Sale: CNG 82, Lot: 1215. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 16 September 2009.  Sold For $425. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BULGARIA, Second Empire. Ivan Sracimir. 1356–1397. Æ Trachy (0.86 g, 6h). Vidin mint. Imperial double-headed eagle facing, with wings displayed; trace of star above, pellets below wings / Half-length facing bust of Ivan Sracimir, holding cross-tipped scepter; monograms to left and right, pellet to lower right. Cf. Raduchev & Zhekov Type 1.14.10-12; Youroukova & Penchev 116-7. VF, brown patina. Very rare.

Ivan Sracimir was the second son of Ivan Aleksander and was appointed co-emperor by his father Ivan Aleksander. At this or some later point, Ivan Sracimir was given control of Vidin, which he held for the rest of his reign. In 1365, he and his family became hostages of the Hungarians. Three years later, Sracimir was restored to his throne, but he had to acknowledge effective Hungarian overlordship. When Ivan Aleksander died in 1371, Ivan Sracimir was particularly determined to assert his independent status, and in 1381 he placed the metropolitan archbishop of Vidin under the control of the Patriarch of Constantinople, thereby effectively allying himself with the Byzantine Empire.

After the Ottoman invasion of northern Bulgaria in 1388, Ivan Sracimir was forced to acknowledge Ottoman overlordship and accept Ottoman garrisons in his land. On the death of Ivan Šišman in 1395, Sracimir tried to control part of his brother's former realm which was not yet under Ottoman control, but was unsuccessful. When the Hungarians led a crusade against the Ottomans in 1396, Sracimir allied himself with it, placing his available resources at its disposal. The crusade ended in disaster at the battle of Nikopol on 25 September 1396. In 1397 Sultan Bayezid I captured Sracimir at Vidin and had him transported to Bursa, where he died. While part of the remaining realm stayed under the control of Sracimir’s son and heir Konstantin II, independent rule of Bulgaria was effectively ended.