Coin Talk

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...

I recognize cut Pennies (or technically half pence or farthings in England) are not the most desired coins since they are technically mutilated, but I have found them fascinating since this was a practical method of making change in the middle ages, particularly when there was only one circulating coin (such as the penny in England).

In England, the practice of cutting pennies even led to changes in coin designs to help ease the creation of small change (and also to prevent the practice of clipping coins). Since the introduction of Christianity to England, Crosses were a common motif on the reverse of pennies, and they became the major element of design on the reverse after the Norman conquest (excepting the name of the mint and moneyer where the coin was produced, and a few other irregular issues). During the reign of Henry II (r. 1154-1189), a new coinage was established to replace the many irregular pennies produced during the "anarchy"/civil war that occurred during the...

Some series are very difficult to find in a prooflike condition. Some are nearly impossible. Prooflike copper is incredibly hard to find - across all series. I've been looking for a prooflike Flying Eagle for a long time, and while I've watched a couple cross the auction block, bidding has always been spirited. (A PL Indian cent is even harder - and PL Lincolns are just not found).

So, when I saw the current coin come up in the recent ANA Stacks auction, I knew that I was going to go all in. Over the past year or two, prooflike coins have been really hot. Fortunately, they seem to have cooled off again. I was able to win this coin for significantly less than my max bid, and for about half of what an example sold for at Heritage a couple of years ago.

The Flying Eagle cent was a very short-lived series. The patterns of 1856 are very popular, but regular issues were only minted in 1857 and 1858. The 1858 coins are divided into two subtypes, the Large and Small letter varieties....

Emperor Constantius II entered Rome on 28 April 357, it was the first time in his life that he visited Rome.
Constantius had been in Mediolanum since 353, campaigning against the germans on the Danube frontier and desperately trying to retake northern Gaul from the invading alemanni; northern Gaul had went to hell in a hand basket since Magnentius's defeat at Mursa Major in 353.
Constantius elevated his young cousin Julian to the rank of Caesar to deal with the crisis in Gaul while he eventually set off for the Eternal city.
The contemporary historian Ammianus Marcellinus says that the visit was to shore up the Arian Christian Emperor's position with the still largely Pagan Roman Senate and aristocracy, others say it was just a sightseeing tour.
Constantius entered the city on the 28 of April in a grand triumphal procession. Ammianus notes that it was a hollow victory because Constantius was celebrating his victory over Magnentius and by extension those Romans killed at Mursa Major in...