Full disclosure, for a long time I had the world coins node in this forum turned off. Ancients too for that matter, but I turned that one back on when I bought my Athena owl. Today, I turned the world coins node back on. I made a comment in a thread recently and a member here took it upon himself to introduce me, gratis, to this new to me world. Oh, of course, through the years I’ve looked at different world coins. I just never took much interest. @tibor is a very kind and generous person and sent me the two pieces pictured below. They are silver denars of King Ferdinand. Don’t ask me any more as I haven’t done a lot of research just yet on these. @tibor was also kind enough to write me a note with advice for doing a date run on these neat little pieces of history. Thank you very much, @tibor !
Nice!!and what generosity on @tibor's part.I also need to get some mideval hammered coins eventually,hopefully at the show tomorrow.
@tibor, you did not dip his toes in, you practically shoved him! Nice coins and very nice generosity on @tibor's part!
Excellent! Hungarian denars are awesome. I did a thread about them a while back. I'm not surprised to hear of @tibor's generosity. There's no better mentor you could have in these than him. He mentored me in them, too. @BuffaloHunter - I don't have any denars left at the moment, but I do have something similar that may appeal. Yours as a "Welcome to the Darkside" gift, if you like. Message me. Be warned, though. This early-dated silver can be habit-forming. The Hungarian denars and Lithuanian groschen/grosz coins are a lot of fun. And I think you can maybe still get Mint State examples as low as the low $100s. I'm into this one for $150-ish, including the slab:
I like US gold coinage a lot. But World from 670BC onwards is supreme. I cannot think of any US/ Canada/ Americas coinage that even come close to.... Transylvania Basel Zurich Sachsen Holy Roman Empire Italian States German States Burgundy Low Countries Ancients
And another one down another one down another one bites the dust ! Beware the power of the dark side ! Been a lot of years since I first made that post - I must be slippin in my old age
Imagine a beautifull coin from Lithuania back in 1550/ Armored Knight/ Eagle could not ask for a better design/ sure beats the crappola mints produce today.
I was just moments ago driving home from a morning of skiing and this song was on the radio! How fitting.
The early thalers of the late 15th to 16th centuries have a charm of their own, and definitely their own character, reflecting their times. Leuchtenberg Landgraviate, thaler, 1548. Dav ECT 9370 29.02 grams
And you thought that was just a coincidence ? Allow me to repeat myself - Beware the power of the dark side !
That is correct - generally crown-size coins command a premium when compared to fractional denominations. I suppose it is analogous to Roman sestertii in ancient coinage. The larger format allows for more artistic expression, in terms of space. Sometimes, though, it is absolutely amazing how really fine artistry can be seen on even obols. Almost all of my crowns were acquired back in the 1980s - 2010s, the bulk falling between the 80s and 90s. I remember seeing "wildman" thalers selling for $200 to $250 in VF, and the more common Saxony thalers of the late 1500s selling for around that price range. Now, how much does a decent wildman thaler sell for? $500 or more? Denars and groschen offer a much better value, generally speaking, though I've seen some pretty high prices for those, especially if they are rare or in choice condition (or both).
Agreed. If you stick to U.S. there's only so many different coins so all you have left to do after awhile is try for better and better examples of the ones you already have. A lot of people seem happy with that but it's not for me. Just means spending more money.
Yes, for US and modern world coinage (die press produced), one is mostly limited to collecting varieties, some major, but most pretty minor, such as double punched date numerals. When I began collecting coins in 1979 with US coinage as my focus, it was primarily on silver dollars (gold was way out of my league). The VAM and Wayne Miller's varieties for Morgan dollars were of great interest to me, initially, but that waned fairly quickly. I just got burned out by the focus on not only the innumerable varieties, but also the emphasis on proof-like fields and cameo effects. They are beautiful in their own right, for sure, but this pursuit was just not my cup of tea. I've had a life long interest in history, not only US, but world and ancient as well. So, it was a fairly easy to move from US coinage to world and ancient coinage. The ability to collect coins from history-shaping periods, rulers and empires, to hold an Athenian owl in hand dating back to the age of Pericles, the Athenian "Golden Age", or a crown or half crown of Charles I, produced during the English Civil War, has almost limitless personal appeal and pleasure, not only in the physical presence of these coins, but also in the ongoing pursuit of knowledge and understanding of human civilization. The past does indeed inform the present. I still have some US coins, but as "type" examples only.
As a world coin enthusiast, welcome. You'll find thousands of collecting opportunities. Took myself a good ten years to focus my world collection though I still buy any that catch my eye!
