Trebizond 5 francs 1955, NGC UNC Details, "Mario Bernardo Angelo Komnenu" (mintage 100)

TRAPEZONIAN EMPIRE: The Trebizond Empire (Thessaly) was the successor to the Byzantine Empire, founded in 1204 as a result of the capture of Constantinople by the 4th Crusade. The shores of this former empire were located along the southeastern coastal region of the Black Sea, now this territory is the Turkish province of Trabzon. This empire flourished until 1461, the ruling dynasty descended from the great Byzantine dynasty of the Komnenos. The last emperor of Trebizond was David of the Angels Comnenus; he and almost all the other men of the Comnenian dynasty were put to death after Trebizond was conquered and annexed by the Ottoman Sultan Muhammad II.

During the 12th century, part of the Comnenus family emigrated to the Italian peninsula; with the fall of Trebizond in 1461 and the execution of the Comnenus, this part of the family became a claim to the throne; since they descended from the nobility, they married local monarchs, including those from the kingdoms of Sicily.

When Mario Bernardo Angelo Komnenu (1914-1988) became head of the (Italian side) of the Komnenos family in the 1950s, he was already a well-known figure in Italy; as a soldier he was awarded several medals during the wars in Libya and Eritrea in 1895-1937, in Albania in 1941 (where he was wounded in battle), and in 1944-1945 by the Americans and the British. After World War II, he created a career as a tax lawyer. According to Mr Manuele Komnenu, his grandson, Mr Komnenu, from the 1950s and earlier signed his name as Michael III for internal documents relating to the family, thus demonstrating his ancestry to Michael II, the most famous and important emperor. in the Komnenus Dynasty; this was not intended to be seen as a claim to the throne of Trebizond, but rather as a veneration for his ancestor.