Silver coin, grosh-akche, associated with the fall of Tarnovo

Metal: Silver
Mint: Tarnovo
Diameter: 12 mm
Weight: 0.5 g
Rarity: R10 — fewer than 5 known — regarded as unique

Obverse

Arabic inscription in three parts: (God protect the state) (year) 792 (=1390 - the year of Sultan Bayazid's accession to the throne). The style of the letters indicates that the engraver was unfamiliar with the Arabic alphabet.

Reverse

Tsar Ioan Shishman full-length, facing forward, with stemma and pendilia. He is dressed in divitision and maniakion. In His left hand the Tsar holds a sceptre with a cross. In the field to the right is the monogram (I)W (Iwan), and to the left Ш (Shishman). The coin is a gift grosh of the Tsar, minted in Tarnovo, but the image is mirrored, made by an unskilled craftsman.

Reconstructions

Line drawings reconstructing the coin's design from the surviving specimens.

Also struck by Ivan Shishman

Coin photographs and reconstruction drawings from A. Radushev & G. Zhekov, Catalogue of Bulgarian Medieval Coins IX–XV c. (Agató, 1999).