In the late 10th century the Byzantine rulers embarked on a bronze coinage devoid of the emperor’s name. Theses may be divided into 11 classes, labelled chronologically A through to I. The earliest, class A, features a nimbate or haloed facing bust of Christ on one side, combined with a legend in Greek on the reverse that, in four lines reads Jesus Christ King of Kings. Although appearing uniform study shows that they are far from that.
A1 overstruck on a follis of Nicephorus II
The class A coins may be further subdivided
into two distinct groups. The earliest bear the designation A1 and are almost invariably
found overstruck on the coins of Nicephorus II, Constantine VII or Romanus I.
The slightly later type, the so-called
A2 do not tend to be overstruck and may be further distinguished from the A1 type
by the presence of a series of marks. These marks are noted in four places; the
halo and Bible on the obverse and then above and below the legend on the reverse.
The scholar Albert Bellinger collated the combinations of known marks and came up
with 51 distinct groupings. The numbering sequence of the 51 combinations does not
imply a chronological progression.
Whilst it may be just chance some
believe that certain groups of symbols may indicate that subsidiary mint(s) may
have been in operation besides Constantinople. This has been postulated on the basis
of A2 hoards and site finds contain a disproportionately large number of certain
symbol combinations. On that basis Metcalf postulated that Bellinger types 2,
3, 4, 5, 8 and 20 (and possibly 7 and 9) may be from a mint operating in central
Greece.
A2, Bellinger 24
There is a further complication with
the A2 coinage in that they do not all appear to be struck to the same weight standard.
There is, again, a pattern with Bellinger number and weight. This can be summarised
as follows:
15g = 1, 6, 10-19, 21-23, 30, 36-38,
48-50 (“metropolitan” ie Constantinople coins)
12.4-13.9g = 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9,
20 (postulated Central Greek mint)
9g = 24, 33, 39, 40 (39 and 40 are also known on the 15g standard)
<15g = 25, 26-28 (all with blundered
reverse inscriptions)
10g = 29, 41, 43-47
13g = 34 (all rough style on irregular
flans, probable provincial mint)
That leaves 31 and 32, related by
similar markings but apparently on two different weight standards (15g and 10g respectively).
And finally 51 which may be related to 34.
