NGC Ancients: Graffiti on Byzantine Coins

Click image to enlarge

Above is the reverse of a gold solidus of the Byzantine emperor Phocas (A.D. 602–610) with the graffito ΦIΛOΞENOY in the bottom periphery. It records the common Greek male name, Philoxenos.

A second instance occurs on the obverse of a different gold solidus of the emperor Phocas, shown above. The graffito ΠETPOC is etched in the periphery to the right of the imperial portrait and inscription. This time it is the name of a Greek man, Peter (Petros).

Graffito was applied for a variety of reasons, which could have been both personal and commercial. The motivations for personal graffito must have been quite diverse, but in many cases it would have marked the coin as the property of the individual named.

Above is the obverse of an electrum histamenon nomisma of Michael VII (A.D. 1071–1078) with graffiti in four different places. The most interesting graffito appears in the periphery at the lower left — a series of letters that perhaps records the name of an owner. It seems to be a form of Aramaic (there were several variants), though it is not confirmed. (At NGC Ancients, we are not experts in Near Eastern scripts used in Medieval times.)

There is reason to believe some graffito was applied by those who held positions of authority in the marketplace to confirm the weight, purity and authenticity of coins. If they were respected for their work, the presence of their recognizable graffito might allow a coin to circulate without suspicion.

Proposals such as this are hard to prove. However, a group of gold and electrum Byzantine coins recently examined by NGC Ancients suggests that, at least in this case, an enterprising individual applied a consistent “mark” to precious metal coins in the 12th Century.

The mark is a “K” typically cut in the flat periphery of the coin in a way that it appears to be resting, so for the purposes of this article we’ll sometimes refer to this distinctive graffito as “Lazy K.”

Most coins in the group that bear this mark are electrum aspron trachea of the emperor Manuel I (A.D. 1143–1180). These coins show the standing figure of Jesus Christ flanked by stars on the obverse and the standing figures of emperor Manuel I and St. Theodore on the reverse. Each holds a sword, and a long patriarchal cross set upon a pronounced ‘globe’ is between them.

This example is marked twice on the reverse, with the graffitist’s “K” appearing above the figures and to the upper right.

Eighty-three of these trachea were submitted to NGC Ancients, all seemingly from a single find, with the vast majority displaying no circulation wear. Of the 83 trachea, 17 bore distinctive “Lazy K” graffito.

Shown here is the reverse of an example with a “K” above the standing figures.

The “K” always occurs in the periphery (which, in the case of these pieces, is unstruck metal beyond the edge of the dies). It was engraved on the reverse 15 out of 17 times. In two cases there were two “K’s” engraved instead of just one.

The purpose of the “K” is not known, but we speculate it represents one graffitist’s confirmation of good weight since all but one of the “K”-marked coins weighed between 4.37 and 4.79 grams (the outlier weighed 4.11 grams).

Among the unmarked specimens, 16 weighed between 4.02 and 4.13 grams, and one specimen weighed just 3.89 grams. So, even with the single marked coin of 4.11 grams being a noteworthy anomaly, it can be said that this graffitist’s “Lazy K” coins were of good weight.

Other Manuel II trachea in the group bore graffito of different kinds, which seems to indicate that the person who eventually consigned the collection to burial had gathered their coins from a variety of sources.

Below are two examples with different graffito:

This piece has personalized graffito in the right periphery, clearly seen in the close up. It is a series of Greek letters that — with the stretch of the imagination, including the graffitist not forming all letters correctly and omitting others in a phonetic approach — might be the name “Nicephorus.”

The trachy above has three separate areas with graffito on its obverse. The most interesting is a pentagram beneath the figure of Christ, shown in the enlargement.

Other Byzantine precious metal coins included in the same submission (and seemingly part of the same find) were gold hyperpyra of Manuel’s immediate predecessors: his father John II (A.D. 1118–1143) and his grandfather Alexius I (A.D. 1081–1118). Most of them showed meaningful signs of wear and circulation.

Five of these hyperpyra bear the distinctive “Lazy K,” suggesting they passed through the hands of the same graffitist. Shown above is a hyperpyron of John II that has a “K” in the left periphery on the reverse.

At 4.37 to 4.44 grams, all of these were of respectable weight for circulated hyperpyra of the time. (More than half of the other hyperpyra in the group weighed between 4.23 and 4.35 grams.)

If we could prove that every coin in this group had passed through the hands of the “Lazy K” graffitist, there would be no reason to suggest the mark indicated good weight since many good-weight specimens were not marked. However, the original assembler of the group likely gathered coins from more than one source, which could explain the absence of the “K” graffito on the other good-weight specimens.

Interested in reading more articles on Ancient coins? Click here.