Coin Talk

Image - Creative Commons License from the British Museum
Mēn, illustrated in this marble Roman relief from the 2nd Century AD, is the Moon god of Roman Anatolia, perhaps connected with the Mesopotamian moon god Sin which was also a male lunar god. The Roman Luna was female. The deity is portrayed with a crescent moon behind his shoulders and wearing a phrygian cap. Strabo describes a temple of Mēn of Pharnaces:

"And the kings revered this temple so exceedingly that they proclaimed the "royal" oath as follows: "By the Fortune of the king and by Mēn of Pharnaces." And this is also the temple of Selenê, like that among the Albanians and those in Phrygia, I mean that of Mēn in the place of the same name and that of Mēn Ascaeus near the Antiocheia that is...

The town of Dioshieron, which means "sanctuary of Zeus" in Greek, in Lydia was located in the upper valley of the Kaystros River (Greek Κάϋστρος, modern Küçük Menderes), roughly midway between Sardis and Nycaea.



The city became part of the Roman Republic and the Roman province of Asia with the annexation of the Kingdom of Pergamon. It was an episcopal see from as early as the fifth century. It was renamed to Christoupolis in the 7th century and was known as Pyrgion from the 12th century on. Pyrgion fell to the Turks in 1307, and was renamed Birgi.

The mint in Dioshieron issued coins in the Roman imperial period from the reigns of Augustus through Gordian. This coin is one of two reverse types issued by the city for Faustina II: A type featuring Asklepios standing facing (RPC IV.2, 1236) and another with Hera standing left, holding a patera and scepter (RPC IV.2, 1432). The former features an...

One of my main interests is in obscure lords of the feudal West, especially those who can be tied to either crusading and/or taking the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Many times this interest leads to going through old compendia of often-times fragmented chancellery documents and/or histoire books that have the written story of certain areas, and often-times written long time ago, during the Ancien Regime. Finding and following lords who have also minted coins is a very welcome bonus.

Vierzon and Celles-sur-Cher in Berry.


Few areas have been so rich and diverse in feudal coinage and more decentralized during the medieval heydays than the old region of Berry, in Central France. The many local seigneuries here enjoyed such an extended autonomy in the 12th to early 14th centuries that minting their own coins, whether baronial or monastical, was the most normal of things.

...

SILVER AUSBEUTETALER - PRINCIPALITY OF FÜRSTENBERG
Year: 1790



Obverse: Portrait of prince left - JOS M B FURST ZU FURSTENBERG L I D B U Z ST H Z HAUSENI KINZ THAL / XEINE FEINE MARK

Reverse: Friedrich Christian Mine - MIT GOTT DURCH KUNST U ARBEIT / DIE GRUBEFRIED CHRIST GABS ZUR AUSBEUT IM OUARTAL C
Johann Hienrich. Boltschauser who was an engraver and die sinker 1754 – 1812 at Zurich in 1780 and Mannheim in 1790.

Obverse: JOS(EPH) M(aria) B(enedict) FURST(enberg) ZU FURSTENBERG L(andgraf) I(n) D(er) B(aar) U(nd) Z(u) ST(uhlingen) H(err) Z(u) HAUSEN I(m) KINZ(iger) THAL - XEINE FEINE MARK

Joseph Maria Benedict Fürstenberg of Fürstenberg, Landgrave in the Baar and Stuhlingen, Lord of Hausen in Kinziger Thal - Very Fine MARK

Reverse: MIT GOTT DURCH KUNST U(nd) ARBEIT - DIE GRUBE FRIED(rich) CHRIST(ian) GABS ZUR AUSBEUT(e) IM QUARTAL CRUCIS

With God and by skill (art) and work / The Friedrich Christian...

Just won a coin of Macrinus from Hierapolis Castabala last week-end. Where is that city? I had to do some research :
Hierapolis Castabala was a city in Cilicia (modern Turkey). In Hellenistic times, it was called Hieropolis. During the Roman Empire, the city was part of the province of Capadocia. Since the city lies in the valley of the Ceyhan River, in ancient times known as Pyramus, it was frequently called Hierapolis ad Pyramum. The main communication axis of the city is a colonnaded street, 650 feet long and 35 feet wide, running from east to west.



Many columns have been preserved to our times. Moreover, some of them are still decorated with capitals of Corinthian order. To the east, it is possible to discern the traces of the Temple of Artemis Perasia. On the eastern side, you can also find a theater, with 15 rows of seats remaining....

Law & Order Episode "Survivor" with Karen Allen, about ancient coin collectors,
and "Roman Cleopatras".

This episode is one of the best episodes of the 20-year run of the American
television series "Law & Order".

I posted this writeup originally on a board for fans of the Indiana Jones films.

I was originally interested in it because it involved a treasure hunt for rare
coins. The story also involves coin collectors and historical references to
World War II.

Besides that, another interest to Indiana Jones fans is an uncommon television
appearance by actress Karen Allen.

The broadcast details:
Law & Order, Season 7 Episode 4, Originally aired October 23, 1996

The story:

While investigating the murder of a coin collector, detectives discover the
existence of extremely rare coins that belonged to a Holocaust survivor.

Mr. Stephen Campbell runs an antiques and rare coins gallery in New York City.
Two people passing the store notice something wrong and...

Last year I purchased a rare variant of Domitian's Germania Capta sesterii. It's a decent coin but quite worn. I've always wanted a better example of this iconic Flavian type (i.e. one in which the legends can be read in full) and finally made good on that wish last week. I was able to win at a fairly bargain price this more common variant of the type.



Domitian
Æ Sestertius, 25.24g
Rome mint, 85 AD
Obv: IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM COS XI CENS POT P P; Head of Domitian, laureate, r., with aegis
Rev: GERMANIA CAPTA; S C in exergue; Trophy; to r., German captive stg. r., hands bound, head l.; to l., Germania std. l.; around arms
RIC 351 (C). BMC 325. BNC 350.
Ex Agora 96, 10 March 2020, lot 349. Ex CNG E458, 18 December 2019, lot 349. Ex Gorny & Mosch 261, 4 March 2018, lot 700. Ex Shlomo Moussaieff Collection. Formerly in NGC holder #4934009-008, with grade VF, strike 5/5, surface 2/5.

In 85 Domitian struck a fairly impressive issue of sestertii,...

On Monday, my favorite Parisian numismatic shop closed its public office until further notice because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Starting with 2017 they began offering specimens from the Hoard of Puylaurens (Tarn) through their regular auctions and fixed price shop.


Puylaurens in southern France.

This hoard contains 2688 Royal and feudal coins, dating from the 1100s to cca. 1315-1322 (when it seems that the accumulation was hidden and then lost), and is very interesting for many reasons, from which three are close to my main areas of study:

1. the small currencies after the great monetary crisis and the debasement of the early 1300s under Philippe IV le Bel -- the "recovery" of the denier tournois (cca. 1307 and the 1310s) and the possible (probable?) "petits" (tournois and parisii) of the reigns of Louis X and Philippe V;

2. the denier parisis after Philippe II Augustus, mainly the mintage under Louis...

In God We Trust: The American Civil War, Money, Banking and Religion by William Bierly, Whitman Publishing, 2019, 336 pages, $29.95.

This book delivers original research from primary sources ranging from local newspapers to the archives of the U. S. Mint. It also draws on many standards works, including the books of George and Melvin Fuld, Kevin Flynn, Q. David Bowers, and Don Taxay. It corrects some often repeated errors found in the numismatic literature.

The central theme is story of how In God We Trust came to be on our coins and eventually was declared by law (July 23, 1956) to be our national motto. Most collectors of U.S. federal coinage know that the 2-cent piece of 1864 was the first to carry the motto. The Civil War was the cause. That story is the centerpiece here.

The Red Book credits Salmon P. Chase with placing IGWT on the 2-cent coin. Chase was the financial wizard who designed the banking...

Since many of us are house-bound or at least semi-house-bound, I have decided to dust off some my old articles that I write for my local club and post them here. Since I am going to add a fair number of pictures, it might take a few posts to mount the entire article. It may take me a while to post all of this article, but bear with me.


At our February meeting, someone asked about what people used for small change in the Confederate states during the Civil War. That brought up a longer discussion about what Civil War citizens used, both North and South. At that moment I realized that I had never covered this topic during all of the years that I have given educational presentations to the club. Although I don’t have a large collection of this material, I decided that it might be interesting to cover it this month.

At the beginning of the Civil War, most people on both sides thought the conflict would be short. Northern politicians thought that they could put...