Medieval Monday!

...i can see someones been hittin' the bottle again....

 

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Nope, even as metaphor (which is how it was intended), it was just a little more nuanced than that! Both the taifas, and the likes of Leon-Castile and Aragon /Barcelona, had Lots of other contributing demographic factors going on. Not unlike what you're looking at today, in various parts of the world. ...As an adherent of exactly one of them, I find it imperative to make the necessary distinctions between religion per se, and other, no less immediate social, political and cultural dynamics. In the smoke of battle, it's easy to conflate the two. Given which, I'm sorry for having used the phrase, 'Christian chimpanzees,' instead of something more accurate, which would have taken several more adjectives. ...On a rhetorical level, I was doing exactly what I just got through excoriating. Time for some Dumb Pie --piping hot from the oven.

 

From Wäckerlin coin description :
A-N-T-V counterclockwise in the angles of a long cross pattée
blundered A-N-T-I in the angles of a long cross pattée
CCS 132 variation.

Before that, this coin was at FORUM from the Malloy collection- an unpublished variety of an extremely rare type .

And before that it was in the Slocum collection . It was sold at Sotheby's auction on March 6th, 1997. Lot 164 with two similar coins.
Described as N-A-T-I / N-A-I-T

 

That's an amazing array of late Crusader AE, @VD76, congrats! Besides the ex Slocum-Malloy-Wäckerlin coin, I see you also have the Zeno 91549 that I cited!

What's the coin in the middle of the bottom row? Looks familiar, but I can't place it...

 

Beneventum/ DUX
Arichis II DUX 758-68
AV Triens ND
Beneventum Mint
DNSVI CTORIA
Crowned/ Bearded Bust facing/ wearing Chalmys/ holding Globus Cruciger
VITIRΔ ΔγVTV
CONOB in exergue
1.31g. 15mm. .500 6h
BMC Vandals 168.8 Sambon 414 Grierson 1094

 

Greetings Medievalians.....i have a denier of Louis IX...AND...i learn now, that this coin also covers his pappy, Louis VIII...according to what i've learned recently, these coins were minted by both L8 & by L9 in the fore part of his reign.....heck ole L8 was even king of England for a spell...he only reigned for a short 3 years, but ya gotta admit, they knew he was around ..this coin was the 1st of the Louies, being that i was born in St. Louis, a city named after him, Louis IX Denier, louis Vlll,(king of France, 1223-1226) early reign louis XI.(1226-1270), legends: LVDOVICVS REX/ TVRONVS CIVI, 19mm, 0.94gms

 

Wowzers! What a coin! Though I think the attribution isn't quite right... looking at MEC 1, the obverse appears to be the earliest Arichis II type (holding cross and akakia), held over from his predecessor Liutprand (751-758). That would make it Class I (758-765), for which there isn't an example in MEC. The legend on the obverse is D N – – IN P P; the "VICTORIA" legend that you list was added after Arichis's victory over the Neapolitans in 765 (or so says Grierson). And the reverse appears to read VITIRΔ ΔGVTI, slightly different from what you've got there.

My only Principality of Beneventum coin is a denaro of Sico (817-32), MEC 1107:

 

Thanks for that great info/ I will note that when making my data label. That coin is from recent Gadboury Auction/ Collection of Fernand David/ prominent French Industrialist 1861-1927.
John

 

Richard III boar's head groat

 

One that just got here: Bishopric of Erfurt, Luitpold von Bogen, Archbishop of Mainz 1051-1059.

I'm a pushover for architectural motifs on Salian-era coins. This example compares favorably with the one in Dannenberg (882). He doesn't identify the guy in the church facade, but in Western iconography of the period, St. Peter is generally the one with the Afro. (...Okay, Jewfro.)

 

I do love that ‘fro…

 

You can also be more mid-'70's /Richard Pryor, and just call it a big natural.

 

John II, Comnenus. AD 1118-1143.. AV hyperpyron (30 mm, 4.39 gm). Thessalonica. Christ seated facing on throne with back. Rev: Facing figures of the Virgin and John. SB 1949. EF. Graffiti on reverse

I think this is my only non-debased Hyperpyron, purchased when gold was somewhat cheaper.

 

The Manuel Hyperpyron is the one I've always wanted. However, an affordable example of this one came along. And I thought the price of gold was high in 2009...

How much would the melt value be on a 4.5g Solidus, so I can figure what the markup is on coins offered?

 

I think you cannot equate melt value when talking about numismatic coins. An Aureus contains $500 in gold/ but can be valued from 10-200X in auctions. I got a AV 1/12 Dukat from Breslau/ HRE Josef I (gold value $5) numismatic hammer price 3400 euros.

 

That is a very clear example of this scarce type. Most I've seen don't have a full face on the saint. Nice catch!

Since it's Monday, I'm going to show my lastest acquisition, which is only my second medieval coin this year. Like most of my 2022 purchases so far, it was a "snack" under 30 USD.

Minting of the Prague groschen began around 1300 after the discovery of silver mined in Kutná Hora. These rich silver sources enabled Bohemia to supply large parts of late medieval Poland and Germany with silver, giving it an economic key position. As illustrated by the frequency of countermarked examples, the Prague groschen became an important Central European trade coin.

My new example was struck under Vladislaus II, who played an important moderating role in the the Hussite conflicts in Bohemia:

Kingdom of Bohemia, Vladislaus II of Hungary, AR groschen, 1471–1516 AD, Kuttenberg mint. +DEI GRATIA + REX BOEMIE; WLADISLAVS SECVNDVS; crown. Rev: *+* GROSSI + PRAGENSES; Bohemian lion prancing l. 26mm, 2.63g. Ref: Dornebauer 947; Saurma 407.

My new coin is an upgrade on the groschen below that I bought some six years ago. It has better legends but, as often seen with this type, shows an unattractive weak strike in the center.

Kingdom of Bohemia, Vladislaus II of Hungary, AR groschen, 1471–1516 AD, Kuttenberg mint. +DEI GRATIA + REX BOEMIE; WLADISLAVS SECVNDVS; crown. Rev: *+* GROSSI + PRAGENSES; Bohemian lion prancing l. 25mm, 2.38g. Ref: Dornebauer 947; Saurma 407.

 

I’ll pile on with my sole Prague groschen which I grabbed last year:

Bohemia
Johann von Luxemburg, r. 1310-1346 (1311-1318)
AR Groschen, 28.71 mm x 3.53 grams
Obv.: +DEI : GRATIA ♦︎ REX BOEMIE in outer circle, +IOHANNES : PRIMVS in inner circle, surrounding type 3 crown
Rev.: *+*GROSSI PRAGENSES, type 2 lion left
Ref.: Frynas B.27.2; De Wit 2783; Lanz Graz XIII, 685

 

...i thought that name rang a bell...Vladislaus ll was son of Elizabeth von Habsburg and father of Louis ll...

 

This is a horrible coin from the period when billon for the petty coinage was getting "noir" again because of debasement (this one is actually of decent title by the looks tho), but very rare: a denier for Jeanne de Savoie as Viscountess of Limoges (1329-1334). She was the third wife of Jean III, the last Dreux count of Brittany, from which she held Limoges in fief until 1334 and afterwards kept the revenue of the viscounty until 1341 at the death of Jean. She also lay claim to her ancestral domain of Savoie in 1330 and relinquished it in 1338.


AR16x15mm 0.79g billon denier, minted in the city of Limoges, cca. 1330-1334.
+ IhA DVXIT º BRIT º; field separated in 4 quarters, 1st and 4th quarter the coat of arms of the Duchy of Bretagne (three mouchetures d'hermine) and 2nd and 3rd quarter the coat of arms of Dreux family.
VIC º LEMOVICEn º; cross, coat of arms of Savoy (cross potent) in 2nd quarter.
Boudeau 404, p. 52, Poey d'Avant 2320, Jezequel L10


The whole story of her standing as duchess of Brittany, viscountess in Limoges and her claim in Savoy is neatly present in the heraldic devices of this coin: the Dreux-Bretagne coat-of-arms on the obverse and the Savoy cross potent in the second quarter of the reverse.

 

This one's on the early end of medieval...


Heraclius, 610-641, Gold Solidus, Sear-734, MIB-8a, Officina-H, struck 613-616 at Constantinople, 4.42 grams, 20.9 mm. Nice VF

Obv: D D N N HERACLIUS ET HERA CONST P P AVG - Facing busts of Heraclius with short beard on left and Heraclius Constantine beardless on right, each wearing chlamys and elaborate crown with cross, cross above between

Rev: VICTORIA AVGU - Cross potent on three steps, CONOB in exergue

Nicely centered with fully lustrous 'mint state' surfaces, but a bit unevenly struck with the left side of both surfaces missing. 'M' graffiti in the upper obverse field is noted for accuracy. Still a pleasing example with an especially nice portrait of Heraclius.
(ex Glenn W. Woods and his description/pic).

This coin cost $429 in 2009, and I thought gold was high then!

I do rather enjoy Heraclius' portrait and this common issue is one of my favorites of the Byzantine series.

I really wanted a beardless Constans. I can't remember if I bought one; I remember being on the cusp of buying one at a 2009 coin show, but I put it away when I spied the 'Jerusalem' solidus. It doesn't appear that I bought any on vcoins.