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Æ Trachy - Iakov Svetoslav
| Issuer | Tsardom of Vidin |
|---|---|
| Year | 1263-1275 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Half-length frontal bust of Saint Dimitrios in orans posture, arms raised and hands extended outward in the traditional intercessory gesture. The saint is depicted in ecclesiastical vestments with nimbus, rendered in a flat Byzantine provincial style. The figure occupies the central field of the flan, with no visible legend on this side. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Iakov Svetoslav ruled Vidin as a semi-autonomous Bulgarian lord during a period when the Second Bulgarian Empire was fragmenting under Tatar pressure following the Mongol campaigns of the 1240s. His coinage — among the earliest identifiable issues from a Bulgarian regional lord rather than the imperial center at Tarnovo — reflects that fragmentation directly. The trachy form itself was borrowed from Byzantine prototypes that had been debased into copper across the Balkans as Constantinople's monetary authority collapsed after 1204.
Very few rulers of Vidin struck attributable coins, making Svetoslav's issues the primary numismatic evidence for the lordship's political pretensions during this decade.