Sale: CNG 64, Lot: 1366. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 24 September 2003.  Sold For $475. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANDRONICUS II, with MICHAEL IX. 1282-1328. Billon Tornese (0.54 gm). Constantinople mint. Struck 1295-1320. Half length figure of St. Michael, winged, holding sceptre and globus / Andronicus and Michael standing facing, holding labarum between them. Cf. DOC V 610; cf. Bendall 152; cf. SB 2439 (all as an Æ trachy). Fine, encrusted, flan holes. ($300)

The types match the known trachy of Andronicus and Michael, but this piece has visible silver content and is in the weight range for a tornese. If this is the case, this coin pre-dates the earliest known Byzantine tornese, assumed to have been struck after 1320.