Coin Talk

It's rare that thinking about an upcoming auction keeps me up at night for multiple days due to the excitement.

This type has always been at the top of my wantlist but I never thought I'd manage to acquire one due to its absolute rarity. It's necessary to be patient and opportunistic when you want a coin of which only two are available to private collectors (especially when one of those two is owned by a friend who won't ever sell).

If this coin were sold in a better publicized auction, I likely would have never been able to buy it. It went for roughly half of my max bid and I felt I only had a weak chance of buying it even at that level.

Needless to say, I'm thrilled. And, without further ado:



ATTICA. Athens. AV Diobol (1.43 gms), ca. 407/6 B.C.
Svoronos-pl. 15#7. Head of Athena facing right wearing crested Attic helmet adorned with palmette and olive leaves; Reverse: Two owls standing confronted, olive branch between, ethnic in exergue. Minor...

The Yan state was the originator of the knife coin, basing their currency off of the tool commonly used by the populace. The knife was an important and widely-used tool, so the shape had familiarity and value. The Chinese place much value on objects and ideas important to the function and prosperity of society, so the early currencies were based off of tools that contributed to the prosperity of China: knives and spades. It is estimated that knife currency was introduced around 600 BC, though it could be earlier or later. The State of Yan produced these knife coins until it fell to the Qin state in 222 BC.


(Image from https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_(state))

The earliest knife coins had broad, rimless blades that came to a pointed tip (so they are fittingly called pointed-tip knives). The “cutting edge” of the blade is unobstructed as on actual knives. The back of the blade has a relatively tall ridge, which represents the reinforcing...

That’s right… the Kingdom of Castile & Leon. I hadn’t heard of this kingdom before two weeks ago when I saw what I thought was an interesting looking English medieval coin, like a John or Henry*. After reaching out to (and the gracious help from) CTer @TheRed , he shared with me that it was in fact from medieval Spain, the Kingdom of Castile and Leon.

Here is that coin that sparked this conversation, searching, and studying.

Kingdom of Castile & Leon
Enrique IV, 1454-1474 AD
BL Medio Cuartillo, Burgos Mint
Obverse: + ENRICVS : CARTVS : DEI : G, around a bust crowned frontally inside a circular border.
Reverse: + ENRICVS : REX : CASTELLE, around a castle with B (mint) below, inside a circular border.
References: (Does anyone have MEC vol. 6 The Iberian Peninsula???)

Ok, so I decided I'd spend the last $4.50 I had left on my paypal on an uncleaned, constantinian bronze coin lot. I recieved four coins, Two of which I am treating for bronze disease. I was able to get the dirt off with a needle, and had no idea what I even had. One of the coins I am yet to identify, but the other had decent detail; yet was completely unidentifiable as a roman bronze due to not having a profile.

So I decided I'd research bronzes from other ancient regions. Finally I got to Judean coins; and the first thing I see is the coin that I have.



As it turns out, this is not a "4th century AD Constantinian Bronze",
but a 37-44 AD bronze prutah of Agrippa I.
And I see they are selling for much more than I got it for, so its always nice to get a 1st century coin in a constantinian lot.


So now that I know that this lot consists of more than just roman coinage, what could this bronze coin be? It has a strange shape....

Hi Everyone

It's been a long time since I posted on here, but I need the community's help.

My currency collection was stolen in St George, UT not far from Las Vegas NV. My entire life's savings tied into the collection.

Can y'all please keep a lookout for the following notes on auction sites? Besides a police report, what other things can I do? Can I notify PMG/PCGS in case a dealer buys it and submits it for grading?

Also, if anyone can post a link to this thread on the PCGS forums, it would be greatly appreciated.

I'll post other notes in this thread as I'm able to recover some photos. Unfortunately, my laptop was taken with the list of serial numbers.

The 1928 $1 Red Seal is no longer in its holder. I cut it out when I received it.

Marie de' Medici

Work of Guillaume Dupré, 1624.


Bronze, 106.0 mm Ø, 101.8 g (Uniface)

Obverse: Bust of Marie de' Medici facing right, wearing a widow's cap, a string of pearls, and a dress with open standing collar at the front of which hangs a cross. Around, in retrograde, MARIA AVGVSTA GALLIÆ ET NAVARÆ REGINA (Maria Augusta, Queen of France and Navarre). Beneath the truncation, G DVPRE F 1624 .

Marie de' Medici was born on April 26, 1575, in Florence to Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. In October of 1600, she married Henri IV of France, and was crowned Queen of France on May 13, 1610, one day before her husband's assassination. Although her son, Louis XIII, come of age on his thirteenth birthday in 1614, thus ending the regency of Marie, she still remained the de facto ruler of France until Louis exiled her in 1617. In 1621, with assistance her confidant and adviser,...

I have just put the 'phone down from speaking with the 'Australian Taxation Office'.
As of 1st July, 2018, ALL eBay transactions (except exempt items) will have the additional tax applied, (whereas previously it only applied to items with a value/sale price of A$1,000 or more). This is in addition to any 'Buyer's Premium', 'Commission', 'Postage & Handling', 'Currency Conversion', 'Paypal Fees', and 'Credit Card' charges that might already be applied to any purchase.
I queried my G.S.T. charge on my recent coin purchases as it was my understanding that as the coins are (obviously) 'second hand' then the G.S.T. did not apply to them, and also as the seller was an overseas business and not 'registered' with the Australian Taxation Office, they would not be able to collect/remit Australian taxes.
I was informed that any business within Austrlaia that transacts sales of A$75,000, (or more annually in Australia) must charge the G.S.T. (Now it gets interesting.)
Paypal has (now) registered...

In the second century BC Rome was continually expanding. In Asia the Pergamene King Attalos III willed his kingdom to the Romans upon his death in 133 BC, and the Romans continued its previous Greek "cistophoric" coinage with only the most minor changes in what became the Roman province of Asia. Without reference works you could not tell the Greek cistophori from the similar coins produced under the Romans.




28-26 mm. 12.39 grams.
Denomination: cistophorus.
cista mystica, serpent crawling out, in ivy wreath
bow case between serpents, monogram of Pergamon to left
monogram of "prytaneis" above (google translate gives "you revere" and my source for the word, Kleiner, doesn't say what it means or why he thinks that is the expansion of the monogram) [If you know, please add it to this thread], MH above it.
Attributed to c. 85-76 BC under the Romans.

Crawford wrote "But the most astonishing feature of the monetary history of Asia under Roman rule is the...

Here is a scarce and iconic type of Trajan. It is missing most of it´s inscriptions due to wear but still is nice in hand and features my favorite yellow Tiber tone.

It is one of Trajan´s final Sestertii, for unlike an earlier variant of this type (our friend Ro has one of those) it includes his Victory title PARTHICUS which he only received in AD 116.

This issue celebrates the apex of the rule of the OPTIMUS PRINCEPS, his comprehensive political settlement in the East, resulting from the success of the military campaign of AD 115, i.e. the annexion of Armenia, the invasion of Mesopotamia, and the conquest of Parthia, affecting territory as far north as the Caucasus.



IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC PARTHICO PM TR P COS VI PP -
Laureate bust of Trajanus right, wearing paludamentum /
REGNA ADSIGNATA S C -
Trajan seated left on high platform, accompanied by a lictor with fasces and another officer, handing a diadem to the first of three bearded...

The Mardin Hoard: Islamic Countermarks on Byzantine Coins, a 1977 79-page paperback, discusses a hoard found in southern Anatolia of c. 13,500 copper coins of which roughly 2,200 had Arabic countermarks. The hoard was bought by Baldwin and Sons of London in 1972 and they allowed it to be studied before is was disbursed. I bought two coins in 1977 that may well have come from that hoard, although I didn't know that at the time. They are interesting because the same countermark is on two coins that were issued many years apart.



The coins have been oriented so the countermark is at 12:00. Each countermark is a "w"-shaped symbol, possibly "Lillah" (for "Allah"). The coin on the left is very worn half-follis (with a large "K" for 20-nummia) of Anastasius. It is 27 mm. It is Sear 43, MIBE 52, attributed to 512-518 AD. The coin on the right is Sear 1836, 29 mm, an anonymous Class D follis attributed to Constantine IX,...