342, Lot: 853. Estimate $300. Sold for $475. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

John III Ducas (Vatatzes). Emperor of Nicaea, 1222-1254. AV Hyperpyron (29mm, 4.13 g, 6h). Magnesia mint. Struck 1232(?). Christ Pantokrator enthroned facing; IC XC across upper field, cross above throne to left / [+Iω ΔЄCΠ(?) to left], half-length figures of John, holding akakia in right hand, and the Virgin Mary, supporting between them a patriarchal cross; manus Dei above emperor, (MHP) [ΘV] to right and above Virgin. DOC (2a) = P. Protonotarios, “More rare or unpublished coins of the Empires of Nicaea and Thessalonica,” NumCirc LXXXII/2 (February 1974), p. 52., no. 4 (this coin); SB 2072. Good VF, minor edge split. Rare.

From the Collection of the MoneyMuseum, Zurich. Ex “Despot Collection of Late Byzantine Coins” (LHS 97, 10 May 2006), lot 110.