Coin Talk

Hello everybody! From time to time one of you is showing on this forum a nice gold ducat of The Netherlands. These coins are worth a closer look on them. Therefore, I encourage all of ya to show some of them in this thread. They may be your acquisitions or some coins you just like and want to share.

What's more, if you got a question about the Dutch gold ducats from your collections or want to acquire one and you don't know if it's worth it, this is the place you should ask

Roman Republic fourée mule denarius
L. Antestius Gragulus, 136 BCE, and C. Renius, 138 BCE
ancient forgery, 3.18 gm
Obv: Roma helmeted head right, * below chin, GRAG behind
Rev: Juno Caprotina in a biga of goats, C・RENI below, ROMA in exergue
Ref: Obverse S.115, Cr.238/1, Syd.451, RSC Antestia 9; Reverse S.108, Cr.231/1, Syd.432, RSc Renia 1

I am thrilled to have acquired this fun little coin. While fourées (ancient plated counterfeit coins) might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I know many of you here like them and own them. I’ve been particularly envious of John Anthony’s Vespasian “zombie” mule denarius.

Doug, Steve, Eng, Zumbly, Cucumbor, Noob, and other CoinTalk members have fun fourées… I wanted one too . It took a while to find one that called to me but for once I was patient. One whimsical subset I’m building is “Alternative Modes of...

A day after the recent Denver coin show my Dad, Wilfred J Carr, passed away. It was not unexpected, although it seemed a little sudden at the end. He was 89. He had been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma over 12 years ago. The average life expectancy for that is about 4 years. So he survived longer than expected. He had good mental function right up until the day before last, although his health and physical abilities had been declining significantly over the last several months.

My Dad was not one who would normally spend more than face value for a coin. But he had collected coins from circulation in the early 1960s and had a pile of blue Whitman folders. included with that were a few Morgan and Peace silver dollars that he received on his many assignments in Nevada. About 1970, as a pre-teen, I was interested in the old coins and my Dad encouraged the hobby, even going so far as to help me buy several coins over the years. So I credit him with where I am today.
My Grandfather on my...

The lion head coinage is among the earliest which can be definitively attributed to the Lydian kingdom. Most of these coins are anepigraphic – without a legend – but a small number contain the inscription “WALWET” in ancient Lydian.

This name is thought to refer to the Memnad king known by Greek sources as Alyattes, who ruled circa 620-564 BC. Through hoard evidence, it is clear that both the inscribed and uninscribed coins were minted at the same time.

Interestingly, all of the inscribed trites and hektes are struck from obverse dies which have far more detail than could fit on the coins. They contain two facing lion heads surrounding the Lydian inscription and are generally struck off-center so that only one of the lion heads is visible with the inscription.

While no larger denominations have been found, it is possible that the dies were originally intended for a larger “stater”, or that there was some significance to striking with one particular side of the die.

I've recently...

Here is a recent purchase due to a coupon I received to Forum - A Follaro of William II of Norman Sicily. While there's nothing too special about the coin itself, the Regno of Southern Italy during William's kingship is something a little special to me.

I wrote my doctoral thesis on the military recruitment practices (and to a lesser extent the taxation practices) of twelfth century England, comparing it to the Regno of Southern Italy, for the purposes of seeing what impact on these two areas could firmly be attributed to the Normans (Spoiler: not much). One of the remarkable coincidences of the two regions is that they both created a survey of knight service in roughly the same time period. In England, it was the Cartae Baronum under Henry II in 1166, and in Southern Italy, the Catalogus Baronum initially under Roger II in 1150-1, but revised under William II in 1167-8....

Times of the Prophet Muhammad and the Rashiduns. AH1-30, AD622-651

Arab Byzantine Imitative Follis. Struck in the image of a Justinian I follis. Album 3522.2; Walker Arab Byzantine. Ex-CNG

Before the founding of Islam, the Arabian Peninsula were under the influence of their neighboring Byzantine and Sassanian powers. Even after the establishment of the first Islamic Caliphate the Rashiduns, Arab Byzantine and Arab Sassanian coinage were in official use until the currency reform by Caliph Abdul al-Malek during the early Ummayyad Caliphate.

Hi friends. With so many new (and young) people joining the community of late, I thought that it might be helpful to share some photo editing ideas that have helped me with my coin presentations here on Coin Talk. It doesn't take a big budget or lots of fancy camera equipment and expensive software to make decent presentations of your coin pictures. The camera that I employ is a Cannon Photoshot SD 1200 IS. It's a basic point and shoot photo platform that has "macro" capabilities, something you want to have in a camera if you're going to take closeup pictures of your coins. It was not terribly expensive and I'm sure that it's well within the budget constraints of more than a few folks on this forum. Even you YN's. Heck, it would make a terrific Birthday Present for any deserving YN.

OK, you've got that camera in hand, you take a few shots, and low and behold, you want to present them....but how? Photoscape Childrens.....a terrific editing software program for the ever...

Overdates from Norway aren't well known, probably because most collectors don't look for them. So I'm left to find coins that have no documented markers--which makes it both challenging to find and interesting to research.

Here's the date area on a 10 Øre coin from 1937. What got my attention were raised portions of metal outside the expected shape for a "3". Interestingly, they line up with the outline of a "2" used in 1927, which also happens to be the prior year this coin was struck--which for me pretty much clinches the attribution. The dark arrows point to some raised metal which might be the remnant of a prior 7 digit.

Those of you who have been reading my coin show reports know that reporting about what’s going on in the market, how the big coins did at the auction, the bullion market, what was hot, etc. is NOT really what my show reports are about. I make no apologies for my so-called “fluffy pancake” reports with photos of the people I see, the displays and exhibits at the shows, the club meetings I attend, the dinners and all the wining and dining photos, etc. I feel there is room for both types of reporting. So I will continue to post photos of the all fun, food, wine, AND any “fluffy pancakes” I can find!

I was fortunate enough to locate and acquire a coin of great rarity and historical interest. The first indigenous gold coin of Taprobane (Ceylon, now Sri Lanka)! This coin was most likely initially minted in Mahanagkula, a city situated on the extreme south of the Island. This was a turbulent time for Taprobane. The great majority of the island was under the rule of the mighty Chola from India, an empire made of up the Chola, Chera, and Pandya states of south India.

The Chola invasion (AD 997-1017) lead by Raja Raja Chola the Great toppled the ancient Kingdom of Anuradhapura which stood since BC 377. For decades following the invasion, anarchy would be the norm. Several native kings would resist their Cholan overlords while battling each other for control of the south of the Island.

This particular specimen names the ruler as Shri Vajayabahu (VB). In his youth he went by the name Kitti. It is recorded that he came from a noble lineage and possessed exceptional skill and...