Byzantine Trachy

The Byzantine Trachy was often struck on concave flans, a design quirk that made it look like a shallow bowl rather than a typical coin. This scyphate technique helped prevent counterfeiting in an era of rampant debasement. Billon alloys, mixing silver with copper, dominated these issues under the Komnenian emperors from 1081 onward.

Details vary by ruler and mint. For instance, coins from Alexios I's reign might feature Christ on one side and the emperor on the other, but engravings were sometimes sloppy due to worn dies. Exact mintages are murky; records from Constantinople burned in various sacks, leaving us to guess at production volumes.

One oddity: the irregular shapes could fool a novice into thinking they were art. They weren't.