Hyperpyron of Andronikos I

Obverse (or convex side): Double dotted frame enclosing the Virgin seated on a throne with high back and stellar ornaments on either side. In both hands she holds before her chest a medallion with a bust of Christ Emmanuel. On either side of her halo, the abbreviations: MP ΘY (Mother of God).

Reverse (or concave side): Double dotted frame enclosing Christ (on viewer’s right) crowning Andronikos (left). Both figures are standing and frontal. Christ, with cross-inscribed halo, wears a colobium and a himation. On either side of the halo, the abbreviations: IC XC (Jesus Christ). Andronikos, with long forked beard, wears imperial raiment with Toros. In his right hand he holds a sceptre terminating above in a small square labarum, and in his left a globus cruciger. In the field, in circular arrangement, the inscription: ΑΝΔΡΟΝΙΚΟC ΔΕCΠΟΤΗC (Andronikos Despot).