Coin Talk

In the earlier years of our nation, cents and nickels were much more important than they are today. The main reason for that was that they actually had buying power, unlike today. You could buy something for a cent and the old time five and dime stores actually had goods that were priced at five and ten cents.

This made me wonder, why didn’t the branch mints strike cents and nickels until well into the 20th century? The Readers’ Digest answer to this is that the branch mints were all set up specifically to strike gold and silver coins. There was either no legal authorization for them to strike base metal coins, or tradition forbid them to do it.

In 1906 Congress voted to given the Director of Mint the power to authorize the coinage of cents and nickels in the branch mints. He started to exercise that power in 1908 with the 1908-S Indian Cents.

The 1908-S Indian Cent is sort of the "little brother" to the 1909-S which...

Dear friends of ancient mythology!

Today I want to share some notes on Nemesis, one of the most interesting ancient deities. And not the goddess of revenge as you will see.

Coin #1 (my first aureus):
Claudius, AD 41 - 54
AV - Aureus, 7.71g, 18mm
Rome 46/47
obv. TI CLAVD CAESAR AVG PM TRP VI IMP XI
laureate head r.
rev. PACI AVGVSTAE
Pax/Nemesis advancing r., holding with l. hand winged caduceus and points with it at snake, coiling r. at her feet; drawing with r. hand fold of her drapery to the chin
ref. RIC I, 38; C.57 (Lyon AD 45!); von Kaenel 628 (this specimen!)
scarce (R2), about VF
Pedigree:
ex coll. Moritz Simon, Berlin (1930?)
ex Glandining & Co., London 1929, Nr.666
ex Cahn, Ffm. 1930, Nr.232
ex MuM, Basel


Note:
Cahn in Frankfurt was one of the leading German coin dealers. Herbert Cahn, at that time 20 years old, has to emigrate from the Nazis to Basel/Switzerland, where he foundet Münzen&Medaillen Basel. The catalog from 1930 I...

Dear friends!

This article I have published years before on FAC in my thread "Mythological interesting coins". But I think it could be of interest here too. This article contains nearly all information I could get about this subject. I bet some of it will be new for you. Enjoy!

The coin:
Ionia, Miletos, Nero, AD 54-68
AE 18, 2.44g, 18.3mm, 330°
struck under magistrate Loupos
obv. CEBA - CTOC (left side from above, right from below, A and T upside down)
Laureate head r.
rev. EΠI ΛO - VΠOV (left side from above, right from below)
Cult statue of Apollo Didymeus, nude, stg. r., holding bow in l. hand and in his
extended r. hand stag, turning head back to the god.
ref. cf. BMC 148 (different magistrate); RPC comments p.449, 5a
very rare, F+/about VF, dark green patina



This coin belongs to the few objects which show us a model of the famous statue. It should be noted that the usual Apollo head on Milesian coins - showing a lion on...

Here is a chain of events that changed English history. During his reign, Edward the Confessor (ruled 1042 - 1066) told the future William the Conqueror that he should be the next king of England. William took him at his word, but when Edward died in January 1066, Harold Godwin grabbed the throne and became Harold II.

Edward the Confessor penny



Harold II had family problems. His brother, Tostig, opposed him and cast his lot with the Viking invaders. In the fall of 1066, Harold and his forces defeated Norse invaders and Tostig's forces. The Norse king and Tostig were both killed in that battle which was called the Battle of Stamford Bridge.

Harold II penny



Harold barely had time to celebrate his victory when he heard that William had invaded England. Harold's forces were naturally beaten and tired from having just fought a battle, but now they had a new foe to face....

Let's see your coins of Faustina I with veiled busts or anything you feel is relevant!

~~~

Specialist collectors know that it makes no sense to hold out for "a better example," when a certain coin comes up for auction that is the only example. Such was the case with this dupondius of Faustina I when it recently came up for auction.


Faustina I, AD 138-141.
Roman orichalcum dupondius, 16.5 mm, 10.61 g.
Rome, AD 147-161 (probably AD 150/51).
Obv: DIVA FAV-STINA, diademed, veiled and draped bust, right.
Rev: AETERNITAS S C, Fortuna standing left, holding globe and rudder.
Refs: RIC 1160b; BMCRE4 1557 var. (bust); Cohen 9; RCV 4640 var. (bust); ERIC II 356.
Notes: Beckmann (Diva Faustina: Coinage and Cult in Rome and the provinces. American Numismatic Society, 2012, pp. 63-69) makes an argument, based on die-linkage studies of Faustina's aurei, that a massive issue of coins in all denominations bearing the reverse legend AETERNITAS took...

Austria-Hungary Paper Money, Hungarian Paper Money & Hungarian Inflationary Paper Money: 1915 - 1989

I am pleased to share with the forum my small but growing collection of large and fascinating Hungarian notes that I have collected in recent months.

To my knowledge, I have no personal lineage or heritage to the country of Hungary and have never visited the country in my travels, although I would like to see the united twin cities of Buda and Pest that are bisected by the Danube but connected by bridges and timeless cultural influences. The history of Budapest is long and complex, yet it is only a fraction of the greater nation, and the diversity of the past and current culture that tie the country together means there's a rich woven fabric of life, history, visual art, design and architectural histories...

As you know, I actively collect the coins of women of the Antonine dynasty and my focus of late has been on Faustina I. Here are a couple of coins of Faustina I acquired this month, each with Vesta on the reverse.

Vesta is the Roman version of the Greek goddess Hestia. She was the goddess of family values and domestic life (i.e. the hearth). Vesta was considered by the Romans to be a role-model for women and as such, she appears frequently on coins of the Roman empresses. She is always depicted wearing the stola and holding some combination of a patera, simpulum, scepter (hasta), torch, or Palladium. The maintenance of her cult was carried out by six Vestal Virgins who sometimes are depicted on coins sacrificing before her circular temple

Post your coins of Vesta, Faustina I, the Temple of Vesta, or anything you feel is relevant!

New acquisition #1:...

TROAS, Dardanos
c. 450-420 BCE
AR obol; 9 mm, 0.56 gm
Obv: cock standing left
Rev: cross-hatch pattern
Ref: Nomismata 3, 303; Demeester 98; SNG Ashmolean 1119 (all references unverified; I do not have copies of these reference books/catalogs)

Clearly this is the ancient inspiration for a classic dish of the US South


image source

Obvious joke aside, there is a reason these coins caught my attention several years ago (took me a while to win one; they are rare). The reverse type-- this cross-hatching design-- seems to be found only on this type of coin. Who really cares, you say? Probably no one. However, it made me wonder a couple of things about incuse punches used for the reverse of so many archaic and...

A scale weight arrived today from an interesting selling country: Cyprus. The price was modest, so I was not too worried about it being lost in the mail. I was interested to see what paper work would accompany an ancient item. Pics of the weight and package are below. You can see not much was said on the paper work.



Bronze Barrel Shaped Weight with I B
Late Imperial or Byzantine Commercial Weight, 500 -700 AD
Weight : 13.16 grams
Size : 15mm diameter x 10mm tall
VF, the weight has a brown patina with desert patina in the letters, both top & bottom have centering holes
References:
Ancient Scale Weights by David Hendin - # 335; IB = 12 scripula
Scales and Weights by Bruno Kisch
Table 5, Late Imperial Rome; IB = ½ ounce = 12 scruples
Table 6, Byzantine; IB = ½ ounce
Byzantine Weights by Simon...