Completing my pickups from the Richmond show are three lesser coins. Oldest is a 138 BC Republican with Roma and the common reverse of the Dioscuri. What attracted me to the coin was the old letter form of P open at the bottom so it is really half way between the Greek pi and the Latin P. The coin was issued by Publius Aelius Paetus so we get two good P examples. The coin was made cheaper by the retained encrustations on both sides which show worse in my photo than in hand. The other two are medieval deniers of the Crusaders. Common and popular is Bohemund III of Antioch 1163-1201 AD famous for the absolute worst portrait style of a knight in helmet facing left. The legends are readable (BOAMVNDVS/ANTIO CIVITA) if you know what they are to start with but not so much otherwise. This coin shows a knight in shining armor but I assume he had his visor down since it is really hard to find anything you might call a face. There are some better and some worse. Finally is a denier of Duke Guy II of Athens 1294-1308 AD. In this case I'm calling the cross side the obverse since that side has the royal name (GVI DVX ATENOS). The reverse has the mint of Thebes (ThEBAN CIVES) around a castle tournois which is seriously compromised by the thin flan having given all its metal to the cross so you can see a negative image of the cross x-ing out the castle. On the other side, between the arms of the cross you see elements of the castle. Both of these coins were thin and, interestingly to me, both weight exactly 0.76g. Guy's coin really suffered from the ghosting making it a fine example of not so fine work. The coin is a thousand years after what we call late Romans and almost two thousand years after the start of coinage in Athens. Progress? As medievals go, these are pretty easy to read. That may be why I have so few European medieval coins. Both are common coins. Before I went to the show, I had ordered by mail a coin I liked better than these but the post office is not as good for instant gratification as shows so I'm hoping it will arrive tomorrow (or at least I'm hoping it will arrive someday). That is another thing I like about shows.
I haven't gotten into the medieval coins, but I like the Bohemund III denier. Instead of a visor, however, I always assumed it was just the nose guard to the left
They're all pretty cool, but I too think that the first Crusader-coin is my favourite, Bohemund III of Antioch (yah, I'm pretty sure that I recall being quite jealous of Eng's example as well?) ... Three winners!! (a successful day of hunting)
Wonderful coins! If the RR is your idea of an also-ran, I've got to up my standards. That coin would be a jewel in my collection.
Isn't the republican coin the one that sometimes has a dog on the reverse? Sort of a trademark of the moneyer?
I almost bought this coin today but bailed because of some "abrasion" on the obverse....tooling mark. But I do like me some doggie ancients!
Although I think Doug's open-P's are pretty cool, I must admit that the dog is an added bonus (well, at least to this animal-coin guy) ... are both coins from the same moneyer? => AR tooling, eh? (you don't seem to see nearly as much AR tooling, compared to AE tooling, eh?) ... or am I missing something?
I'm not seeing anything funky about that denarius, JB. Which abrasions are you referring to? All I'm seeing are some minor scratches from wear.
