Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 1745. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $1000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANONYMOUS. Politikon Coinage. Circa 1328-1354. Billon Tornese (0.51 gm). Constantinople mint. +POLITIKON, cross potent / City walls with four towers; cross and pellets above, florets at sides. DOC V 1209; Bendall 362; SB 2578. VF. Extremely rare. ($500)

The current status of our understanding of the Politikon coinage, issued both anonymously and in the name of the Byzantine emperors Andronicus III and John V, has been summarized by Grierson in DOC V. Although the coins themselves give few clues to their origins, they undoubtedly were connected to the increasing western presence in Constantinople. By the 14th century the city held several foreign enclaves, especially of Venice and Genoa, which in many ways operated as independent territories of their homeland. Perhaps one or more of these communities took it upon themselves to issue a special currency for their own use, and the presence or absence of an imperial type depended on their relationship with the imperial throne.