A Late 14th Century Hoard of Balkan silver coins - article ; n°31 ; vol.6, pg 183-193

Simon Bendall

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Revue numismatique - Année 1989 - Volume 6 - Numéro 31 - Pages 183-193
Résumé. — L'auteur publie ici 53 (+ 4) pièces récemment parues sur le marché en plusieurs lots de source turque. Ce trésor mêle des billons ou des pièces d'argent du duché d'Athènes (1287-1294), de Serbie (milieu xiv s.), de Bulgarie (1331-1355) à des pièces byzantines d'Andronic III (1328-1341) (?), Jean V (1341-1391) et Andronic IV (1376-1379), cette dernière datant l'enfouissement. La composition de la trouvaille confirme les séquences déjà proposées pour Jean V et conduit à certaines réattributions.
11 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: REVUE_NUMISMATIQUE
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1989
• Nombre de lectures: 17
• Langue: English

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Simon Bendall
A Late 14th Century Hoard of Balkan silver coins
In: Revue numismatique, 6e série - Tome 31, année 1989 pp. 183-193.
Abstract
Résumé. — L'auteur publie ici 53 (+ 4) pièces récemment parues sur le marché en plusieurs lots de source turque. Ce trésor
mêle des billons ou des pièces d'argent du duché d'Athènes (1287-1294), de Serbie (milieu xiv s.), de Bulgarie (1331-1355) à
des pièces byzantines d'Andronic III (1328-1341) (?), Jean V (1341-1391) et Andronic IV (1376-1379), cette dernière datant
l'enfouissement. La composition de la trouvaille confirme les séquences déjà proposées pour Jean V et conduit à certaines
réattributions.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Bendall Simon. A Late 14th Century Hoard of Balkan silver coins. In: Revue numismatique, 6e série - Tome 31, année 1989 pp.
183-193.
doi : 10.3406/numi.1989.1944
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/numi_0484-8942_1989_num_6_31_1944BENDALL* Simon
A LATE 14TH CENTURY HOARD
OF BALKAN SILVER COINS
(PL XVII-XIX)
Résumé. — L'auteur publie ici 53 (+ 4) pièces récemment parues sur le marché en
plusieurs lots de source turque. Ce trésor mêle des billons ou des pièces d'argent du
duché d'Athènes (1287-1294), de Serbie (milieu xiv s.), de Bulgarie (1331-1355) à des
pièces byzantines d'Andronic III (1328-1341) (?), Jean V (1341-1391) et Andronic IV
(1376-1379), cette dernière datant l'enfouissement. La composition de la trouvaille
confirme les séquences déjà proposées pour Jean V et conduit à certaines réattribu
tions.
Summary. — Are published here 53 (+ 4) coins which appeared on the market in
various parcels from a Turkish source, apparently from a hoard. It contains billon or
silver of the Duke of Athens, Guy de la Roche (1287-94), of Serbia (mid-14th century),
Bulgaria (1331-55) and Byzantine coins of Andronicus HI (1328-41) (?), John V (1341-
91) and Andronicus IV (1376-79). This latter dates the deposit. The hoard's
composition confirms sequences already proposed for John V and leads to some
reattributions.
Late in 1987 or early in 1988 there appeared on the market a most
interesting hoard of approximately fifty coins, comprising Crusader
billon together with Serbian, Bulgarian and Byzantine silver
coins. Although originally offered intact, unfortunately the hoard
was dispersed and the following report is, therefore, only partial and
lacks one or two important coins which might reappear at a later
date. Published here are fifty-three coins from at least five sources.
* P.O. Box 3788, Beverly Hills, CA 90212, U.S.A.
The author would like to extend his thanks to Dr D. M. Metcalf, Professors D. Nicol,
A. Kazhdan and S. Čurěié for their help in the preparation of this article. [Thanks are
also due to Mme C. Roulot, photographer in the Cabinet des Médailles for improving the
illustration. The editors acknowledge also help and various advice given by
Mr. V. Ivanisevic in preparing the text for publication.]
Revue numismatique, 1989, 6e série, XXXI, p. 183-193. SIMON BENDALL 184
Crusader
Guy De la Roche, Duke of Athens under the regency of Hugh de
Brienne (1287-1294).
1. Billon denier.
Ref. Schl.1, pi. XIII/7.
Wt. 0.64 gms.
la-e. Small billon fragments attached by corrosion to Bulgarian
grossi Nos. 5, 8, 16, 19. Only the second coin (No. 8) was
identifiable, being part of a brockage in the name of Philip- either
Philip of Savoy (1301-1307) or Philip of Tarento (1307-
1313). Unfortunately a number of different experiments failed to
detach these fragments in sufficiently large pieces to make further
identification possible.
Although these deniers are the earliest coins in the hoard, it must
be remembered that they were struck in great numbers and will have
comprised a large part of the currency in the early fourteenth
century, while the coins of Guy II, in particular, were the last
substantial issue struck before the Catalans overran the Duchy of
Athens in 1311.
Serbia
2-4. Imitation grossi, in the name of Lorenzo Tiepolo (1268-1275).
Ref. Metcalf, Echoes2.
2. M below Christ's left elbow.
Wt. 2.14 gms.
3. Star below Christ's right elbow.
Wt. 2.03 gms.
4. No sigla.
Wt. 1.34 gms.
As Metcalf notes in the above article, Venetian grossi in the name
of Lorenzo Tiepolo were copied in Serbia from the end of the
thirteenth century until after the middle of the fourteenth
century. There seem to have been two groups of imitations
issued. The first commenced with weights slightly below that of the
1. G. Schlumberger, Numismatique de l'Orient Latin, Paris, 1878, reprint Graz,
1954.
2. D. M. Metcalf, Echoes of the Name of Lorenzo Tiepolo; Imitations of Venetian
Grossi in the Balkans, NC 1972, 183-191. 14TH CENTURY HOARD OF BALKAN SILVER 185
regular Venetian issues (c. 2.18 gms.) and had fallen to between 1.00
and 0.80 gms. by c. 1370. An imitation in the Sofia hoard (1921) was
die-linked to a coin of Vukašin (1365-1375), demonstrating both the
date and official nature of these imitations.
A second group of imitations exists which, while post-dating 1330,
contains coins heavier than their Venetian prototypes. The Stobi
hoard (1937) produced coins which weighed as much as 2.37/2.36 gms.
and as light as 1.63 gms. This hoard also contained coins of King
Vukašin (1365-1371). Imitations from Greece2** tend to be of this
latter type, indicating a more southerly provenance for this
group. The style, weight and wear of the three coins in this hoard
indicate that they are of this second group and date to the middle of
the fourteenth century.
Bulgaria
Ivan Alexander and Michael Asen (1331-1355).
5-19. Silver grossi.
Réf. Ratto 26793; Metcalf, Coinage in South-Eastern Europe*,
pi. 8/11.
Wts. 1.34; 1.41; 1.46; 1.81; 1.44; 1.41; 1.75; 1.58; 1.22; 1.51; 1.34;
1.26; 1.22; 1.15; 1.24 gms.
This type is the second issue of Ivan Alexander's reign, commenc
ing in 1331 but certainly continuing after Michael's death in
1355. The succeeding issue was that of Ivan Shishman, struck from
1371, which weighed only с 0.60 gms. The grossi of Alexander and
Michael were originally issued at с 1.55 gms. but were reduced in
steps, firstly to 1.30/1.25 gms., then to 1.00/0.90 gms., and finally to
с 0.70 gms. This weight reduction, as with the Serbian imitations,
was late and rapid, since even in the Gospodjin Vir hoard, deposited
after 1373, there was a high proportion of heavy-weight coins with an
average weight for this type of 1.38 gms., compared with 1.41 gms. in
this hoard. It is interesting to note also that in the Gospodjin Vir
hoard the Serbian element ended about fifteen years earlier than the
Bulgarian coins present. There seems little doubt that the Bulgarian
coins in this hoard are compatible with a date of deposit in the mid-
1370's.
2a. [As is well known, imitations of Venetian, and also of Serbian grossi occur in
many parts of the Balkans, not only in Serbia (see for example V. Penčev,
Numizmatika, (Editors' note)]. 17,2, 1983, p. 15-41 and 17,3, p. 27-41; CHI, 1985, p. 386, no. 590)
3. R. Ratto, Monnaies Byzantines et d'Autres Pays Contemporaines à l'Époque
Byzantine, Lugano, 1930, reprint Amsterdam, 1959.
4. D.M. Metcalf, Coinage in South-Eastern Europe, 820-1396 (Royal Numismatic
Society Special Publication No. 11), London, 1979. SIMON BENDALL 186
Byzantium
John V (1341-1391).
20. Silver sta vra ton.
Obv. 1С XC over BB; nimbate bust of Christ.
Rev. + l(i)AeC[ ]ГОС / 0VXAPITI [ ] TUNPCOMAIO
Wt. Unrecorded.
Provenance, Numismatique Antique (Paul-Francis Jacquier), Kehl/
Rhein, Munzliste 8, Frůhjahr 1988, No. 419.
Note. A previously unrecorded set of sigla for this coinage.
Reports indicate that the hoard originally contained one, or
possibly two, more stavrata of John V.
21-45. Eighth-Stavrata.
21 -27^ Group I.
Obv. 1С XC, О С О Т I Р reading upwards from 90° to 270°; bust
of Christ.
Rev. КОДЮПОТЮОПАЛеОЛОГОС and variants in dumpy, ill-
formed letters; bust of John V.
Wts. 1.04; 1.04; 1.05; 1.03; 1.02; 1.03; 1.05; 1.05 gms. (No. 23 now
in the Bibliothèque Nationale, 1989/135).
Provenance, No. 26A, Bank H. Aufhaiiser, Auktion to be held in
1990.
28-30A._Group II.
Obv. 1С XC, О С О Т I Р reading outwards from 270° to 90°; bust
of Christ.
Rev. As Nos. 21-27.
Wls. 1.02; 1.06; 1.05; 1.05; 1.04 gms. (No. 30 now in the
Bibliothèque Nationale, 1988/203).
Provenance, No. 30, Numismatique Antique, Munzliste 9, Herbst
1988, No. 390.
31-32A. Group III.
Obv. As Nos. 21-27 but with sigla . . in field.
Rev. As 21-30A.
Wts. 1.03; 1.07; 1.05 gms.
33-39. Group IV.
Obv. As Nos. 31-32A but О С О Т I Р extremely barbarous.
Rev. As 21-32A but with sigla . . in field.
Wts. 1.05; 1.06; 1.06; unrecorded; unrecorded; 1.04; 1.04 gms.
(No. 33 now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, 1989/136). 14TH CENTURY HOARD OF