Kinzer Coins

Manuel I Komnenos Ancient Byzantine Billon Trachy — Crowned by Virgin Mary (AD 1143–1180)

Name: Manuel I Komnenos Ancient Byzantine Billon Trachy — Crowned by Virgin Mary (AD 1143–1180)
Brand: Kinzer Coins
Price: 60.0 USD
Availability: InStock

Manuel I Komnenos Ancient Byzantine Billon Trachy — Crowned by Virgin Mary (AD 1143–1180)

$60.00 USD

Sale Sold out

Shipping calculated at checkout.

Manuel I Komnenos Billon Trachy — Virgin Mary & Imperial Investiture

Own a Coin from the Komnenian Empire of the 12th Century

The exact Byzantine billon trachy of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos shown, combining prominent Marian imagery with a representation of the emperor and the Virgin.

✓ Guaranteed Authentic
✓ Exact Coin Shown
✓ 30-Day Returns

👑 Imperial imagery associated with Manuel I Komnenos
⛪ Prominent depiction of the Virgin Mary and Christ Child
🤲 The exact historic coin pictured is the one you'll receive

Own This Piece of History

Why This Coin Matters

Manuel I Komnenos ruled from AD 1143 to 1180 during the later phase of the Komnenian restoration. His reign was marked by extensive diplomacy and warfare involving the Seljuk Turks, Hungary, Serbia, the Crusader states, and powers in Italy and the eastern Mediterranean.

Constantinople remained an exceptionally wealthy and important medieval capital, while Manuel pursued an ambitious foreign policy intended to preserve and expand Byzantine influence.

This billon trachy reflects the close relationship between imperial authority and Christian imagery in Byzantine coinage.

The obverse depicts the Virgin Mary enthroned with the Christ Child. The reverse presents Manuel with the Virgin in an imperial religious composition traditionally described in numismatic references as the emperor being crowned or blessed by Mary. Such imagery visually connected imperial authority with divine favor, although it should be understood as official religious-political symbolism rather than a literal depiction of an historical coronation ceremony.

The coin was struck in the characteristic concave form common to much middle and late Byzantine precious-metal and billon coinage. These curved pieces are conventionally called trachea by numismatists.

Rather than marking a precisely defined “last great age,” this coin belongs to a period when Byzantine power remained formidable but faced increasingly complex military, diplomatic, and financial pressures that would become more severe after Manuel’s death.