Coin Talk
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Switzerland, World War II, US Army Air Force, and The White Tower
James Ramsey Ullman wrote a novel in 1945 called The White Tower. The book was made into a film in 1950 with Glenn Ford, Lloyd Bridges, and Alida Valli.
In the novel which is set around October of 1944, Captain Martin Ordway is a US Army Air Force bomber pilot. His airplane is heavily damaged on a bombing mission over Germany, he orders his crew to bail out (leave the airplane with parachutes) and then he bails out.
The story hinges on two coincidences. First Martin lands in Switzerland and discovers that he has landed near a town, Kandermatt, where his wealthy father had sent him before the war to take mountaineering classes from the Swiss guides. He also encounters Carla, a young Austrian woman who he knew from that period who is now working and living there.
The residents start making arrangements to move Martin to France where he can rejoin his unit.
Before the war Swiss guides had made 40 francs per day guiding climbers but the loss of tourists has closed much of... -
VENVS CAELESTIS, a uniquely Elagabalan goddess
In Roman foundational mythology, Venus was the mother of Aeneas, the hero of Virgil's Aeneid and the ancestor of Romulus and Remus. Being such a central figure in Roman myth, the goddess featured prominently in numismatics for nearly 500 years. She first appears on Republican coinage in the second century BC and was depicted on the folles of Galeria Valeria as late as AD 311. Venus is depicted on Roman coins with many avatars and epithets -- Venus Felix, Venus Victrix, Venus Genetrix, and so on -- but she does not appear in the guise of Venus Caelestis -- "Venus of Heaven" -- until the reign of Elagabalus, when she is used as a reverse type for coins issued for Julia Soaemias, his mother. Venus Caelestis then disappears from Roman coins altogether, with the inexplicable exception of a rare Antoninianus of Magnia Urbica[1] some 60 years later.
Julia Soaemias, AD 218-222.
Roman AR Denarius, 3.02 g, 19.2 mm, 1 h.
Rome, AD 220-222.
Obv: IVLIA... -
The British Protectorate of North Borneo
ONE CENT COIN - BRITISH NORTH BORNEO COMPANY - COAT OF ARMS
Date: 1891
Obverse: Coat of arms of the British North Borneo Company and date - PERGO ET PERAGO / H / 1891
Reverse: Wreath, name and denomination - One Cent (English, Chinese and Malay below) / British North Borneo Co. around top
Minted by Ralph Heaton & Sons - Birmingham Mint
This is a bronze 1 cent coin of the British protectorate of North Borneo, a territory in the far north of the island of Borneo that was governed by the North Borneo Chartered Company (NBCC) also known as the British North Borneo Company (BNBC). Under its 1881 royal charter the British North Borneo Company gained the right to produce coinage. These coins were produced by Ralph Heaton and Sons Birmingham Mint and were possibly engraved by the very prolific medalist Joseph Moore. This coin was minted in 1891 under the tenure of Rutherford Alcock as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
On the... -
The tale of Kyzikos and the mysterious missing coin
Kyzikos or Cyzicus (I'll be referring to it as Kyzikos herein to avoid confusion and cause it's just so cool to type!), was a highly important coastal city of Mysia.
(Kyzikos ancient ruins, ain't so ruined)
Famous to us ancient coin collectors for their dynamic lion and boar obols for starters
Mysia. Kyzikos
480 BC. Obol AR 11mm., 0,71g. Forepart of boar left , E (retrograde) on shoulder, with tall mane and dotted truncation, dotted line on shoulder, to right, tunny upward / Head of roaring lion left with bristling mane, outstretched tongue, and dotted truncation, all within incuse square.
Ex Silicua Subastas
Lasting from the Greek dark ages to the medieval dark ages, approximately! The town was alleged to have been founded by Jason and his Argonauts
(you might have heard of them and their voyage)
BEFORE the Trojan war (1300 BCEish)! And would not be abandoned until the... -
1921 Missouri Centennial and State Fair
Happy Fourth of July to all!
Stay Safe.
I will share a little history over the next several days.
Missouri Centennial Exposition and State Fair
Sedalia, Missouri, August 8-20, 1921
“Missouri is going to have a state-wide Centennial Celebration worthy of the name.
With the signing of the Centennial Exposition bill by Governor Hyde, and the appointment of a Commission of twenty-one members to supervise the Exposition, the machinery has been officially set in motion. The bill passed by the Fifty-First Assembly carries and appropriation of $150,000 to defray the expenses of the Celebration.
The dates will be August 8-20, 1921. The State Fair Grounds at Sedalia were chosen as the site. Plans for a stupendous program are already underway.
Governor Arthur M. Hyde was elected President of the Centennial Commission at the first meeting of the body held in Jefferson City, April 21. Lieutenant-Governor Hiram Lloyd was elected Vice-President, and appointed by Governor... -
Iceland 5000 Krona banknote SEÐLABANKI ÍSLANDS
Some banknote designs just pull in the viewer. For example, the current Icelandic 5000 Krona features some very intriguing headgear, as well as colorful and intricate embroidery patterns interspersed throughout the overall design. If nothing else, it makes one wonder how that immense hat stays on.
Not surprisingly, especially given the ruff collar, the clothing shown dates back to the 17th century. The woman pictured, Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir, wears a traditional Icelandic hat called a faldbúningur topped with a gold-banded hat, which reflects the fashions of the era's ecclesiastical nobility. Under the hat, the faldbúningur probably extends out to a point, which likely helps keep the gravity-defying hat from slipping off. Large hidden hat pins may have also helped. Jónsdóttir is the first woman to ever appear on an Icelandic banknote. As the flourish of gold foil to her upper right says, she lived from 1646 to 1715 and became well-known in Iceland for... -
Prices in Seleucid Babylon
As collectors of ancient coins I feel that we sometimes forget that the little discs of metal we collect were used in day to day financial transactions. Certainly when I look at a tetradrachm to buy on VCoins or at an auction, I don't stop and think "How many liters of dates or pounds of bronze could my coin buy in 261 BCE?"
As general rule of thumb in the ancient world, and indeed until the time of industrialized farming, most of a person's salary would have been spent on food. While manufactured goods would have been very expensive due to the fact that they all had to be made by hand. In addition prices generally fluctuated from region to region and depended on the quality of local harvests.
Luckily we have a decent picture of what prices were in the Roman Republic/Empire due to the large amount of surviving source material. Unfortunately the early to mid Hellenistic age is not as lucky, as very few documents survive intact from the period. One of the few surviving... -
Doppelter Hochzeitstaler – Double Wedding Thaler
Gaedechens 1600; KM 147 (3 Thaler)
Struck ca. 1650
Obverse: A elegantly dressed bride and groom shake hands; hovering above it in a glory is the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and the name Jehovah. Transcription; QUOS DEUS CONIUNXIT HOMO NON SEPARET. Man should not divide what God put together.
Reverse: The wedding to Cana, in a smaller format, just like on No. 3, only with the difference that the groom wears a feather hat here. Transcription: JESUS CHRIST. MAKE WATER WINE IN CANA. GAL. 10. 11. The Munzmeister mark with the two cross-shaped zain hooks.
Diameter: 60mm
Weight: 57.42 g
12h
Here is another one of those items that I didn’t know I wanted until I saw one. For multiple Thalers, you could almost call this common. Of course, none of these are.
The Marriage at Cana:
The transformation of water into wine at the Marriage at Cana or Wedding at Cana is the first miracle attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John. In... -
Standing Liberty Quarters
The Standing Liberty Quarter was first produced in 1916 and the last year of issue was 1930. This design was by Herman A. MacNeil. It was produced at three Mints, Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco.
There are two varieties, the first has no stars below the eagle on the reverse and the second variety has stars below the eagle. Variety 1, is no stars below the eagle and they were all produced in 1916 and 1917. In 1916 just the Philadelphia Mint was used but in 1917 all three mints made them.
The original designed exposed Lady Liberty's breast. The public did not like having her breast exposed so in 1917 the coin was re-designed to cover her breast. The redesign became known as Variety 2, which the public excepted.
On both designs the left arm of Liberty is upraised, uncovering a shield for protection. Liberty's right hand holds an olive branch for peace. The designers initial, an M appears to the right of the date.
On Variety 2 the stars were redesigned and the eagle is... -
An Introduction to the U.S. Large Cent, Part 1
United States large cents have been prime collectors’ items for more than 150 years. Ironically the coins were not popular when they were issued for general circulation. Many people found them to be too heavy and cumbersome, but when the mint announced that they would be replaced by the smaller copper-nickel cents in 1857, collector interest bloomed. Since then large cents have been called “the bellwethers of the numismatics,” which has encouraged many collectors and numismatists to write a number of significant books and countless articles about the “big pennies.”
The authorization for the large cent was part of the Coinage Act of 1792 which many collectors call “Act One.” In that legislation the large cent was defined as a pure copper coin that weighed 11 pennyweights that was worth 1/100 of a dollar. Preparations for opening the first mint, which was to be located in the national capital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, began in the late summer of 1792. In the fall the mint...
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