Sale: CNG 79, Lot: 1400. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 17 September 2008.  Sold For $250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BULGARIA, Second Empire. Mihail Asen III Šišman. 1323–1330. Æ Trachy (1.78 g, 6h). Cross fourchée with suppendaneum; IC XC N K in quarters / Šišman monogram; star on either side at base. Raduchev & Zhekov Type 1.11.15; cf. Youroukova & Penchev 68. VF, green patina.

Mihail Asen III was the son of the despotes Šišman of Vidin and a distant cousin of Todor Svetoslav and Georgi Terter II. Since the middle of the 13th century, Vidin had been effectively autonomous under ineffective Bulgarian overlordship, and the title of despotēs signified this. When Georgi Terter II died in 1323, Mihail Asen III was elected emperor of Bulgaria.

Although Mihail managed to force Andronikos III to retreat, the Byzantines took Plovdiv. Mihail was able to recover Bulgarian control over northern and northeastern Thrace in 1324. A subsequent peace treaty with the Byzantine Empire, which was to be concluded by Mihail’s marriage to Theodora Palaiologina, the sister of Andronikos III Palaiologos, who had previously been married to Todor Svetoslav of Bulgaria. To marry Theodora, Mihail divorced his first wife Anna (Neda), a sister of the Serbian King Stefan Uroš III Dečanski, a move that resulted in a worsening of relations with Serbia. Even the rival Byzantine emperors took sides, and for the next several years, a series of wars were waged against the Serbs and their Byzantine allies.

In 1330, expecting the assistance of his Byzantine allies, Mihail marched on Serbia with a large force, including reinforcements from his vassals and allies in Wallachia and Moldavia. The Bulgarian army encamped near Velbăžd (Kjustendil) and dispersed for the acquisition of provisions while awaiting further reinforcements and the arrival of its Byzantine allies. There the Serbians reinforced themselves and on 28 July 1330 caught the Bulgarian army by surprise. In spite of an attempt to bring their army to order, the Bulgarians and their allies were crushed. Badly wounded as his horse was killed under him, Mihail was captured by the Serbians and died four days later while a captive of the Serbs.