Coin Talk

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...

Firstly, this may be the last coin shipment that I receive for the next 2 weeks to 2 years, from what I can appropriately judge right now. Interesting time to be farting around. (remember we also just went through some pretty good sized 5.7 and 4.2 earth quakes this week)


(Kidding! I may be as drunk as Homer but I am certain that we will get through this)

And B: I received an archaic coin from what would be considered nearly the beginning of ancient coin. All the way to a medieval crusaders coin at near the end.
Naw, I’ll look at this as a new beginning. Get better photos of my coins, check my identifications and better my learning of the hobby I love so much... while spinning them round in my fingers like Scrooge McDuck!

(Actual footage of Ryro taken in secret by ninjas that hate coins)

Believe it or not, I was able to sustain, leaving the package in the shed for three days, before ripping open this saweet bit of...

I have compiled a list of all denarii issued by Marcus Aurelius for his wife Faustina II and have studied the hairstyles depicted thereon. Excluding various hair ornaments, such as strands of pearls and the stephane, and ignoring whether the bust appears facing right or left, I have identified four different coiffures and have determined a temporal sequence in which they appear. From earliest to latest, they are:

On 21-Feb-1787, The provisional government of the United States, established under the Articles of Confederation, agreed to a resolution to establish a Constitutional Convention:


The Constitutional Convention...

I acquired this for its reverse image



Cilicia. Uncertain mint circa 400-300 BC.
Obol AR

10 mm., 0,56 g.

Facing head of Herakles, wearing lion’s skin

Eagle standing left on stag's head, all within rectangular beaded border.

Göktürk 42; SNG France 472; SNG Levante 229.

Researching the type, I came across this statue in the Getty Museum



This hollow bronze statuette depicts an eagle perched on the head of a stag; both are mounted on a stepped pyramid. The wings of the eagle are closed and its feet are placed between the antlers, which project on either side of the stag’s head. The composition is a well-known variation on the motif of an eagle perched on a quadruped (usually a bull or stag), which was common in ancient Near Eastern religious iconography and can be traced back to the Bronze Age. Most examples of this motif in the Roman period are small bronzes that seem to have originated in Anatolia (present-day...

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

Even the corona virus should not stop our hobby.

I would like to present here an object whose meaning is still not quite clear today. On my coin it was called a 'beehive', which is complete nonsense, as a bee expert who is also historically familiar with beekeeping assured me. But first, the coin. It's an AE20 from Deultum in Thrace by Maximinus I:

1st Coin:
Maximinus I 235-238 AD.
AE 20, 4.79g, 20.11mm, 180
Av.: IMP MAXIMINVS AVG (Lat.)
Bust, draped and cuirassed, laurel, n.r.
Av.: P-C-F-D
so-called omphalos with point on foundation
Ref: Yurukova 204; Varbanov 2425; SNG Bulgaria 756-760
SS, nice green Patina, on rev. trace of excavation

Greek omphalos is navel, Latin umbilicus. This picture is only available from Deultum. What is this strange thing? Yurokova calls it a beehive. But that's nonsense, as we already know. It's sometimes called a shrine. And the new SNG Bulgaria calls it a well of...

STADT OBERAMMERGAU (GERMAN) 1930

Town of Oberammergau (Bavaria) - Large Porcelain Medal Depicting Christ with Angels and Crosses.

View attachment 1085429

This is a medal issued in 1930 by the German city of Oberammergau. On the obverse is a depiction of Christ supported by two angels. On the reverse is the city name, the date, three crosses and crossed swords. The swords are the trademark of Meissen porcelain works. Meissen produced a wide variety of attractive coins and medals in both earth toned and white porcelain.

Oberammergau is a small German town of just over 5,000 people located in the Ammer Valley. The town is surrounded by mountains, meadows and forests near the Ammergau Alps in Bavaria. It is best known for its production of the Passion Play every ten years. The town is also well known for its woodcarving and the traditional Bavarian and religious scenes painted on the facades of many of the buildings known as Luftmalerei (pictured below)....

The university has shut down research labs due to coronavirus fears, so I am at home for a while and can finally get around to posting all my coin acquisitions of the last few months. Journey with me now back to the distant past of November 2019, when you could bring hundreds of people to gather at a coin show bourse and nobody would panic if somebody started coughing:

Indo-Scythians, Taxila mint. AE hexachalkqn (28 mm, 14.08 g). Azes II (c.35 BC- 5 AD). Obverse: Humped bull (Nandi?) right with trident below head, mint control mark above, Greek legend around "Basileos Basileon Megalou Azou" (Of the Great King of Kings Azes). Reverse: lion right, mint control mark above, legend in Kharosthi around "Maharajasa rajadirajasa mahatasa ayasa" (same meaning as Greek legend). Mitchiner ACW 2380. This coin: Purchased from Marcos Xagoraris (Aristos Ancients) at the Baltimore coin show, November 2019.

The Indo-Scythians were originally a nomadic people...

Very excited to announce this minuscule discovery in an obscure corner of numismatics!

One of the most iconic members of the Indo-Sassanian family is the terminus of the third and easternmost "track", attributed to the Pratihara dynasty - the Adivaraha-dramma.

It is unique not only for being the least Sassanian of all Indo-sassanian coins, retaining only the vestigial fire altar shaft with highly stylized attendants, but it is also the only coin firmly attributable to both its medieval name in inscriptions and its historic issuer, Mihira Bhoja I, r. 836-885 AD.

Obv: Adivaraha, the boar avatar of Vishnu, standing right in heroic pose, stomping on a lion, flanked by Trishula and chakra wheel
Rev: Nagari: Sri Ma Madi / Va Ra Ha above vestigial fire altar, flanked by highly stylized attendants



Although this coin is a top contender for a lifetime issue, the type was extended for up to a century, becoming more crude but ultimately unchanged until...