Coin Talk

Times like these make you think. Things are happening, the world is changing - hopefully to the better.

How have I spent my limited time on earth?

Did I bury myself in a geek world of Sear books and RIC volumes, shutting myself out and distancing myself from the great variety of impressions and experiences that life has to offer?

Did I spend my resources on something that gave me only an instant rush, a false sense of joy, or as Ebenezer Scrooge would call it "humbug"?

These questions are on my mind these days.

I have come to a conclusion: There is more to life than Roman Imperial Coins.

There are for example Byzantine coins! Here is Romanus IV Diogenes with Eudocia, Michael VII, Constantius and Androcius on a Histamenon Nomisma that was struck in Constantinople sometime between 1068-71:



Around the same time there were things going on up in the Anglo Saxon reign of Britain: The Danes and Norwegians were coming in longboats with shields and...

For my birthday I bought this nice coin. The first Muslims who ruled in Spain were the descendants of the Umayyads who escaped the slaughter of the Umayyad royalty at the hands of the first Abbasid Caliph. The Abbasid founder invited all of the Umayyads he could to a sumptuous feast at which assassins came out and killed them all. In as much as they were royalty they could not be stabbed but were rolled up in rugs and smothered by the assassins who sat on top of the rugs finishing what was said to be a fantastic meal. Those Umayyads who escaped went to North Africa and Spain. The Almohads were a more fundamentalist group of berbers (North African natives such as St. Augustine) who were more strict than the Umayyads. The coin has exactly the inscriptions you would expect to find on a coin by the Almohads and to me is an absolutely quintessential Muslim inscription. Even if you don't read Arabic, see if you can find "Allah." It is the last word of the first line on the obverse (left...

It's time for another long-winded post by TheRed.

With the death of Alexander III the Great in 323 BC, the contest to control the Macedonian Empire saw the rise of some fascinating men and women. While my favorite of the Diadochi is Seleukos I Nikator, one of the most colorful, charismatic, and ultimately tragic people of the period was Demetrius I Poliorketes.

His father was one of Alexander's generals and satraps, Antigonus I Monophthalmus. Demetrius served under his father as a general on both land and sea. Upon capturing Athens, Demetrius had himself declared a divine liberator and reputedly installed his harem in the Acropolis. One of the most famous incidents from his life was the siege he conducted against the city of Rhodes. For a year Demetrius tried to take the city, devising incredible siege engines. One such engine was a massive iron plated siege tower called Helepolis that stood 130 feet tall and mounted numerous catapults. Despite his ingenuity, the city of...

SILVER COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL: MARRIAGE OF PRINCESS MARY OF GREAT BRITAIN TO FRIEDRICH II OF HESSEN-KASSEL


Obv: The couple join hands over a flaming altar / FELICITAS POPULORUM - C.S.

Rev: Linked shields of arms, legend around / DIU EXOPATA CONIUNCTIO, and 8 lines of text below - EK

CHRISTIAN SCHIRMER and JOHAN ENGELHARD KRULL

Depicted on the obverse of this medal is Princess Mary of Great Britain, daughter of King George II of the House of Hanover and Friedrich II, Landgraf of Hessen-Kassel of the House of Hesse. The two are standing facing each other with joined hands over a burning alter. Around the top reads FELICITAS POPULORUM (The Happiness of the People.) Below are the initials C.S. which stand for Christian Schirmer who was warden at Königsberg Prussia and mint master from 1742-1743.

The reverse of the medal depicts the coat of arms of the two royal houses, Great Britain on the left and...

We have finally hit the last day of April, and it's pouring rain rain here in Florida. This has been the longest month of my life. I'm sure that I had known anything about what was going on, my first month of life as an infant would have seemed longer. There is something to the theory that time goes faster as you grow older, but this month ... Don't let the door hit it on the butt as it's leaving.

At any rate, here is another article from the archives.

At the beginning of the American Civil War, each of the southern states as they seceded from the Union seized the properties of the Federal Government that was within their borders. On February 28, 1861 the State of Louisiana took the New Orleans mint "into trust," and began to operate the facility under its authority. In April the Confederate Government took control of the mint from Louisiana and operated it until Confederate authorities decided to close the facility on April 30. During that time the Rebels produced...

“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” Benjamin Franklin made this candid observation to John Hancock on July 4, 1776 as the signers of the Declaration of Independence committed their reputations, their property and their lives to the cause of American independence. Had the British succeeded in putting down the American rebellion, the signers of that most famous of American documents would have been tried and convicted of treason. Yet three months before, the Continental Congress passed another resolution which was almost as daring and risky as the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

It began on April 19, 1775 when a force of 1,400 British regulars crossed the Charles River from Boston and set out for the towns of Lexington and Concord. Their mission was to capture arms held by the rebellious colonial militias and perhaps bag two local leaders, John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Paul Revere was the most famous of the local horsemen who...

These coins, from the smallest silver on through to the 5 Pounds Gold, suffer from the mint preparation and very hard to find WITHOUT hairlines. Rarely do they make it past TPG graded 63, and when they do the grade numbers IMO quite controversial.

It is said that workers at the Royal Mint were unaccustomed to the matte finish first used on a wider scale on the proofs of 1902, and so took a swipe of the apron or two on the surfaces. Rightfully on a technical basis it does limit the TPG grading generally to the 63 level but occasionally the Crown or larger gold 2 and 5 pounds are seen with higher grades 64 and above.

These absolutely must be seen in hand because the odd coin may have gotten past the perusal and treatment of the mint workers and their aprons, generally those that I have seen have just as many "micro" wipe stigmata of the lesser graded 62 and 63 (and even 61) pieces. Unfortunately when the higher graded pieces appear at a venue like Heritage they fetch prices better...

This type is rare and still rather controversial. Having been at first assigned to the regency of Anna of Savoy for Ioannes V Palaeologos (1351-1354) in Dochev 1983 and 1992 (apud Georganteli p. 73) and A Palaiologan Trachion from the Dioikitirion Square Excavation by E.S. Georganteli (Numismatika Hronika 20, 2001, p.82), Bendall reconsiders it as a feudal issue of the Asen brothers (Alexios and Ioan) in Thrace. It was minted very likely in small quantity and for a short period, as indicated both by the small number of known specimens and by the many die matches among these specimens (Georganteli remarks the small number of dies used and the consistent die duplication encountered).

Thus, a preliminary identification of the type should look something like "Despotate of Anaktoropolis, Christopolis and Thassos, under Alexios and Ioannes Asen as Despotes, cca. 1356-1366."


AE20x18mm, 1.77g, copper trachy/stamenon minted perhaps at a mint on the...

The Decemviri Sacris Faciundis - later the Quindecimviri Sacris Faciundis - were one of four major collegia of religous matters in ancient Rome. The three other collegia were the Pontifices, Augures and Epulones.The duty of the Quindecimviri Sacris Faciundis was to take care of the Sibylline Books and consult the books at the request of the Senate and interpret its texts. Cults introduced on their interpretation of the texts - such as the cult of Ceres after the famine of 496 BC - also fell under their supervision. The quindecemviri were known for organizing exquisite banquets.

About the college
During the time of the kings of Rome, two duumviri - men coming from the highest of ranks - were appointed to safeguard the Sibylline Books and interpret the texts. After the last king of Rome was ousted, the task was given to men of Patrician status. Around 367 BC, as one of the measures to break down the absolute power of the aristocracy on...

Post your coins of the Bosporan Kingdom or anything you feel is relevant!

Tiberius Julius Mithridates Philogermanicus Philopatris, sometimes known as Mithridates III of the Bosporus (flourished 1st century, died AD 68) was a Roman client king of the Bosporan Kingdom.


In the first century AD, the Bosphoran Kingdom comprised most of the southern and eastern rims of the Sea of Azov.[1]

Mithridates III was the first son of Roman client monarchs Aspurgus and Gepaepyris (she is depicted on the reverse of this coin). His younger brother was the future King Cotys I.


Tiberius Julius Mithradates, King of the Bosporus AD 41-45, and his mother, Gepaepyris, Wife of Aspurgus.
Bosporus Kingdom, probably prior to AD 41.
Æ 12 nummia, 7.92 gm, 23.5 mm.
Obv: ΒΑCΙΛΕΩC ΜΙΘΡΑΔΑΤΟΥ, laureate head of Mithradates, right.
Rev: ΒΑCΙΛΛΙCCΗC ΓΗΠΑΠΥΡΕΩC, laureate, draped bust of Queen Gepaepyris, right.
Refs:...