One aspect of this hobby that I thoroughly enjoy is attributing coins. Getting a coin that you like is great but other than looking at it and admiring it.... After years spent doing this I still get stumped and wear can make it much more difficult. For Greek bronze I have found that the Wildwinds site and Lindgren books are the most useful resources. Sometimes it can take hours, days, weeks months and in one instance involving a coin of Euboa, three years before going through a volume of Lindgren, I had a eureka moment. A couple years back i was given over a dozen coins that were completely unidentifiable - my best guess was very late Byzantine. It stumped me for months, until finally out of desperation I posted them on this site, and within minutes I was given the answers - Bulgarian medieval. It was impressive. But, I do believe that this is a resource to be used only as a very last resort. Nevertheless, again, I have some coins defy attribution - two of these I do believe may also be Bulgarian medieval, one other perhaps Islamic? the other clearly Greek but from where? With that wordy introduction completed, here they are: 1. Bulgarian Medieval??? 0.63 grams 17mm. The flan is ridiculously thin - how could this be of bronze and used for money? what could it possibly buy? - perhaps originally silver plated but now among the thinnest bronze I have ever come across, except for #3 which is less than paper thin. The reverse on #1 and #2 is only the impression of the obverse 2. Bulgarian medieval? Something else? 0.31 grams 17mm - bronze - formerly silver plated? 3. Persian? Bulgarian? Silver or Bronze - 0.11 grams!! 12mm - #1 and #2 are extremely thin but this is a ridiculously thin flan - a bit darkened to aid attribution 4. Greek Ae 10.5mm 1.20 grams - obv.: portrait right re: two flower bulbs? Something else? For the above I think I can make out the Greek letter "s" which is almost useless for attribution. I have one other coin that I have spent years trying to attribute - in fact I have four of the same type but only one has any details. The others are completely worn but they due to a very unusual flan they are clear of the same type. I have not given up on my attribution of this type I suspect something just past medieval - Thanks to all who give me some of their time in figuring out what for me is an insoluble puzzle. Sorry for the typos in the title- can't seem to edit that...
the response earlier was immediate but these must be quite mysterious - I still think the first two are Bulgarian
Hi @Blake Davis, I recognize #3 as an Ottoman coin of Constantinople dated - - 83 (1183 AH ?). The first image is the dated reverse and should be rotated 90 degrees to the left. The Obverse, the second image, is a toughra. It should be rotated 90 degrees to the right. For #4, I see two dolphins on either side of an anchor as the reverse. Seleucid? - Broucheion
I think the nr3 is an Ottoman silver akçe of Mahmud II in 1810-1811. Obv. : tughra Rev. : "3. Minted in Constantinople. [12]23"
I haven't really spent much time here on CT as I have on NumisForums, but it is definitely Bulgarian, at least, the first two. However, the second one is very "weird" in comparison to the ones I have seen. For help, you might want to check out the plates from: https://www.wildwinds.com/coins/moushmov/bulgarian.html It will help greatly...
Thanks - I agree with you about the first two being Bulgarian. I’ll take a closer look at Wildwinds and one other source
