Coin Talk

The History:
John Comnenus Ducas was ruler of the Empire/subsidiary of Thessalonica from 1237-1244. His father, Theodore I Comnenus Ducas, was emperor of a wide swath of territory. Theodore started with the small kingdom of Epirus but quickly conquered Thessaly, Thessalonica, Macedonia, and parts of Thrace. Theodore was the leading Byzantine figure of the era, only rivaled by the alternative claimant to the Byzantine throne, Nicaean Emperor John III.

Theodore was highly capable and seen by most as the man who would retake Constantinople from the Latins after the fourth crusade. Theodore was preparing to do just this in 1230 when he amassed an army to march on Constantinople. At the last minute, however, Theodore diverted his army for unknown reasons to Bulgaria where he suffered a crushing defeat. Captured along with his son John Comnenus Ducas, both were imprisoned for 7 years by the Bulgarian emperor John II Asen. At some point in...

The Tribunicia potestas
The function of tribune of the people dates back to the Roman republic. The people's tribune had the duty to defend the interests of the common people. It was an important function because it represented something of a counterpower. The person who held this position had a number of important power resources. The entirety of these means of power was called the Tribunicia potestas (tribunician power).

The tribunicia potestas consisted of the following elements:

• inviolability during function
• right of veto on decisions of the senate and magistrates
• Right to convene the Senate.
• The right to make legislative proposals
• Publishing edicts

After the seizure of power by Augustus, the role of the Tribunicia potestas changed. Augustus was granted the rights of tribunicia potestas in 23 BC, but he did not hold the position of tribune of...

I recently received a couple of choice Mongol dangs, which aren’t insults but coins from the Golden Horde. Little is said in ‘the West’ of this huge empire or even the much larger empire of which it was part, aside from Genghis Khan and the vastness of his progeny. But I find it fascinating, not least because of how far west these unsophisticated nomads got. I remember asking an elderly Muscovite why Moscow’s Kitai Gorod (‘China Town’) isn’t anything like China Town in London or Vancouver. He told me it was because the Mongols left 500 years ago. The Mongols? A few feet from Red Square?

Their coins are fascinating too, despite some of them looking like they’ve been run over by a Soviet tractor. It doesn’t help that they adhere to Islamic aniconism, even though many Mongol rulers weren’t Muslim. But there’s little you can find on a coin as curious as a tamga – an abstract emblem of a tribe, used by Eurasian nomads to brand animals and identify their clans on coins and seals. I’ve...

In 1938, Felix Schlag won a $1,000 award for his Jefferson Nickel design. Schlag won the award in a competition that involved 390 or over 400 other artists, depending upon your source of information.

Schlag’s victory continued a policy that Theodore Roosevelt had initiated in 1907 when he asked Augustus St. Gaudens to redesign American coinage. St. Gaudens work was ultimately limited to the $10 and $20 gold coins, but it set the trend. From 1907 until 1938, outside artists created all of the new designs for regular issue coins. That string would not be broken until Mint Director, Nellie Tayloe Ross, pushed hard to give John Sinnock the opportunity to design the Roosevelt Dime in 1945-6.

One aspect of Schlag’s success was different. In the past, only one or a small number of artists had been asked to submit designs. In 1907, 1908 and 1909, only one artist was asked submit his proposal (St. Gaudens, Bela Pratt and Victor D. Brenner respectively). In 1916, three artist submitted...

All heads up, facing the same way. I threw in some foreign coins, errors, altered coins, some counterfeits, Indian Head Cents, counterstamp cents, a Flying Eagle cent, 1943 steel cents, and a couple tokens.

What do you guys think?

~Joe Cronin

I admit this coin is not very pretty, but it is scarce and of historical interest:

Sasanian Persia. AE Unit (2.44 g, 18 mm). Vahram V (420-438 AD). Obverse: King's bust right, name in Pahlavi script before. Reverse: Zoroastrian fire-altar and two attendants. This coin: Pars Coins Auction 10 (November 16, 2020), lot 145.

Vahram (also spelled Vahrahan or Bahram) V was born around 400 AD to the Sasanian king Yazdegard I (399-420) and his wife Shushandukht, the daughter of the Jewish exilarch (leader of the Jewish community in Mesopotamia). As his mother was Jewish, Vahram would therefore be considered Jewish under Jewish tradition, even though there is no evidence that he ever practiced the Jewish religion. Young Vahram was sent off to be raised at the court of the Lakhmids, an Arab dynasty that ruled part of southern Iraq and northern Arabia. In 420 AD, a conspiracy of nobles and Zoroastrian priests murdered Yazdegard and placed one of his sons...

Asia Minor is full of Gods and Goddesses. Here I want to share an age-old Goddess who was known in Greek-Roman times as Artemis Perasia.

1st coin:
Cilicia, Hieropolis-Kastabala, 2nd-1st century BC
AE 21, 7.02g 21.09mm, 0°
struck under Antiochos IV Epiphanes
obv. Head of the City Goddess (Tyche), wearing mural crown, r.; monogram behind
rev. [ I]EPOΠOΛITΩ[N] (in r. field , top down)
[TΩ]N ΠPOC TΩ / [Π]YPAM[Ω] (in l. field, top down)
Artemis Perasia, in long garment and wearing kalathos, sceptre in l. arm, std. l. on
throne with high back; beneath eagle stg. l.
ref. SNG Levante 1564; Lindgren 1507; SNG Paris 2208
VF, dark-green Patina

2nd coin:
Cilicia, Hieropolis-Kastabala, 2nd-3rd century AD (?)
AE 24, 8.71g, 23.82mm, 0°
obv. IEPOΠOΛI - TΩN
Bust of City Goddess (Tyche), draped and veiled, wearing mural crown, r.
rev. [TΩN ΠPOC TΩ ΠYPAMΩ]
Bust of Artemis Perasia, draped and veiled, wearing mural crown, r.; burning torch before
ref. not in...

My first 50 Roman Republican coins were all denarii. But I've seen a lot of people post very appealing examples of the quinarius (half-denarius) in the year-plus I've been here, and recently I saw two of them that I really liked and decided to buy. From what little I know, they're among the most common types of the denomination issued during the Republic. The dealers' photos don't really do them justice, but I couldn't manage any better.

First:

Roman Republic, M. Cato, AR Quinarius [half denarius], 89 BCE. Obv. Head of young Liber (or Bacchus) right, M•CATO (AT ligate) downwards behind; below, control-mark star/ Rev. Victory seated right, holding patera with outstretched right hand and palm branch over left shoulder; in exergue, VICTRIX (TR ligate). Crawford 343/2b, RSC I Porcia 7 (ill.) (type with symbol as control-mark), BMCRR 662, Sydenham 597(c), Sear RCV I 248 (ill.), RBW Collection 1298. 15 mm., 1.58 g., 6 h. Ex. Numismatique Louis Brousseau Auction 1, Aug. 24, 2019,...

Humans have been making images of cattle for many millennia - this painting from Lascaux caves depicts aurochs (wild ancestors of domesticated cattle), horses and deer. The Magdalénien people of the Upper Paleolithic in western Europe that produced these paintings are estimated to have lived 12,000-17,000 years ago.

Image from Prof. Saxx of a Lascaux cave painting, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

My latest ancient coin has a beautiful image of a bull facing on the obverse and Artemis on the reverse. Recently, I have been reading a book by Jeremy McInerney about cattle and the Greeks. The book covers many aspects of the relationship between cattle and the ancient Greeks.

“The accumulation of experience between cattle – hunted, tamed, bred, nurtured, yoked, milked, killed, eaten, worshiped – fixes...

My first gold coin, and my third coin with dies engraved by Benvenuto Cellini arrived in the mail today from Heritage. This coin was minted after the election of Alessandro Farnese as pope Paul III. Taking advantage of the fact that new popes traditionally issued mass pardons, Cellini had commited murder during the interregnum, after the death of Clement VII, ostensibly to avenge his brother.

Like the other coins I have purchased, Cellini describes this coin in his autobiography (together with requisite drama and bravado) (LXXV):