Serbian medieval coins

Map of the Serbian state under King Stefan Vladislav II (1321-1324), covering wide area from the river Neretva on the west to the river South Morava on the east and from the mountain Rudnik on the north to the Adriatic Sea on the south. Coastal area from the city of Skadar to Split.

King Stefan Vladislav II (Ruler of Srem 1314-1319 and Serbia 1321-1324). Seventh Serbian king of the Nemanjic state.

Silver "scepter" type. 22mm, 2.004g.

Obverse: Crowned king standing, wearing long and wide royal attire and holding large cross tipped scepter. Serbian Cyrillic description: BΛAДИI PAБb X (VLADISLAV THE SERVANT OF CHRIST) around.

Reverse: Christ enthroned, holding book of gospels decorated with 5 gems. Greek letters: CX IC (In Greek: Ιησούς Χριστός - Jesus Christ) above.

Reference: D 17/2 6.

Comment: Extremely rare and hard to find coin. No damage with excellent detail, natural toning and a lovely patina.

Shorter kings name in description starts at about 1 o`clock mark on the right side. Only Dimitrijevic has published this type but with slightly longer name and description: BΛAДHИA PAБb XO. Our coin has shorter description then any known coins that King Stefan Vladislav II has minted: BΛAДИI PAБb X.

Kings name is also before the title on the right side which is a lot rarer occurrence. On all other examples we have title first starting at the right side next to kings head followed by his kings full name which then continued on the left side.

There are very valuable. On recent auction one has sold for €1150 plus 20% auction fees and possibly up to 30% taxes.

In addition to 2 more in private collections I know that for now only 4 are known to exist.

King Stefan Vladislav II (Ruler of Srem 1314-1319 and Serbia 1321-1324). 

Silver "scepter" type. 20mm, 1.965g.

Obverse: Crowned King standing, wearing royal attire falling down his legs and bending while holding cross tipped scepter. Serbian legend: PAБB XOU ВΛА ДИСЛАВb (SERVANT OF CHRIST VLADISLAV) around. Big chain like belt around his waist. Initials Λ on the left and reversed ᗺ on the right.

Reverse: Christ enthroned, holding book of gospels decorated with 5 gems. Greek letters: IC XC (In Greek: Ιησούς Χριστός - Jesus Christ) above. 4 triple dotted marks around the throne.

Reference: D 17 3 Compare to Jov 9 1.1, I 4.1, Lj III-21.

Comment: Coin is issued during his rule as a king. Rudnik mint. Extremely rare and hard to find coin. Cracked but with excellent detail on both sides, natural toning and a lovely patina. A real gem in Serbian numismatics. Kings name in description starts at about 4 o`clock mark.

Possibly named after King Stefan Radoslav younger brother King Stefan Vladislav I (1234-1243).

After King Dragutin died in 1316, Vladislav succeeded him as ruler of the Kingdom of Syrmia or Srem, but the king of Serbia, Stefan Milutin, his uncle, defeated him and imprisoned him. When Milutin died in 1321, the newly freed Vladislav got to rule the lands of his father, with the help of the Hungarians, the Bulgarians, the Bosnian Ban Stefan II Kotromanic and the Šubić family. The rule, according to the law, was to be given to Vladislav.

Tsar Michael Asen III of Bulgaria, newly in conflict with Vladislav's cousin Stefan Dečanski, the successor of Milutin, started to support Vladislav as the rightful monarch of whole Serbia, but this support showed insufficient. After having been beaten again by supporters of Stefan Dečanski, he retreated to the Kingdom of Hungary in 1324. Vladislav's nephew Bosnian Ban Stefan II Kotromanic, then started to rule Vladislav's lands in Bosnia (Soli and Usora), and around Lower Syrmia.

Vladislav was married to Constanza Morosini, niece of Andrew III of Hungary. Born in 1280 and died in 1325. 

King Stefan Vladislav II (Ruler of Srem 1314-1319 and Raska 1321-1324)

Silver "scepter" type. 21mm, 1.993g.

Obverse: Crowned king standing, wearing royal attire falling down his legs and bending with decorations, holding cross tipped scepter. Serbian legend: PABb XOU ВΛ АДHСЛАВb (SERVANT OF CHRIST VLADISLAV) around. Big chain like belt around his waist. Initials Λ on the left and reversed ᗺ on the right.

Reverse: Christ enthroned, holding book of gospels decorated with 5 gems. Greek letters: IC XC (In Greek: Ιησούς Χριστός - Jesus Christ) above. 4 triple dotted marks around the throne. 

Reference: Unpublished compare to Jov 9 1.1, D 17.3, I 4.1, Lj III-21.

Comment: Extremely rare and hard to find coin. King is shown with a long hair and beard.  Very small crack top left corner just above scepter still with excellent detail, natural toning and a lovely patina. Kings name in description starts at about 5 o`clock mark.

In 1989 a hoard of 76 Serbian medieval coins was found in Ogar near town called Sabac in Srem area, Serbia. Out of those 76 there were 9 coins of king Vladislav II.

#VLA03 and #VLA04 are 2 of those 9 found. 1 has gone to a Museum and 3 were bought by collectors in Serbia, Norway and Australia. That is 6 accounted for and it leaves 3 more that we don’t know whereabouts of.

King Stefan Vladislav II (Ruler of Srem 1314-1319 and Raska 1321-1324)

Silver "scepter" type. 20mm, 1.470g.

Obverse: Crowned king standing, wearing royal attire falling straight down his legs and holding  smallcross tipped scepter. Serbian legend: PAB XOU ВΛb АДHСЛАВb (SERVANT OF CHRIST VLADISLAV) around. 

Reverse: Christ enthroned, holding book of gospels decorated with 5 gems. Greek letters: IC XC (In Greek: Ιησούς Χριστός - Jesus Christ) above. Small o initials on both sides. 4 triple dotted marks around the throne. Letters I on both sides of the throne.

Reference: Jov 9 1.1, D 17.3, I 4.1, Lj III-21.

Comment: Extremely rare and hard to find coin. Kings name in description starts at about 4 o`clock mark.

No initials on the sides like the example above possibly due to being made by a different moneyer who chose not to use moneyer marks but possibly there is a mark or large dot on the left side of kings feet. Also long haired but with wider bearded image of the king who is featured with the size of the body and head somewhere between the examples above #VLA01 and below #VLA02. Smaller then example above but larger then example below.  No damage with excellent detail, natural toning and a lovely patina. 

King Stefan Vladislav II (Ruler of Srem 1314-1319 and Raska 1321-1324)

Silver "scepter" type. 22mm, 2.247g.

Obverse: Crowned king standing, wearing royal attire falling straight down to his feet and holding  large cross tipped scepter. Serbian legend: IВΛbАДHСЛАВ PABb Xꙋ (VLADISLAV SERVANT OF CHRIST) around. 2 small crosses or plus moneyer marks on each side.

Reverse: Christ enthroned, holding book of gospels decorated with 5 gems. Greek letters: IC XC (In Greek: Ιησούς Χριστός - Jesus Christ) above. M sigla on the left side and Λ sigla on the right side. 4 triple dotted marks around the throne. 

Reference: Jov 9 1.2, Lj III-22.

Comment: Extremely rare and hard to find coin. Kings name in description starts at about 1 o`clock mark. No damage with excellent detail, natural toning and a lovely patina. 

Kings name goes before the title which is a lot rarer occurrence. All other examples we have title goes first starting at the right side of kings head followed by kings name. Attire seems slightly different and belt appears much ticker then other examples. First example above #VLA01 has no zig zag lines on the sides of the royal attire extensions. Second example #VLA04 has 1 zig zag line. Interestingly this one has 2 zig zag lines. Bottom example #VLA02 has no attire extensions on the sides.

King Stefan Vladislav II (Ruler of Srem 1314-1319 and Raska 1321-1324)

Silver "scepter" type. 20mm, 1.261g.

Obverse: Crowned king standing, wearing royal attire falling straight down his legs and holding  cross tipped scepter. Serbian legend: PAB XOU ВΛb АДHСЛАВb (SERVANT OF CHRIST VLADISLAV) around. 

Reverse: Christ enthroned, holding book of gospels decorated with 5 gems. Greek letters: IC XC (In Greek: Ιησούς Χριστός - Jesus Christ) above. Small o initials on both sides. 4 triple dotted marks around the throne.

Reference: Unpublished compare to Jov 9 1.1, D 17.3, I 4.1, Lj III-21.

Comment: Extremely rare and hard to find coin. Cracked and chipped but with excellent detail, natural yellow/blue toning and a lovely patina. Kings name in description starts at about 4 o`clock mark.

No initials on the sides like the example above possibly due to being made by a different moneyer who chose not to use moneyer marks but possibly there is a sigla S at the bottom of Jesus feet. Also long haired and bearded image of the king is featured but much slimmer body and head then example above. 

The face of the king and the crown on this coin is remarkably similar to the coin of Stefan Uros III Decanski, his cousin, #DEC13 below. There were not friends they were fighting against each other for the throne of Serbian Kingdom. Vladislav was even imprisoned by Decanski father, his uncle, king Stefan Milutin. There is either a strong family resemblance as Vladislav was older son of Milutins brother king Stefan Dragutin or they used the same moneyer. Reverse is just the same as the one above.  In any case a bit of a medieval mystery and brotherly rivalry.

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