Coin Talk

I recently purchased a couple hoards of 100 Huo Quans from the Wang Mang period. They were uncleaned and unsifted, so I got some gem UNCs, some worthless culls, and some interesting and scarce varieties. I prefer this method of collecting as I usually find a few surprises and I learn something from the context of all of the coins being together.

One thing I like keeping is coins with nice patinas. I just don’t see many Huo Quans that are red, so I kept most of them. (They are redder in hand.)



An interesting find was an example without the sprue filed away. This is highly unusual because these coins were almost always well-made and such significant oversights like this just did not happen. Maybe it is an illicit cast? The vast majority of the coins in this hoard were of the beautiful official style, but some were of much lower quality. The govenment had a monopoly on coinage, so it did not contract minting duties to private individuals. I think there...

Post any coins you feel are relevant!

Asklepios (Latin: Aesculapius) was the god of healing in the ancient world. Legend tells us he was the son of Apollo and the Trikkaian princess Koronis (Latin: Coronis). His mother died in labor and when she was laid out on the pyre, Apollo cut the unborn child from her womb. From this, Asklepios received his name which means "to cut open." He was raised by the centaur Kheiron (Chiron), who instructed him in the art of medicine. He grew so skilled in the craft that he could restore the dead to life. This was a crime against the natural order and so Zeus destroyed him with a thunderbolt. After his death Asklepios was placed amongst the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus ("the Serpent Holder").

The snake of Asklepios (Latin: Aesculapius) is thought to be Zamenis longissima longissima, a constrictor harmless to man and feeding on small mammals. It can grow up to five or six feet long and is native to southern Europe, preferring open...

On Tuesday 29 May 1453 an Ottoman army of ca. 80,000 men, led by Sultan Mehmet II, captured the city of Constantinople after a 53 day siege, bringing to an end the Eastern Roman empire. Rather than submit to the Sultan's demand to surrender Constantinople, the emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos chose to die fighting in defense of the city and his faith. Although the 7,000 defenders fought bravely, the city's massive 5th c. AD walls, which had for a millennium proved impregnable to successive sieges, were no match for the Turkish cannon, and the 80,000 man Ottoman army overwhelmed the small defending force of Byzantines and their Italian allies. Once Constantine realized the city was lost, he threw off his imperial regalia and plunged into the midst of the fighting. His body was never found.


There have been numerous studies of the fall of Constantinople, but one of the most convenient for English readers is Sir Steven Runciman's The Fall of Constantinople 1453. The quoted sections...

This is the world's most secure bullion for a number of reasons:

1) All gold and silver Maple Leafs since 2014 carry the features
2) Those features available to the naked eye are hard to counterfeit radial lines and Maple Leaf privy with the minted year in it (very small, laser engraved, near impossible to counterfeit.
3) Like all government minted bullion, has a common size, shape, and weight that is easily verified. In the Bullion DNA Reader, those specs are quickly determined by if they even fit in the holder.
4) That DNA reader zooms in on the Maple Leaf privy and reads the bullion dna mark within it, traceable back to the mint


https://www.mint.ca/store/mint/about-the-mint/bullion-dna-8900026#.WwA2TkzMxmA

So, besides being the most beautiful bullion in the world, wouldn't you rather also have the most secure?

Seventeen types were issued during Valerian's and Gallienus' joint reign which presented Gallienus as restitutor (restorer). Out of these 17 types, nine bear the legend RESTITVTOR GALLIARVM, six show the legend RESTITVTOR ORBIS, one type propagates RESTITVT ORIENTIS, and another reads RESTITVT GENER HVMANI, probably referring to the inhabitants of the provinces.[1]

The coins bearing the legend RESTITVTOR GALLIARVM date to the period AD 256-259, which implies they refer to victories over the German tribes, such as the Franks and Allemani, who invaded Gaul.[2]

This coin, with the RESTITVT ORIENTIS (restorer of the east) reverse legend, probably points to some successes against the Sasanians in the years AD 253-254.[3]

However, no coin types presenting the emperor as restitutor were struck during Gallienus' sole reign. Either Gallienus preferred other forms of propaganda or proclaiming that the Empire/world had been restored conflicted too overtly with what was actually...

The Tisbury Hoard, in the Salisbury Museum.

Last summer my wife and I vacationed in southern England. Going to the U.K. Is nothing unusual for us as we both used to live there, but I was up north in County Durham, and my wife lived in London. As such, we visited the north, the south, and most areas in between, but the south-west was always a little too far away for us. So we made the decision to visit Devon and Cornwall, but started with a short trip to Salisbury to see the cathedral and visit Stonehenge (a first for my wife; see original post here). At Salisbury Cathedral, there was a wonderful little museum which contained many archaeological finds from around Stonehenge. Included in this was a hoard of Celtic Coins from the Durotriges tribe. After seeing this, I just had to get one!


Map of...

Here's a recent win from a John Anthony auction:

Parthian Kingdom. AR drachm (3.9 g, 20 mm). Mithradates III (c.57-54 BC). Mithradatkart mint. Obverse: Diademed bust of Mithradates left. Reverse: Seated archer (Arsakes I), Mithradatkart mintmark, slightly crude Greek inscription in 8 lines around "Basileos basileon Arsakou megalou dikaiou epiphanous theou eupatoros kai philellenos" (Of the Great King of Kings, Arsakes, the just, beneficent, well born of the God, and lover of the Greeks). Sellwood 41.5, Shore 200, Sunrise 356v. This coin: Ex John Anthony auction, ex Sallent collection.

(Obligatory Parthian king naming and attribution note: Mithradates III has been promoted to Mithradates IV in recent scholarly work. Also, the timing and sequence of his coin issues is complicated and uncertain, as I will point out below. If you want simple, unchanging attributions, go collect Lincoln cents.)

Mithradates III and Orodes II were two sons of the...

On the world stage, the Goths first appeared around the northern shores of the Black Sea around the second century AD. From there, their migrations of different bands into Europe and in contact and war with the Roman empire most have heard about. Visigoths eventually made their way to Spain and formed a core of that country, and the Ostrogoths invaded and took over the Italian peninsula proper.

Neither of these Gothic cultures lasted, being assimilated into later invader's cultures over the next few centuries. Neither of these groups of Goths were the first to issue coins either. This distinction goes to Goths on the Taman peninsula. This is an area on the northern shores of the Black Sea where Goths first appeared in the western historical record.


Around the middle 3rd century they started issuing coins imitating a Roman denarius with a Mars reverse. As time went on it became more and more degraded. Almost all examples have been found on this peninsula,...

I bought this on eBay and it came today. Counterfeit 2018 silver eagle. Why? The die is 180 degrees rotated (a common problem because the Chinese think our coins are rotated the same as theirs) and it sticks to a magnet. I checked the capsule with a 10x loupe, and it scratched where they pried it open.
Just goes to say that everyone should always be careful when buying coins on eBay, even if it is in mint packaging.
Photos attached. Do you guys see any other signs that show it is fake?

I've posted a few examples here and there but not a more general overview.

Sceattas were the small coins produced out of silver and occasionally debased metal in the time between around 685-750 throughout most of Anglo-Saxon England. They are between 11-13mm in diameter and approximately 1g in weight. They feature a variety of designs, that for hundreds of years were a mystery to collectors.

They are particularly difficult due to a lack of inscription. We rely on find spots, hoard evidence, and inferences made based on the iconography and artistic merit of the pieces produced. This can sometimes feel incomplete or forced, and not all experts come to the same conclusion. Nevertheless it is a fascinating field to study and the coins themselves offer an interesting glimpse into this era in Dark Ages England.

The initial coinage probably began in Kent, a kingdom centered around the ancient city of Canterbury and, classicly, believed to have been colonized by a people from Jutland...