Copper Assarion of Andronikos II c. 1282 - 1328

Curator: Here we have a Copper Assarion of Andronikos II, residing here at the Harvard Art Museums. The weight is recorded at 2.17 grams. Editor: It looks like something you'd find glinting in the mud, like a forgotten offering, burdened with stories it can no longer tell. Curator: Precisely! This object represents the economic structure of the Byzantine era, think about where the materials come from, and the labor needed to produce a coin like this. Editor: I'm mostly caught by the rough texture, the sense of countless hands it's passed through. It makes me wonder about the people who relied on it, what it meant to them. Curator: It's a tangible link to complex systems of power and trade. Editor: More than that, it’s a ghostly echo. Curator: Absolutely, an echo of processes long past. Editor: And that's a powerful thing, isn't it?