Sale: CNG 63, Lot: 1720. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 21 May 2003.  Sold For $800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ANDRONICUS II. 1282-1328. Billon Tornese (0.76 gm). Constantinople mint. Sole reign, 1282-1295. Andronicus standing facing, holding cross-sceptre and akakia / +KOMNHNOC O PALAIOLOGC, plain cross. DOC V 551; Bendall 94A; SB 2327. VF. Extremely rare. ($500)

Andronicus II, son of Michael VIII, was born in 1258 and may have been declared co-emperor as early as 1259. He ruled for over sixty-nine years, until he was deposed by his grandson Andronicus III in 1328. His reign was a direct contrast with that of his father; Andronicus restored peaceful relations with the Orthodox church, but his empire suffered severe losses at the front line. Thrace was devasted by conflict between Byzantium and the Catalans, Serbia took most of the province of Macedonia, and Asia Minor fell to the Turks. Andronicus had to greatly reduce his military forces to economize, and, in a particularly foolish decision, allowed the Byzantine fleet to deteriorate. Andronicus shared his reign with his son Michael IX for twenty-five years, and after Michael's death, with his grandson, Andronicus III. The coinage depicting Andronicus II is probably the most complex in the Byzantine series, involving five different regnal combinations (with Michael VIII, 1272-1282; sole reign, 1282-1295; with Michael IX, 1295-1320; second sole reign, 1320-1325; with Andronicus III, 1325-1328) and constant changes in the values and types of the silver and bronze denominations.