Uncertain Ruler, Copper, Tetarteron Noummion, Cyprus
Obverse
Half-length bust of ruler wearing crown and loros. Scepter cruciger in right hand, globus cruciger in left hand.
Reverse
Cross monogram with Latin letters: R above, Ε at right, and X at left.
Obverse
Half-length bust of ruler wearing crown and loros. Scepter cruciger in right hand, globus cruciger in left hand.
Reverse
Cross monogram with Latin letters: R above, Ε at right, and X at left.
| Accession number | BZC.2015.007 |
|---|---|
| Ruler | Uncertain Ruler |
| Metal | Copper |
| Denomination | Tetarteron Noummion |
| Mint | Cyprus |
| Diameter | 17.0 mm |
| Weight | 0.74 g |
| Relation of Dies | 6:00 |
| Shape | Flat |
Acquisition History
From Classical Numismatic Group auction 99, 13 May 2015, no. 940
Commentary
See Metcalf, Coinage of the Crusades and the Latin East in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, 140–42, for attribution to Antioch of this type on the basis of four specimens found in the excavations (Antioch 2306) plus others in Syria and Anatolia. He thinks the REX monogram could refer to Baldwin III of Jerusalem and the coins used for the distributions on the occasion of Manuel I Komnenos’s triumphal entry and procession in the city in 1159.
Bendall (“A Cypriot Coin of Richard I Lion-Heart?” and “Richard I in Cyprus Again”) preferred to give it to Cyprus, where half of the specimens known to him have been found. The known weights are as follows: Bendall, “Cypriot Coin” (0.69 g); I. Schulze and W. Schulze, “A Cypriot Coin of Richard I Lion-Heart?” (0.82 g); Bendall, “Richard I in Cyprus Again” (plated in silver, 0.75 g). Circumstances of issue are problematic.