TYPE Medieval Serbia, Czar Stefan Uros IV Dusan (1331-1355), early Cyrillic dinar as Czar DESCRIPTION . Obv: Dusan crowned and in loros facing on lowback throne, holding cruciform scepter, Cyrillic legend STEPN CR (partial) Rev: Christ in glory, holding Book of Gospels, trefoils to sides; Bulgarian countermark (two concentric circles) away from most design REFERENCE: J 49, Jov 11-17 GRADING: AVF, rev. somewhat o/c, periphery weaker, toned, very rare ORDER INFO: S1323, $265 It is not immediately clear why this interesting type is now very rare; as an early imperial issue (ca. 1346) it apparently followed the "coronation" type, which - though prized for its appearance - survives in some quantity in Serbian hoards today. One theory is that the present type was relatively quickly withdrawn crom circulation, to be replaced (perhaps for some political reasons) with issues bearing Latin legends. Virtually all surviving specimens, rare as they are, are found in hoards near the Danube delta area (Dobrudja), where they moved with eastward commerce, and - though typically clipped and countermarked to fit the monetary system of the contemporaneous Bulgarian state - escaped the melting fate and entered local circulation.