Copper scyphate coin, Tarnovo mint — 23 mm · 1.9 g
- Metal
- Copper
- Mint
- Tarnovo
- Diameter
- 23 mm
- Weight
- 1.9 g
- Rarity
- R10 — fewer than 5 known — regarded as unique
Obverse
Jesus Christ, with beard and mustache, seated on a throne without a backrest. He is dressed in a chiton and sindon, and around His head there is a nimbus with a cross inscribed in it. Each arm of the cross is decorated with a pearl. With His left hand Christ holds the Gospel resting on His knees, and with His right hand He blesses in front of His chest.
Reverse
Tsar Michael Asen, standing, clean-shaven, with a trapezoidal crown with pendilia. He is dressed in a dalmatic. Above the elbows - perbrachion. The loros is thrown over the left arm, holding a globus cruciger; in the right hand - sceptre (?). Around his head there is a nimbus, and on his shoulders - angelic wings. In the left field is the letter М, and in the right most likely the abbreviation of the title цар - Ф.
Reconstructions
Line drawings reconstructing the coin's design from the surviving specimens.
Also struck by Michael II Asen
Coin photographs and reconstruction drawings from A. Radushev & G. Zhekov, Catalogue of Bulgarian Medieval Coins IX–XV c. (Agató, 1999).