Generalizing is difficult, but what immediately comes to mind is Anna Komnene's story of John Doukas waylaying a tax collector after Alexios had left Constantinople and the Doukas clan decided to throw their weight behind the Komnenoi. The leather coin allegation of Constantine V is actually important, since if they were issued it was when he was outside of Constantinople. The minting of gold increasingly took place in the capital from the seventh century onwards, and the lack of any personal coinage from Thomas the Slav's revolt does point to an inability of a rebel emperor (even one who controlled most of Asia) to mint coins. On the other hand, Thomas's position is very complex and may not fit into this, as Signes-Codoñer has recently shown us.