Take That Coronavirus, Houston Coin Show Finds

Very nice captures, @rrdenarius !

 

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Hope that in the near future, we'll be witnessing coins with obverse showing a modern Louis Pasteur or Mary Curie to celebrate the invention of the new remedy or antidote to overcome the wicked virus. I pray that we all survive till that happy moment.

 

I like them all. Great variety. Of course the near full crest Athenian tetradrachm is the star, but I'm also very fond of the Satrienus denarius and the Sacra Moneta follis of Galerius.

 

Like others, @dougsmit , I did not know which way is up on this coin. I think @Orielensis is right, it is an M (which makes sense if it is a Manfred coin). I posted it to look like owl eyes to go with my Athens Owl.

@dadams I think you are right. I found 11 Manfreds on Spartan's web site. None were matches for mine.

I have not seen anyone translate the letters around the coin. Anyone here have a clue what they are?

https://agoraauctions.com/spartan/auction_archive/search/1

 

Well, that's always the problem with these Sicilian copper denari. For my own collection, I tend to search for coins that have at least most of the legend, but I yet have to see perfect specimens where all letters are clear. Mostly, I therefore end up with compromise examples like the ones below.

Combining the partial legends on your coin and the examples on acsearch, I assume that the legends are supposed to be ".+. MANFREDVS" on the obverse and ".+. REX SICILIE" on the reverse.


Kingdom of Sicily, under Konrad IV of Hohenstaufen, AE denaro, 1250–1254 AD, Brindisi mint. Obv: .+. [CO]NRADVS, cross. Rev: .+. IERL E[T SIC]IL, RX-monogram. 15mm, 0.70g. Ref: Spahr 153, MEC XIV, 581–584.


Kingdom of Sicily, under Konrad IV of Hohenstaufen, AE denaro, 1250–1254 AD, struck at Messina. Obv: + CON[R]ADVS, cross with two diamonds in fields. Rev: + IER[L E]T SICI, RX with omega-stroke above. 15mm, 0.68g. Ref: Spahr 155, MEC XIV, p. 133, no. 3.