A Selection of Coins of the Second Bulgarian Empire

220, Lot: 540. Estimate $200. Sold for $180. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BULGARIA, Second Empire. Petar IV. 1185–1197. Æ Trachy (23mm, 1.61 g, 12h). Christ standing facing on daïs, raising hand in benediction / Petar IV standing facing in tub, holding patriarchal cross; [+/Θ/Δ/Ο down left field], — above [B/ΡωΜΝ?] down right. Raduchev & Zhekov Type 1.1.1; Youroukova & Penchev 31-3. Fair, brown patin. Extremely rare.

Known as Todor prior to his proclamation as tsar in 1185, Petar, along with his younger brother Ivan Asen, took advantage of Bulgarian unrest over Byzantine overlordship to rebel against the empire. In 1185, after a series of earlier abortive attempts, they were successful and Todor declared himself tsar, or independent ruler, taking the name Petar IV, an act designed to legitimate his reign by associating himself with the previous First Bulgarian Empire. The rebellion took on religious overtones when an icon of St. Dimitar of Solun was miraculously discovered at the rebel capital of Trnovo, signaling that Saint’s assistance in Bulgarian independence. Over the next several years, the Byzantines tried unsuccessfully to put down the rebellion and recover the territory lost to them. After major Byzantine defeats near Tryavna, Arcadiople, and Serres, Bulgarian ascendancy seemed to be checked by the murder of Asen at the hands of his cousin Ivanko, and in 1197 by the murder of Peter IV, and the succession to the throne of his youngest brother, Kaloyan.