palaiologos standing and holding two patriarchal crosses.
| Accession number | BZC.2007.6.47 |
|---|---|
| Catalogue ID | as DOC 5.2: plate 51, no. 927 |
| Ruler | Andronikos III Palaiologos |
| Date of Reign | 1328–1341 |
| Metal | Copper |
| Denomination | Assarion |
| Mint | Thessalonike |
| Date | 1328 – 1341 |
| Diameter | 20.0 mm |
| Weight | 1.7 g |
| Relation of Dies | 6:00 |
| Shape | Cup |
| Undertype | Bendall type 14/Shea type K over LPC 224, no. 31 |
Acquisition History
From S. Bendall, 19 July 2007. From Longuet’s “Salonica Hoard.”
Commentary
J. Shea accepts S. Bendall’s arguments (“An Early Fourteenth-Century Hoard of Thessalonican Trachea,” 263, 271–72; and “Palaeologan Notes,” 303) that the two coins cited together by Grierson in DOC 5:2 belong to different reigns: no. 927 to Andronikos III, and no. 928 to Andronikos II.
This coin is still slightly cup-shaped. Other examples of this type are almost flat, placing them at the end of the transition from coins struck on slightly cup-shaped flans to flat ones.
S. Bendall believed this coin to be overstruck on LPC 208, no. 6 (Bendall type 14/Shea type K; cf. BZC.2007.6.30), itself overstruck on LPC 224, no. 31 (= PCPC no. 251 and D. R. Sear, Byzantine Coins and Their Values, no. 2395), depicting and emperor standing and holding a model of the city in his right hand and a labarum in his left, with |N|Δ in left field and N|k|S in right field.
LPC 236, no. 6.
H. Longuet, “Une trouvaille de monnaies des Paléologues,” no. 14j.
S. Bendall, “Longuet’s Salonica Hoard Re-Examined,” no. 17J (with note on undertypes at p. 150).
J. Shea, “Longuet’s ‘Salonica Hoard’ and the Mint of Thessalonike in the Mid-Fourteenth Century,” 326, no. 48 (type P).