Coins And History

WOW

, SHOT OFF HIS TESTICLES, OUCH...WHAT A YEAR!!

 

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AV Stater Dated Bosphorean Calender ONV=BE 459= 162/3AD
Obv: Bosphorean King Eupator
Rev: Dual Roman Emperors Marcus Aurelius/ Lucius Verus

The Bosphorean Kings where allied with Rome/ thus the current King/ would portray the Emperor on reverse.
Their Kingdom was around the Black Sea region.

 

Here's another favorite historical coin:


Tiberius (14-37 AD). Struck Medal, around 1550. Dies by Giovanni da Cavino. O / TI CAESAR AVGVSTI F IMPERATOR V. Bare head facing left with short beard. R / Altar of Lugdunum; below, ROMETAVG. Cease 86. Klawans pg. 27.2. Lawrence 5. Molinet pg. 95, IV. Montigny 4. Keary pg. 119. AE. RR. 36.00 mm.

I've written it up before, here. It is an original struck "paduan" copy of an ancient Roman sestertius of Tiberius.

What I love about this coin is how it encapsulates the entirety of the renaissance in a single object. It epitomizes the renaissance emulation of Classical art-- to the point of forgery. But it also captures the exquisite craftsmanship and artistry that are hallmarks of the period. It even hints at the proto-capitalist economy that created a market for forgeries.

 

Going back down market again, here is another little coin linked to misbehavior by Renaissance popes and their families:

Italy PESARO Giovanni Sforza Copper Soldo or Denaro n.d. (1498-1510)

Bastard son of Constanzo I Sforza and Fiore Boni, Giovanni inherited Pesaro at age 17 jointly with Constanzo's wife, Camilla of Aragon, who renounced her rights in 1489. In 1492 he contracted a marriage with Lucrezia Borgia,13 year old illegitimate daughter of Pope Alessandro VI (Rodrigo Borgia). Falling out with the Borgias, he was forced to annul marriage for 'non-consummation'. Driven out of Pesaro by Cesare Borgia in 1500, he was able to return in 1503 after the death of Alessandro VI.

 

Also to fill a popular slot of sestersii of the 12 Caesars as portrait sestersii of Tiberius are not among the most common coins..

My specimen:

ex Numismatic Fine Arts auction.

I photographed it with a penny as I wanted to show off the size: that it's not an As and is in fact a sesterius. The obv isn't bad but the reverse isn't too great. These were actually made, I think. around 12 AD, when under Augustus when he was forced to accept that his stepson: Tiberius would be the one to succeed him.

 

A coin from the start of the Thirty Years' War which devastated Germany

ESTATES OF BOHEMIA & MORAVIA Kipper 12 Kreuzer 1620 struck in Olmutz, Moravia

In 1555, the Peace of Augsburg had settled religious disputes in the Holy Roman Empire by enshrining the principle of Cuius regio, eius religio, allowing a prince to determine the religion of his subjects. The Kingdom of Bohemia since 1526 had been governed by Habsburg kings, who did not force their Catholic religion on their largely Protestant subjects. However, in 1617 Ferdinand of Styria (who would become Emperor as Ferdinand II in 1619) was elected king. He was a proponent of the Catholic Counter-Reformation. in 1618 he had the Emperor order the cessation of construction of some Protestant chapels on royal land in Bohemia. When the Bohemian estates protested against this order, Ferdinand had their assembly dissolved. A group of Protestant nobles went to confront Ferdinand's Regents in Prague Castle and ended up throwing two of them and their secretary out of a third floor window, the famous Defenestration of Prague (May 23 1618). They survived the 70-foot (21-metre) fall, according to Catholics thanks to angels or by the intercession of the Virgin Mary, who caught them, according to later Protestant pamphleteers due to their falling on to a dung heap.
The Defenestration of Prague of 1618 symbolized a decisive break between the Estates of Bohemia and Moravia and the Habsburgs. The Estates elected a government of thirty directors, ten from each estate, and hired an army of their own. At a Diet in Prague on 16 July 1619 they established a confederation of the Estates of Bohemia, Moravia, Upper and Lower Lusatia,and Silesia. The diet deposed Ferdinand, and elected as king the Calvinist Friedrich V, the Elector Palatine and the leader of the Protestant Union, a military alliance founded by his father. Twice during 1619 the Estates’ army attempted to take Vienna and failed. However, in 1620 Ferdinand II invaded Bohemia from the south, while the elector of Saxony threatened it from the north (the Saxon ruler, though Lutheran, had designs on the Lusatias and Silesia). The Estates’ armies had to fall back toward Prague. On an elevated site outside the city called White Mountain (Bila ´ Hora) the tired, poorly organized, and ill-paid soldiers of the Estates faced a slightly larger force loyal to Ferdinand. In a two-hour battle on November 8, 1620, they suffered a catastrophic defeat (the Battle of White Mountain). Friedrich fled. The rebellion of the Estates (and their independent coinage, like this coin) was over. The Thirty Years’ War, a broader conflict between the forces of the Catholic Emperor and Protestant opponents, had just begun.

 

THE TRIBULATIONS OF A BISHOP DURING THE 30 YEARS' WAR

Franz von Hatzfeld became a canon of Würzburg Cathedral in 1615 and later gained other church posts in Würzburg & Bamberg. He was elected Prince-Bishop of Würzburg in 1631.
During the 30 Years' War, Swedish troops under King Gustavus Adolphus occupied Bamberg and Franz von Hatzfeld fled to Cologne. On 20 June 1633 Swedish High Chancellor Oxenstierna combined Bamberg and Würzburg into a "Duchy of Franconia" for Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar, one of Gustavus Adolphus' generals. On 4 August 1633 the cathedral chapter of Bamberg Cathedral (who had escaped to the Duchy of Carinthia) elected Franz von Hatzfeld Prince-Bishop of Bamberg. Following the Swedish defeat at Nördlingen on 5–6 September 1634, Franz von Hatzfeld returned to Würzburg in Nov.1634.

Bishopric of WURZBURG Franz von Hatsfeld Taler 1638

The reverse legend CUSTODES_INVICTI_PATRIAE (The unconquered guardians of the homeland) refers to the Bishop's wars with Sweden.

 

A 20 lepta coin of the Cretan State, which only issued coins from 1900 to 1901. My maternal grandmother's family had a HUGE role in the formation of the Cretan State in 1898. Bear with me here.
Eleutherios Venizelos (the leader of the Cretan revolt for independence from Turkey and later Prime Minister and President of Greece) and my maternal grandmother’s family were VERY close. In fact, he used to bounce my grandmother on his knee when she was a little girl! Bear with me here and I will relate a little bit about what my family had to do with him.

Nicholas Stratigakis was my great-great grandfather. Around 1850, he and his brother moved from Sirikari to Plakoures, Chania. His brother, Gerasimos IV (Stratigakis), was a monk and became the abbot at the famous Ayia Triada Tzangaloron monastery in Chania. In 1860, he was elected Metropolitan of Kissamos. He was exiled to Athens by the Turks for his heavy involvement in the uprisings of 1866. When he was exiled to Athens, he took three of Nicholas’ children with him for the purpose of their education: George, who studied law, Marigo (Mary), who became a teacher, and Michael (my great-grandfather) who studied architecture and Byzantine music.

My great-great grandparents had 8 children. I will only mention the ones who are most relevant to the topic. They were George, Emmanuel, Hariklia, and Michael Stratigakis.

George was a lawyer and ran against and defeated Venizelos for Court of Appeals Judge in 1888. Even though they were opponents then, Venizelos became close friends with my family. George, along with Venizelos, headed a rebel group called the White Mountaineers, and published a newspaper called “The Voice of the Enslaved”. It was at this time that George began teaching Venizelos English. George was the most prominent and active member of the Committee for the Defense of Crete, and from Athens he oversaw (covertly) the shipment of arms, including handling the expenses, transport, and maintenance, to Venizelos and the rebels.

Emmanuel was one of the initial organizers of the rebel camp at Akrotiri (1/20/1897, mentioned in the Wiki bio of Venizelos), and fought in the battle of 2/2/1897 near Korakies. As a member of the revolutionary committee, he signed, along with Venizelos and the other committee members, the protest of the bombing of Christians by the Great Powers (also in the Wiki bio of Venizelos) .

Hariklia was, in the words of my relatives in Greece, “a very dynamic woman”. Space does not permit me here to tell more about her. At the time of the battle at the village of Prophet Elias (Akrotiri), she transported water and ammo to the rebel military camp. More on this battle below.

Michael was my great-grandfather. He was an expert chanter and teacher of Byzantine music, and was a farmer and beekeeper. He participated in these events also, but apparently in a somewhat lesser role.

After slaughters, looting, and arson by the Turks in Chania on 1/25/1897, about 250 Christians took over the areas of the villages of Agios Matheos (St. Matthew), Prophet Elias (Elijah) and Monte Vardia, thus cutting off the Akrotiri peninsula and allowing the rebels under Venizelos to attack the Turkish forces there.

The deliberations in Constantinople over the Cretan question resulted in 2 proposed solutions:

1) Union with Greece, supported by the majority of Cretans and the representatives in the Cretan General Assembly;

2) Independence (autonomy), supported by the minority of Cretans, the Great Powers, and Venizelos.

In January of 1898, the General Assembly (Congress) of Crete was moved from Melidoni, Milopotami to our family’s estate in Plakoures, Chania. On Jan. 20 of that year, the Assembly convened there (see photo) . Venizelos and the autonomists had by then succeeded in changing the opinion of both the public and the Assembly to favor autonomy, because the Great Powers could not agree about union with Greece. Autonomy was declared and unanimously ratified; and the paperwork was signed by all parties on our family’s dining room table! The Assembly appointed Prince George of Greece as High Commissioner, a decision Venizelos later regretted, as the article says. (We knew the Prince, too—he unsuccessfully tried to sway Hariklia over to his side after he and Venizelos had their falling out.)

 

1867 Hungary medallic ducat, minted to celebrate the coronation of Franz Joseph I. Whats neat about this coin is that there are four major varieties, two depicting Franz Joseph, one with latin inscriptions, and another with Hungarian inscriptions. The other type features the same reverse type, but with the bust of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary on the other side. It would be neat to have the full set commemorating the coronation of the King and Queen of Hungary.

 

HUNGARY Ferenc Rakoczi II & the Malcontents 20 Poltura 1705

Hungary was long discontent with Habsburg rule. When Emperor Leopold I withdrew nearly all his troops due to his involvement with the War of the Spanish Succession, there was an immediate rebellion. The rebels were known as the Malcontents. Ferenc Rakoczi II was elected prince by the Diet in 1704. . Even though his armies were large, they were ill-equipped and without artillery. After the Austrians and the English defeated the French at Blenheim, the emperor sent an army into Hungary and badly defeated Rakoczi in 1705. Two diets still deposed the Habsburgs in 1707 and formed an interim government under Rakoczi until a national king could be elected. Leopold's successor, Joseph I, defeated Rakoczi again in 1708 but a guerilla war continued. Joseph died in 1711 and his brother and successor Karl VI restored peace on the base of a general amnesty.

To finance his armies, Rakoczi created a new copper-based coinage in 1704 but it was not easily accepted in Hungary as people were used to silver coins.

 

Very interesting, was the "20" at the base intended to be 20 kruzers? What was the size & weight of these pieces?

 

20 Poltura. 36 mm. 16.49 g. Cu.

Here is the history of the poltura, according to Wikipedia:

The poltura is a historic Hungarian monetary unit that was struck under the Hungarian rulers Leopold I, Joseph I, Francis II Rákóczi, Charles III and Maria Theresa. Its forerunner was the Polish półtorak, a coin equal to one and one-half grosz (półtora means one and a half in Polish).

After 1526 (see Battle of Mohács) Poland gained a greater role in the reorganized economy and foreign trade of Hungary. As a result an increasing number of Polish small coins flew into the country. In Royal Hungary, Leopold I was the first who struck silver poltura on the influence of the Polish poltorak. The value of the coin was equal to ½ Groschen (Hungarian: garas) or 1½ Kreuzer (krajczár). Although even Charles III made preparations to mint poltura of copper (evidenced by trial strikes), finally it was Maria Theresa who ordered minting of copper poltura coins by the imperial patent of 27 March 1761. Joseph II, her successor did not mint polturas any more.

Under Rákóczi, polturas were initially struck from silver, but purchasing of arms required bigger and bigger portion of the noble metal reserves. Consequently, copper 1, 10 and 20 poltura coins were stuck for the inner circulation (4 poltura coins are only known as trial strikes) to replace silver coins, these can therefore be considered as emergency money. The general design included the small coat of arms of Hungary with the Holy Crown for the obverse and Madonna with the child Christ for the reverse. The coins also featured indication of year of minting and value, as well as mintmark. The most common denomination was the ten poltura coin, which was colloquially called libertás for the Latin inscription PRO LIBERTATE (for liberty).

 

Haven't had time to format this coin yet, but it is a pretty neat numismatic story. Oftentimes, collectors overlook these cast chinese coins. They bring good value however, especially in the higher denominations and rare emperors.
This following 10 cash was minted under Emperor Tianqi, of the Ming Dynasty. Whats interesting is that Emperor Tianqi was 15 and illerate, rare for an emperor of that time. He had no interest in running the kingdom however, he was instead a dedicated carpenter. He was apparently one of the most skilled carpenters in Chinese history as well. He had his servants sell his pieces undercover, and they would sell for extravagant prices on the markets. Sadly, no examples of his pieces are believed to exist.
He was a great carpenter, but he entrusted the care of China to horrible officials, who were terrible in power.



1621-27 Ming Dynasty China, Xizong Emperor. AE 10 Liang, Miyun mint in Zhili Province. Ex CNG 453, Lot 691.

 

QUEEN IN NAME ONLY: The Sad Fate of Joanna the Mad of Spain

On the death of her mother Isabel in 1504, Juana la Loca (Joanna the Mad) became Queen of Castile, with her husband Philip the Handsome of Flanders who however died in 1506. Juana was forced by her father Ferdinand to give up her royal power over Castile in Aug. 1507. Ferdinand was named administrator of the kingdom by the Cortes of Castile in 1510, He had had Joanna confined in the Royal Palace in Tordesillas, near Valladolid in Castile, in February 1509. Nevertheless, he left all his kingdoms, including Aragon, to Juana & her son Carlos jointly when he died in 1516. However, Carlos I kept her imprisoned in Tordesillas. She would die there in 1555. Carlos I was also elected Holy Roman Emperor as Charles V in 1519.

Here is a coin issued jointly in the name of Juana and Carlos, with a crowned I (oana) and crowned K (arolus)

Spain ARAGON Juana & Carlos 1/2 Real n.d. Zaragoza mint

 

Just wanted to mention that the International Numismatic Conference will be held in Warsaw, Poland from 11-16 September, 2022. Note 2022: NOT 2020 nor 2021.
link is here: https://inc2022.pl/#the_Congress

Some write-up taken from their site is below. I plan to attend even tho it's still some ways off. Thus if anyone from here plans to go, send me an email and perhaps we can meet there.

I'll probably try to cajole my family into going with me. As J&J have a vaccine for covid and deployment should start in the next couple of months, by 2022 I expect there to be no problems.
====================================================

The International Congress, which takes place every six years, represents the world renowned event in the field of Numismatics. It is attended by a great number of people and attracts scholars, curators of coin collections, auction houses and auction dealers from the five Continents. The Congress forms a part of the politics for the promotion, conservation, valorization and fruition of the material and immaterial Cultural Heritage.

Oh, a disclaimer: I'm not associated with the conference in any way. I'm of Polish ethnicity and a little proud of how well the country seems to be doing. I may seek to present a numismatic paper there which will NOT be about Polish coinage.

 

Here is a very significant Renaissance coin I recently acquired. I just posted an exceedingly long write-up in the ancient coin section, so rather than repeat myself I'll let you read about it there: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/two-classicizing-renaissance-rarities.363713/

 

Germany BAVARIA Elector Karl Albert (1726-45) as Emperor Karl VII (1743-45) Reichstaler (so called Kaisertaler) 1743 Munich mint

Karl Albert (or Albrecht) married Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria, daughter of Emperor Joseph I, in 1722. When Emperor Karl VI died in 1740 without a son and left his territories to his daughter Maria Theresia, Charles rejected the so-called Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 allowing female succession and claimed the German territories of the Habsburg dynasty for himself. He allied himself with France and Spain against Austria in the War of the Austrian Succession. He was unanimously elected "King of the Romans" on 24 January 1742 (one of the electors was George II, King of England, in his capacity as Elector of Hanover) and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor on 12 February 1742. He was the first non-Habsburg emperor since 1440 (although the Habsburgs would soon get the Imperial title back).

However, the Austrians had not been defeated and shortly after the coronation most of Karl Albert's territories were overrun by Austrian troops. The emperor fled Munich and resided for almost three years in Frankfurt. This showed how symbolic and powerless the institution of Holy Roman Emperor had become.

Karl was able to return to Munich in April 1743 but was then driven out again. However, after Frederick the Great of Prussia launched the Second Silesian War against Austria, Austrian troops were withdrawn from Bavaria and Karl was finally able to return to Munich in October 1744, only to die in January 1745.

Karl's son and successor Maximilian III Joseph made peace with Austria. Maria Theresia's husband, Franz Stefan of Lorraine was elected Holy Roman Emperor on 13 September 1745 as Franz I. Maria Theresia inherited the Habsburg dominions and ruled them as an absolute ruler, although her husband and after his death her eldest son, Emperor Joseph II, were officially her co-rulers in Austria and Bohemia.

 

In 1626 Gustav II Adolf of Sweden decided to intervene in the Thirty Years' War raging in Germany. He shipped a large army from Livonia to Prussia and seized Elbing (today Elbląg in Poland) and various other Baltic ports, sent their treasures back to Sweden and tapped the Vistula river trade for customs duties. While controlling Elbing he struck coins with his coat of arms on one side and the city arms on the other, such as this one:

City of ELBING Gustav II Adolf of Sweden (1626-32) Reichstaler 1628

The Swedish king in due course became heavily involved in Germany on the Protestant side and was finally killed at the battle of Lützen in 1632. His successor, Queen Christina, signed the Treaty of Stuhmsdorf in 1635 with Wladyslaw IV (Ladislaus in German, sometimes Vladislav in English, take your pick), King of Poland, under pressure from other major powers. Elbing and the other Baltic ports were restored to Poland in return for the confirmation of Christina's rule in Livonia.

On January 12 1636 the city paid formal homage to King Wladyslaw, who recognized their traditional privileges in return for 100,000 zlotys (or gulden) as compensation for betraying him during the Swedish invasion (not that they had any choice). The city also struck this Stuhmsdorf Peace Taler to commemorate the occasion. It is a beautiful coin and has two interesting special features. It has two dates on the obverse, 1635 (the year of the treaty) at the top and 1636 ( the year of Wladyslaw's visit) below the arms divided by the wings of the dragonfly (I am not quite sure if that is the correct insect). Secondly, Wladyslaw was descended on his father's side from the Swedish royal family and the reverse legend includes the titles of hereditary king of Sweden, Gotland and Vandalia, despite the fact that Wladyslaw had agreed at Stuhmsdorf to drop his claim during the 26 year life of the treaty.

City of ELBING Stuhmsdorf Peace Taler 1635/6



This was not the end of the story. The Swedes would be back ! Another Swedish king, Karl X Gustav, took Elbing in 1655 and held it until 1660. His grandson, Karl XII, captured Elbing in 1703 and held it till 1710.

 

Thanks for posting coins/ great history lesson. Karl XII was known as the looser at Poltava. But upto that climatic battle he beat all foes, including Peter I of Russia.

 

Yes, but, like all these great warrior kings, he left his country financially exhausted.