Sale: CNG 67, Lot: 1900. Estimate $300.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 September 2004.  Sold For $425. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISAAC COMNENUS. Usurper in Cyprus. 1184-1191. BI Trachy (3.90 gm). Nicosia mint. The Virgin Mary, nimbate, enthroned facing, holding the nimbate head of the infant Christ / Isaac, crowned and holding akakia, and St. George, nimbate, standing facing, holding patriarchal cross between them. DOC IV 2; SB 1991. Good VF for type, brown patina, flatly struck on the head of Mary. Exceptionally nice for this issue. ($300)

Isaac Comnenus, grandnephew of Manuel I, was originally appointed governor of Cilicia, where he was captured by the Armenians and held for ransom. Released in 1184, he obtained forged documents naming him governor of Cyprus, which he soon proclaimed his own kingdom. Ruling with great cruelty, he could not be dislodged until Richard the Lionheart directed his Crusaders against the island in 1191. Isaac died three years later, still scheming to reclaim Cyprus, which was never again in Byzantine hands.