Coin Talk

Here is an interesting, though by no means rare or valuable, 1986 note from Iraq full of historical references and symbolism. Many who lived through that era will doubtless recognize Saddam Hussein, the fifth president of Iraq, in office from 1979 until 2003. An imagined scene from the ancient Battle of Qadisiyah appears to his left, in an apparent attempt to associate it with the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988, which still raged when this note was issued. Qadisiyah supposedly occurred around 636 and led to the Arab conquest of modern day Iraq over the Sasanian Empire. The 1980s wartime Iraqi government appropriated this battle for their own purposes at the time.



The front top center of the bill reads, in very elaborate Kufic script:البنك المركزي العراقي or "Central Bank of Iraq."

The note's denomination appears in both numeric and...

Davissons Ltd had an auction finish on April 1st. They always have a few items that I am interested in and this auction was no different. I only picked up one piece on the day of the auction. I already posted it on the "newest acquisition" thread but here it is again.

A nice Teutonic Thaler of 1614. It arrived this past week and I must say it looks even nicer in hand. It will be one of the centerpieces of my German States collection.



Teutonic Order. Maximilian of Austria. 1588-1618. AR double thaler. 56.75 gm. 46 mm. Hall mint. 1614. Master of the Order standing, holding the hilt of a grounded sword in his right hand, a lion holding a shield to left / Maximilian on a horse moving right, a circle of shields of arms around him. Dav. 5854. KM 30. Near Extremely Fine; light wear on highest points, lightly toned, flan flaw at 11' obverse; pleasing surfaces and overall a fresh and pleasing coin.

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

To distract you in this sad time of the corono-virus, I will tell you today something about the history of Ganymedes.

1st Coin:
Troas, Dardanos, Hadrian, AD 117-138
AE 21, 4.53g, 20.66mm, 0°
Obv.: AVT KAI CEBA[CTHC] TPAIANOC AΔPIANOC
Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r.
Rev.: ΔAPΔAN - ΩN
Eagle facing, head l., carrying Ganymedes, wearing chlamys and Phrgian bonnet,
holding lagobolon in raised r. hand
Ref.: unpublished?
very rare, about VF

Note: This is the companion piece to Bellinger T136 from Troas-Ilium and Bellinger describes the reverse as "Remarkable in the presentation of a scene of Trojan mythology anterior to the Homeric story".

2nd Coin:
Thrace, Hadrianopolis, Septimius Severus, AD 193-211
AE 26, 9.96g, 25.62mm, 45°
Obv.: AV K Λ C[EΠ - CEVHPOC Π]
Bust, draped and cuirassed, seen from behind, laureate r.
Rev.: AΔP - IANO - [ΠOΛEITΩN]
Ganymedes, with Phrygian bonnet, stg....

Antiochus III was born in 241 BCE to Seleucus II and Laodice II in Susa. Antiochus III grew up in a troubled time; the Seleucid empire was losing much of it's periphery territory to rebellious satraps and rival warlords. Not much is know about Antiochus's early life except that he wasn't in line for the throne, with him being the youngest son of Seleucus II. All that would change with the death of Seleucus II in 246 BCE and Seleucus III's death in 223 BCE.

Both Seleucus III and Antiochus III had a minister named Hermeias who was universally hated and feared by most people, including the Kings themselves. Around 222 BCE in the province of Media two brothers named Molon and Alexander revolted against Antiochus III, based on fears of being executed by Hermeias. Molon and his brother managed to take control of all territory east of Mesopotamia by the time that Antiochus sent troops to crush their rebellion. Hermeias insisted to the young King that the rebels should be ignored and that...

Greetings fellow shut-ins!

My wife is really depressed. Easter is usually the time when the family got together. Not this year. My father in law is locked down in a retirement facility, and everyone else is at home.

So it's time for another archives articel.


November 22, 1963, “A day that will live in infamy.” For many Americans that phrase, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt used to describe the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, aptly applied to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In the wake of that awful event, streets and boulevards were renamed, state and federal buildings were rededicated and even Cape Canaveral was briefly changed to Cape Kennedy. Of equal significance was a change in our nation’s coinage that would have a profound effect upon the half dollar as circulating coin.

Plans for a new Kennedy coin were in the works only days after the assassination. By November 27 it had been determined that a Kennedy design would...

Hadrianopolis (Ἁδριανούπολις in Greek; modern Edirne, Turkey) was re-founded by Hadrian (Duh!) at the site of a Thracian city once known as Uscudama[1] but then subsequently renamed Orestias or Odrysus.[2] The city was situated in Thrace, at the point where the river Tonzus joins the Hebrus.[3]



Hadrian developed the city and made it the capital of the Roman province of Thrace. Military historian John Keegan identifies Hadrianopolis as the site of no fewer than 15 major battles or sieges, the first in AD 323 and the last in July, 1913, and attributes this to its geographical location.[4] Licinius was defeated there by Constantine I in 323,[5] and Valens was killed by the Goths during the Battle of Adrianople in 378.[6]

I have four coins minted in this city. Let's see your coins of Hadrianopolis in Thrace!


Faustina II, AD 147-175.
Roman...

GROSSO - VENICE - DOGE GIOVANNI SORANZO: A.D. 1312-1328



Obverse: Christ Pantocrator enthroned facing - IC-XC

Reverse: Doge (Duke) receiving banner from the patron Saint Mark both standing facing - IO SVPANTIO DVX S M VENETI

Translation: IC-XC - This is the abbreviation (Christogram) of Jesus Christ in medieval Greek tradition showing the first and last letters of word "IHCOYC XPICTOC with titlos / IO SVPANTIO DVX S M VENETI - Giovanni Soranzo - Duke - Saint Mark of Venice

This is a coin I wanted for quite some time because I love the style. I waited to buy one until I saw this one a few years ago. While it is far from perfect the details are quite good for the price paid.

This is a silver grosso minted under the tenure of Giovanni Soranzo, the 51st Doge of the Republic of Venice, a major financial and maritime power in northern Italy, who served from 1312 until his death in 1328. With iconography and style...

Leave it to a collector to be spending money during a financial crisis! Here is my latest purchase, a 1902 Edward VII coronation short set. This set is “short” because it does not include the two and five pound gold coins. There were 7,057 short sets issued and 8,066 long sets.

The set includes the Maundy Set of four coins plus the crown, half crown, two shillings, one shilling and the six pence.



One of the attractions that I had for this set, is that they are all Matte Proofs. Matte Proof U.S. gold coins are unaffordable. The silver pieces are so rare that they are virtually unobtainable. Here is this set are samples of both.


Edward VII was a very interesting person. He was the second child and oldest son of Queen Victoria. The Queen and Prince Albert tried to raise him as a model monarch, but he would have none of it. He was a poor student, and once he got out from under their clutches...

I have proof read this article twice, but there may be grammatical errors.



MY HUNT FOR THE PIRATE TREASURE SHIP, WHIDAH

By Robert Ransom



This account is solely based on my memory of events which occurred during my hunt for the sunken pirate ship Whydah. The ship was attacked and captured off the coast of The Bahamas in the early 1700’s by Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy who decided to use this newly acquired vessel as his flagship. Two other ships were under his command. Black Sam then proceeded up the east coast toward Maine attacking ships and plundering their cargo. Sailing off the coast of Cape Cod, his ship was caught in the grips of a powerful nor-Easter, ran aground on a sandbar and ultimately capsized then sank in the waters off Wellfleet, Massachusetts. The value the treasure aboard was thought to be in the millions of dollars. Rumors exist of coins still washing up on the beach....

This time It's a confrontation between to asses in my collection; in the right corner weighting 9.7g, Antoninus the Pius. In the left corner, weighting exactly 9.79g, Claudius the First. LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE ! Ok,ok, no fighting today. At least one of those two emperors didn't like the war.





But let's focus instead on the common point between these two pieces. You surely noticed they both featured the goddess Libertas; and also that she is holding in her right hand a pileus. Let's talk a bit about this famous hat and its origin. First, the title of this thread is rather inaccurate, the pileus having a Phrygian's origin. It was a soft woven wool cap often associated with the notion of freedom( that's why Libertas is holding it). The pilei was found in several form: often round, sometimes looking like a helmet, even shaped almost like a pyramid. The pileus originated in Greek...