Coin Talk

My newest acquisition is this anepigraphic (no legend) coin from Constantinople.



Constantine I
A.D. 327
21mm 3.2g
OBV. Anepigraphic: rosette diademed head, looking up to heavens
REV. CONSTANTINIANA DAFNE; Victory seated l. on cippus, palm branch in left hand and laurel branch in right hand, looking r.; trophy at front, at the foot is a kneeling captive with head turned being spurned by Victory; E in left.
in ex. CONS
Constantinople mint


The obverse is the famous “eyes to heaven” bust, likely inspired by Alexander the Great coins.


"How deeply his soul was impressed by the power of divine faith may be understood from the circumstance that he directed his likeness to be stamped on the golden coin of the empire with eyes uplifted as in the posture of prayer to God: and this money became current throughout the Roman world." (Eusebius IV.15)


The reverse has an interesting legend CONSTANTINIANA DAFNE; which translates as Constantinian Dafne. The...

Hardicanute (ruled 1040 to 1042) was the last Viking king to rule England. As you wiil see from my "bullet book" notes, he was not morned when he died.

There are English made Hardicanute pennies, but all of them are expensive. The Danish made pieces are a little cheaper and even got an entry in the Spink book as S-1170. Here is an example and my notes:



· Hardicanute claimed his English crown upon his arrival from Denmark on June 17, 1040. Since his half-brother, Harold I had died, he faced no opposition.

· Hardicanute arrived in England with a large force of sailors and raised taxes to pay for his expedition. He levied a tax of 32,147 pounds for the payment of his ships’ crews. His handling of the situation was clumsy and dictatorial.

· Two of his house-carles, who were sent to collect the money, were murdered in Worcester. In retribution, the town was burnt to the ground.

· Hardicanute suffered a seizure and died while drinking at a feast on...

Hello all! This will be the first of hopefully many small writeups featuring lovely coins obtained from @tenbobbit.

Constantine I is often considered the "first Christian emperor" although I do not believe that is entirely accurate. He did halt the vicious persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire, but I believe he wasn't really a true, card-carrying Christian himself for a two reasons.

1. In these days, it was not necessarily uncommon for emperors to adhere to multiple religions, and worship multiple gods.
2. He was not baptized until death.

1. Legends say that Constantine had a dream in which a deity instructed him to paint the Chi-Rho symbol on the shields of his troops for a guaranteed battle victory. In hoc signo vinces - "by this sign you will conquer."
He did so, and won, and figured that maybe worshipping a Christian deity would be beneficial.
However, he did also patronize and adhere to some beliefs of the Roman religion;...

I’m rather excited by my recent acquisition, as I have been searching for a Scandinavian imitation of an English penny for some time now:

Scandinavia (?)
English Imitation, 11th c.
AR Penny, 17.53 mm x 1.7 grams
Obv.: Bust right, scepter right, imitating Æthelred II ‘Crux’ type
Rev.: Short cross pattée, imitating Æthelred II Short Cross type

This particular coin is somewhat enigmatic, which actually adds to the appeal to me. Unfortunately it’s find spot is now a mystery, but it is not unreasonable to assume this is a Scandinavian issue, as so many early Scandinavian coins imitated English types. Exactly which English type this imitates is also strange. The Obverse appears to be from the ‘CRVX’ type of Æthelred II:


Æthelred II Crux type. CNG Auction 105, lot 1197. NOT MY COIN

Obviously the clear difference here is that the bust is facing the wrong direction. Considering the crudeness...

Public Domain, Thanks to the Getty Museum Open Content Program

In a previous post, I shared a coin from Pergamon, Mysia. @Shea19 added a coin of Prussias II, King of Bithynia, who took territory from Pergamon....here's my new addition, a coin of Prusias II. Researching the coin has been a wandering path with stops in Pergamon, Bithynia, Thessaly, the Seleucid Empire, Rome and Carthage.

Kings of Bithynia, Prusias II Cynegos, reigned 182-149 BC, Nikomedia, Bronze Æ
Obv: Draped bust of Dionysos right, wearing ivy wreath
Rev: BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΠΡΟYΣIOY, the centaur Chiron standing...

Coins are History. Coins are Art. This is an open call to anyone interesting in discussing advanced coin photography. I appreciate the interest across the coin community in photographing your collections, but I’m not talking about better ways to shoot coins with your cell phone. I’m setting the bar much higher. I want to share images, advice, tips, techniques, best practices, workflows, editing, software and equipment to achieve professional quality coin photography and push the artistic boundaries of coin image presentation.

I am a professional coin photographer and I understand there are many others here at CoinTalk as well. Let's share our best shots and ideas, and the story behind them with like-minded people. You don't have to actually be a pro coin photographer, just shoot coin images like one, and I believe there are more of you out there than actual professionals. Perhaps others will be inspired to improve by seeing how pros do their jobs, and the difference a little of...

My article on this piece appears in EAC's Penny-Wise journal this month, but for those who haven't seen it, I've pasted a version of it below. Enjoy, and feel free to add any thoughts or comments! (Beware: lots of text)


THE ENGRAVED PATTERN “MATURE HEAD” CENT DESIGN MODEL: A WINDOW INTO THE MIND OF CHRISTIAN GOBRECHT
⠀
In the absence of contemporary documentation denoting the details of issuance of early proof Braided Hair cents (1839-1857), it has long been considered a possibility that several proof varieties of the type may have in fact been restrikes, perhaps created in the late 1850s alongside the backdated proof half cents of that era. For the years 1844 through 1849 in particular, all of the known proof-only cent die varieties (by “proof-only”, we mean that the dies used to strike them were not also used to strike coinage for use in circulation) display an identical irregularity upon the reverse rim, indicating that they were all struck using the same reverse die; from...

I've been wanting one of these odd Titus Caesar dupondii for quite some time. The story behind it is quite intriguing.



Titus as Caesar [Vespasian]
Æ Dupondius, 11.90g
Rome mint, 74 AD
Obv: T•CAESAR•IMP•PONT; Head of Titus, laureate, bearded, l.
Rev: TR•POT•COS III•CENSOR•; Winged caduceus between crossed cornuacopiae
RIC 762 (R2). BMC -. BNC 909. RPC 1992 (1 spec.).
Acquired from Aegean Numismatics, July 2020.

A truly remarkable dupondius. Struck in Rome, but lacking the traditional radiate portrait on the obverse and the de rigueur S C on the reverse. The reverse with crossed cornucopiae echoes similar types from the East. Traditionally, the issue this rather strange coin is from has been attributed to various different mints over the years. Ted Buttrey writing in the RIC II.1 Addenda commented extensively on it. Because both the Addenda has yet to see the light of day and Buttrey's thoughts on the subject are important, I have largely...

Dear friends of ancient mythology!

I think it's time for a new article.

The Coin:
Thrace, Byzantion, Severus Alexander, AD 222-235
AE 26, 7.68g, 25.92mm, 30°
Obv.: AVT K M AVP CEV AΛEZA[NΔPOC] AVΓ
Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r.
Rev.: BYZAΣ
Head of Byzas, bearded, helmeted, r
Ref.: unpublished in all greater works
rare, F+/about VF, dark-green Patina


The bearded, helmeted bust of the mythological founder Byzas so far was known only on the pseudo-autonomous coinage from Byzantium. Schönert-Geiss, Münzprägung von Byzantium, vol.II, p.20: "The Byzas-series, which contains 66 ex. with 23 obv. and 37 rev. dies, could be dated exactly, since the same magistrates are named on their reverses as on portrait coins of the emperors. They fall into 5 issues
AD 128-135
AD164-169
c. AD 175
c. AD 176
AD 202-205
On this coin the head of Byzas appears for the first time as a rev. type, on a coin of Sev. Alex. The obv. die of this coin was...

I have just received in the mail one of the great rarities of Milanese coinage, the testone of Bona di Savoia:

Duchy of Milan. Bona di Savoia regent with Gian Galeazzo Maria Sforza, 1476-1481 Testone, ND, AG 9.60 g. Ref : MIR 218/1 (R3), Cr. 2/A. Obv: (head of St. Ambrose) BONA·7·IO·GZ·M·DVCES·MELI·VI· Veiled bust of Bona to right. Rev: (head of St. Ambrose) SOLA·FACTA·SOLVM·DEVM·SEQVOR Phoenix, with spread wings, standing left amidst flames. From the collection of a "Gentleman of the Royal House [of Savoy]," ex. Gadoury November 2018

Besides its great rarity this coin is fascinating for a number of reasons. Chief among them is the fact that it has the first portrait of a woman on Italian coin since ancient Rome. According to some sources it is in fact the only portrait of a woman on an Italian Renaissance coin, although this is only possible with the discounting of the tallero...