Coin Talk

It never seems to fail - whenever this subject comes up or makes the headlines in the trade papers I go off on one of my tirades It appears this time is no different

But instead of writing something entirely new, and because there are so many here who are either new to the hobby or that do not know me that well I have decided instead to revisit some material on the subject so that those who are not aware - may be.

Back in March of 2002 the PNG, Professional Numismatist Guild ( an organization made up of coin dealers ) decided to conduct a survey about grading companies amongst its members. This survey was much discussed in the numismatic field and for a while it appeared the PNG would not even make the results public. But they did - in the fall of 2002.
PNG Survey

Now if you think this survey was being discussed before the results were published - that was nothing to what happened...

So I have been looking for a Carolingian coin for a while and finally with this example, I believed to have a rather nice one. Until it turned out not to be a Carolingian coin, but a silver penny by Heinrich II, or Henry II (973 - 1024). This colourful person became duke of Bavaria in 995 (at the age of 22) and king of Germany at 1002, following the sudden death of his cousin Otto III, king of Italy in 1004 and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1014. That's quite a career.

So when Otto III, at the age of 21 experienced a revolt against him in Italy, Henry II was asked to join with reinforcements. However, when Henry II was on his way, Otto III died, leaving no children or instructions for the Imperial succession. Henry II probably thought 'well, since I'm here already ...' and demanded Archbishop Heribert of Cologne to give him the Imperial Regalia. However, this clever fellow had sent these ahead of the funeral procession to one of the rival candidates for the throne. So...

Recently I've been focusing on completing the sets of minor types from the Hungarian periods I collect, and I have just completed the set of 10 fillér types.

The 10 fillér denomination was introduced in 1892 when Austria-Hungary adopted the korona monetary system (gold standard), and the denomination was produced until 1997. The 10 fillér set consists of 11 business strike types and one proof-only type, though I also have two (or three) patterns for this denomination to share here as well.

Classic 10 Fillér Types

The Austro-Hungarian Compromise
Austro-Hungarian Korona (1892-1916)

Hungary 1894KB Nickel 10 Fillér
NGC MS66
KM-482 (1892-1914)



A beautiful workhorse coin with enough dates of high mintage that it is fairly easy to find a gem example for multiple years.

Hungary 1916KB Nickel-Brass 10 Fillér
NGC MS63
KM-494 (1914-1916)



A three-year type that is tougher to find in...

Hello everyone! I wanted to share here my lovely AE Cash imitation from the Central Asian Silk Road.

These coins are part of a wider series of mostly anonymous AE cash coins that were minted and circulated around the Central Asian valleys where trade flourished from Tang Dynasty China of the East to the Byzantines and greater...

Following the entries that I have written this early summer about Vierzon (and its 12th century coinage, which can be read here) and Nogent-le-Roi (and its 11th century coinage, which can be read here), here is another obscure autonomous realm of middle medieval France.

Saint Aignan, Celles-sur-Cher, Vierzon, Gien in Berry.

The castle and territory of Saint Aignan was awarded by Odo II (Eudes) of Blois as Count of Champagne to his vassal Geoffroi de Donzy sometime around 1000/1010 to become his fief and power base in Berry. Geoffroi, who started the Maison de Donzy, involved himself in the Blois-Normandy war of 1008-14 and was eventually murdered as a result of the...

Many of us on like black backgrounds for our coin images. Achieving a uniformly black background can be a challenge. Ideally, we would like for the background to be solid black without having to digitally edit the images.

Shooting against a black background is best even if you plan to digitally paint the background black. If you shoot against anything with color, the color is reflected onto the edges of your coin and it is just about impossible to correct.

Even though I painted my homemade copy stand and coin platform with matte black paint, there was still quite a bit of light reflected from the paint, made worse by the bright light shone upon the coin.

I'd love to paint my copy stand and platform with Vantablack but it is not available to the public. There is one artist licensed to use Vantablack-- Anish Kapoor. Enter Stuart Semple, an artist with a grudge. Incensed that he could not use...

One of my main collecting interests is medieval bracteates. Since bracteates are not shown in this forum too often, I thought it a good idea to post pictures of a couple of pieces from my collection along with short answers to some frequently asked questions on these coins.

Please feel free to post your own bracteates or other medieval favorites!

This is my current favorite:

Bishopric of Halberstadt, under Gerno von Schembke, AR bracteate penny, 1169–1177 AD. Obv: + S–STEPHANVSPROTOMARTI; bust of St. Stephen facing between three stones and star. Rev: negative design. 25mm, 0.83g. Ref: Berger 1324; Slg. Bonhoff 483.

What are bracteates?
Bracteates are thin, uni-faced coins struck with a single die. They were usually produced by placing a sheet of silver on an engraved bottom die and striking it with a tool covered in a soft material such as leather or lead. As a result, the reverse of a bracteate is an incuse...

Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

Today I want to talk about the mysterious Venus Verticordia.

The coin:
Roman Republic, Mn. Cordius Rufus, gens Cordia
AR - Denarius, 19.5mm, 3.82g
Rome, 46 B.C.
Obv.: Conjugate heads of the two Dioscuri, wearing laureate pilei surmounted by
stars.
behind RVFVS II.VIR
Rev.: Venus Verticordia standing l.., holding in extended r. hand scales and in the left
hand transverse sceptre; on her left shoulder Cupido
in right field MN.CORDIVS (MN ligate)
Ref.: Crawford 463/1a; Sydenham 976; Cordia 2s
about VF, weak struck on reverse left
ex Harlan J. Berk

Note:
The home of the gens Cordia, Tusculum, only 12 miles from Rome, was a center of worship of the Dioscuri. The reverse is a clever play on the moneyer's name (CORDIA > CORDIVS) and can also be taken as a compliment to Julius Caesar, whose gens claimed a direct descent from Venus. The particular representation of Venus on the rev. may be derived from a...

Glanum
Last summer I was in the South of France. We had a good time and visited some interesting Ancient sites. Although I thought about posting something about this before but I haven't had the time so far, but now I have.

The most interesting place that we visited were the ruins of ancient Glanum. That's why I want to post about that now.

The location
Glanum is located in the extreme south of France in the limestone hills of the Alpilles. it is around 25 km from the city of Arles. The area is very wooded and rocky. It can also become very hot in the summer. During my visit it was already around 35 ° C at the end of the morning.

The history of Glanum
The first settlement dates from between the fourth and second centuries BC.
Then Celto-Ligurian tribes built an oppidum in the valley. There would have been a water source with healing effect there. Soon a small town was created...

The "Happy Victory Day" post reminded me a group of medals that I have that were given to service men and women who participated in World War II. Since the whole article, which I wrote a few years ago, is rather long, I will break it up into posts.

Tom Brokaw called them "The Greatest Generation." Many of us call them "father and mother," "grandfather and grandmother," and now "great grandfather and great grandmother." As the passing of time push their heroic deeds further back into the pages of history, there is a series of military medals that provide us with tangible reminders of how they saved us from scourge of world domination by the Axis and Japan. Today we call those tangible reminders "World War II service medals." On a more informal basis we could call them "every man's World War II medals" because the U.S. Government awarded them to almost all of the 16 million men and women who served in the armed forces during the war era.

The American Defense Medal...