Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Triton XXIII 14-15 Jan 2020
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CRUSADERS, Lusignan Kingdom of Cyprus. Hugh I. 1205-1218. EL Bezant – Hyperpyron (27.5mm, 3.77 g, 6h). Type 2A. Christ Pantokrator enthroned facing; barred IC XC across field / h VGO • RЄX [•] CY • PRI •, Hugh standing facing, holding long cross with crescent on shaft, and globus cruciger. Grierson, Coins of Medieval Europe 323; M&P Type 2A (dies F/– [unlisted rev. die]); Metcalf, Crusades, –; Schlumberger, pl. VI, 3; CCS 7. Toned, minor doubling, hairline flan crack. Good VF. Rare.
From the Richard A. Jourdan Collection of Medieval European Coins. Ex Baldwin's 94 (6 May 2015), lot 1043.
'Cyprus was in Latin hands from 1192, when Richard Coeur de Lion, who had conquered it from a Byzantine rebel, Isaac Ducas Comnenus, sold it Guy de Lusignan. Its early coins were not deniers and imitation dinars as on the mainland, but deniers and imitation hyperpyra, concave in form, having on the obverse a seated Christ and the reverse the standing king arrayed as a Byzantine sovereign. These coins, which were struck from Hugh I (1205-18) down to Henry II (1285-1324), are of a very base metal, much inferior to that of the contemporary rulers of Nicaea. Their issue ended early in Henry's reign when the king replaced them by silver grossi, known as silver bezants, and half-grossi, having on the obverse his seated figure and on the reverse a crowned lion. The denomination, though not the type, was to be retained by his successors, under whom the Cypriot silver bezant was to become one of the most important coinages in the eastern Mediteranean.' Grierson, p.136
From the Richard A. Jourdan Collection of Medieval European Coins. Ex Baldwin's 94 (6 May 2015), lot 1043.
'Cyprus was in Latin hands from 1192, when Richard Coeur de Lion, who had conquered it from a Byzantine rebel, Isaac Ducas Comnenus, sold it Guy de Lusignan. Its early coins were not deniers and imitation dinars as on the mainland, but deniers and imitation hyperpyra, concave in form, having on the obverse a seated Christ and the reverse the standing king arrayed as a Byzantine sovereign. These coins, which were struck from Hugh I (1205-18) down to Henry II (1285-1324), are of a very base metal, much inferior to that of the contemporary rulers of Nicaea. Their issue ended early in Henry's reign when the king replaced them by silver grossi, known as silver bezants, and half-grossi, having on the obverse his seated figure and on the reverse a crowned lion. The denomination, though not the type, was to be retained by his successors, under whom the Cypriot silver bezant was to become one of the most important coinages in the eastern Mediteranean.' Grierson, p.136