Coin Talk

On a recent trip to Scotland, my family and I were able to visit the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. It's a great museum with something for everyone. Admission is not too steep ... free for all. Of course, I had to look at some of the numismatic displays, especially those of Scottish coins.

Scotland has had a number of mints over the centuries. The earliest known were at Carlisle and Edinburgh, which opened in the 1130's. Once coining got going, it spread rapidly until under the reign of Alexander III (1249–1286), there were 16 mints in operation! The other mints closed one by one until the reign of James IV (1488–1513), only the Edinburgh mint remained. Much later, a mint was re-opened at Stirling. Both the Edinburgh and Stirling mints closed for good in 1709.

Scottish coins were minted in denominations that paralleled those of England ... crowns, pounds, shillings, groats and pence. However, in the museum, I encountered a Scottish denomination I didn't...

One of the interesting things about trying to research Indo-Greek history to gain some context for the coinage is that you can’t simply go to Wikipedia and expect to find a satisfactory outline. The information there is often garbled, contradictory and outdated. Few experts seem to agree on many key points of Indo-Greek history and references become quickly outdated with even the slightest new bit of information. In fact, most of the information we have is based on a careful study of the coins themselves. As such this coin has been a fun one to study.


Indo-Greek Kingdoms
Apollodotus I
AE Hemiobol, mint in northwest India, struck ca. 180-160 BC
Dim.: 22x22 mm
Wt.: 9.27 g
Obv.: BAΣIΛEΩΣ AΠOΛΛOΔOTOY ΣΩTHPOΣ; Apollo standing facing holding arrow in right hand and bow in left.
Rev.: Karoshthi legend; tripod and monogram surrounded by square of dots.
Ref.: BMC 17, SG 7594
Ex @Deacon Ray , Ex Agean...

I have been working on this set as a side for the last 4 years or so. This morning I finally picked up the final note which finished the set for me. It was the $500 note which has been the only empty sleeve the last 2 years.

It’s a denomination set of the last run of CSA notes from 1864.


$500 T64 (~154k printed)


This $500 Confederate note has a pink web overprint and features a picture of General T.J. “Stonewall” Jackson in the lower right corner. Along the left side of the note is a picture of the Confederate flag and seal. This note was printed with pink and black ink. There is no design on the back.

$100 T65 (~964k printed)


This $100 Confederate note has a pink overprint and a picture of Lucy H. Pickens in the center. In the lower right corner is a picture of George W. Randolph. Along the left side of the note are two soldiers holding rifles. This note was printed with pink and black ink on plain paper. There...

Guy de Lusignan is generally ill-regarded historically, some of which is deserved, some just a result of things beyond his own control. But what is true and acknowledged by all is that under his rule the Kingdom of Jerusalem lost the Holy City and most of its knightly elite. On the other hand, Guy was the center of a coalition that started the siege of Acre, a fight that would soon rally the most powerful kings in Europe -- Philippe II Auguste and Richard Coeur de Lion -- to join the Third Crusade. He was hated by the German interests but rather liked in the Angevin quarters, being an old vassal of Henry II Plantagenet and, from 1191, of Richard I.

His coinage is well known, from de Saulcy to Schlumberger, Metcalf and Malloy, but one aspect that I think is still unclear is where was the copper coinage bearing his name actually minted. Malloy assigns this coinage to the Latin Kingdom, but he is not sure whether it is pre-Hattin or minted by a military mint during the siege of Acre...

Norman lands are in pink. Original image was found here.

I've been on a bit of a binge buying Norman coins of late. I will partially blame @Magnus Maximus for this, but I have always had an interest in the Normans (My doctorate was mostly a study of the Norman's in Europe, but also the Angevin kings of England). As I've been buying more Norman coins, I've been thinking about their adaptability and opportunistic nature which is illustrated in their coins. The Normans have their origins among the many Viking invaders of the 9th century, but were given territory in Northern France by the Carolingian King Charles the Simple. In this land, now called Normandy, these Norse-men would adopt the Christian religion and Frankish culture, but hold on to this sense of having a...

My great grandfather, Leroy Zachman, was the first coin collector in my family that I know of, and so I must get my numismatic genes from him. He was born in 1884 and started working for a bank in Marion, Ohio in 1909. At the time he started working there, it was the called "The City National Bank of Marion Ohio", which had a national charter number of 5650. When starting at the bank, they must have had the most recent issue of national currency around, as I have the Serial #1 note from Charter #5650 with his signature on it. An interesting note on his signature, it is more crisp, careful and clearly defined on this note, than issues in later years- maybe due to his wanting to be neat- a good impression in his first year there.



Around the same time he began working there, he also started saving coins which had been freshly minted. I believe this is when he first began in numismatics. He saved several rolls of freshly...

Oh Lyon, la belle cité !
Maybe you’ll call me a chauvinist. Lugdunum (Lyon), this is true, is the hometown of my ancestors.But it’s also a place with a rich history in the ancient Roman world. So let’s overview some interesting details about this famous polis and mostly about his monetary workshop.
The city
Lugdunum and its region are at the crossroads of Western Europe, joining the North Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and Eastern Europe to the Atlantic Ocean. Many centuries ago, it was built for his strategic location. Today it is still the third biggest city in France. Lugdunum is composed of two Gallic words : Lug was the Celtic god of the order and the right, and dunos (fortress or hill), the whole thus designating the “fortress of Lug”. In Roman times, the city was called Caput Gallilae, “capital of Gaul”. It was founded in 43 BC and reached a population of up to 200000 inhabitants at the summum of its glory....

About 4 years ago I bought the slabbed Parthian silver drachm at auction, pictured below, when the market for Parthian coins was rather soft. At that point I had sold all my Parthian coins except for one and wasn't looking for any more until I saw this coin. The bizarre looking crown with a bulls horn on the side and 8 small stags attached, that the king was wearing, intrigued me . I thought to myself who would wear such a crazy looking thing . Phraates was murdered by his two sons, Orodes II and Mithridates III. Maybe they wanted that crown he was wearing .



Lately the market for Parthian coins has gotten a lot stronger . After browsing through a recent CNG and Heritage auction I was surprised at many of the prices realized. Pictured below is a rare Phraates III drachm from CNG that sold for $1,800.00. The coin had previously sold at Peus 338, lot 133, April 27, 1994, and was described as...

Guess the grade: