288, Lot: 599. Estimate $100. Sold for $525. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Alexius and John Asen. Circa 1356. Æ Trachy (16mm, 2.09 g, 12h). Theotokos (Virgin) standing facing, orans; stars atop a series of dashes (towers?) flanking / Alexius and John standing facing, each holding scepter; three stars between, heavenly cloud above. Bendall, “The Diokitirion Square Trakion Reconsidered,” NK 21 (2002), p. 107-110; Bendall, “An Enigmatic Fourteenth Century Coin,” NumCirc vol. CIV, (March 1996), p. 39, 4-6 (same rev. die); DOC -; SB -. VF, green patina. Rare – 13 known to Bendall at the time of his 2002 publication.

In the uncertainty following the death of the Serbian emperor Stefan Uros IV Dusan, Alexius and John Asen, two local Greek magnates perhaps related to the Bulgarian royal house, took power in the region of Anaktoropolis, Chrysopolis, and Thasos. Although they soon recognized the authority of John V, Bendall hypothesizes that this rare series was struck during the brother’s brief period of independence.