Crusader Coinage

Last week, I received this beautiful auction catalog dedicated to Crusader coins in their broadest sense. It's from the Erich Wäckerlin collection that is to be auctioned by Münzen & Medaillen in Germany on May 23. The catalog I received is in English. They are connected with Numisbids and Sixbids (don't use that site though!).

So wide and encompassing the spread of the collection, and so excellent the photos, that I won't take part in this area but stay content with the catalogue itself (and the few examples I have, where they touch other interests like contemporary islamic and Italian coinage). So if it is your cup of tea, wake up, fellow coin lovers!

 

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This coin (a gold augustalis) would fit excellently in my collection. It dates from 1231-1250 AD, but you may read the inscription: CESAR AVG IMP ROM / FRIDE RICVS. Frederick II basks in the splendor of the Roman Empire of a thousand years before him.


The gaze of Frederick represents mine, longing for a coin like this. But the expression of the eagle parallels mine, when thinking of the contents of my purse...

 

So I am new to medieval coinage. I do have a few crusader coins to share, but was wondering what are the parameters to just what qualifies as a "crusader" coin in the broadest sense be a more conservative sense?
Here are a few of my new base deniers recently won in a lot.
The first one I am really happy to have as it is of the Hospitalers. They were contemporaries with (and even teamed up with in battle) the Templars!...except they didn't perform all of those...unique rituals.



Knights of St. John of Malta (Hospitalers). Alois de Wignacourt, 1601-1622 AD. Æ 3 Piccioli. 3 with legend around / Arms. RS.49v. VF, green patina



Manfredi
Medieval Sicily, Messina. 1258-1266. BI denaro (17.22 mm, .85 g, 11 h). Struck 1263-1266. + MAYNFRID, legend around large gothic M / +. REX. SICILIE , legend around cross pattèe. Spahr 215.
Ex: Timeline Auction



Corradino di Svevia
Medieval Coins ITALY. Sicily. (1254-1258/68). Ae Denaro. Messina.
Obv: Eagle standing left, head right, with wings spread.
Rev: Cross pattée over long cross.
Spahr 168 var. (rev. legend); MEC 14, 591-3 var. (same). Very fine.0.80 g.: 16 mm.
Ex: Timeline Auction





Frederick II
House of Hohenstaufen (1194-1268), (King of Sicily, 1198–1250 King of Germany, 1212-1220 Emperor, 1220-1250), Denaro, Messina or Brindisi, 1214 BI (g 0,66 mm 15 h 12) FREDERIC REX, eagle above, crescent, Rv. + RGNI SICILIE, eight rays star around, pellets. Spahr 91 MEC XIV, 502 Travaini 12. Rare
Ex: Timeline Auction



Henry III-V
Italy, Lucca. 1039-1125. AR denaro (16 mm, 0.96 g, 12 h). + IMPERATOR, monogram of Otto / + EИRICVS, LVCA around central pellet. Biaggi 1056; Metcalf 10-15. Very fine. Ex Time line 34 (March 2019),
These small deniers from Luca often turn up in the Levant, indicating their extensive use by crusaders. Ex: Timeline Auc

 

Thanks for sharing! I have a couple targets in mind

 

There is no definitive and singular perspective about what constitutes "crusader coins." But there are two main directions, both part of pretty much the same convention:

1. Coins minted by a Latin (i.e. Western European) authority in the territories acquired and settled by the Crusaders in the Eastern Mediterranean, wrestled back into Christian control after the islamic invansions that had started in the 7th century. Some consider the crusading period to be ending with the fall of Acre in 1291 and only take into consideration the eastern Levantine areas of modern day South-East Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and the small and ill-fated attempts into North Africa.

2. Coins minted by a Latin authority in territories acquired and settled by Westerners in the Eastern Mediterranean space at large, thus including territories occupied after 1204 from the Eastern Roman Empire and the Italian trade colonies in the Archipelago and the Black Sea. By this more inclusive perspective, all mintings by a Western authority or interest in the East (regardless of who (if any) had ruled there before that) are "crusader coins" even if the rulers and settlers minting and using these coins were not crusaders per se. It includes the Frankokratia and subsequent Italian interests in peninsular and insular Greece, Cyprus, Thrace, the Adriatic coast, the Black Sea usw. There are also discussions about adding the dominions of the German Order (Teutons) in Central Europe. About the dating of this more broader idea, a generic terminus ante quem could be 1522-30: the Ottoman conquest of Rhodes and the granting of Malta to the Hospitallers.

But you will not find a single book covering all of this.

There are other perspectives as well, most notably the even broader one including the Christian Spanish states during the Reconquista (until about 1492) or the Norman states in Italy starting from the 11th century.

 

I had one cool Crusader coin (Bohemund VII of Tripolis) 1275-1287 that turned out to be a fake unfortunately.

This is the same coin... just an authentic one:

 

That is a very nice catalogue @Pellinore I completely understand the danger posed by well done auction catalogues. I have some outliers in my collection for that very reason.

@Ryro those are some very nice coins. Fredrick II is one of those historical figures that I would love to start collecting. I really like your coin of Manfred too.

I tend to hold to the more open definition of what constitutes Crusader coinage, in line with the second view that Seth laid out. The Kingdom of Cyprus, Duchy of Athens, and Knights of St. John on Rhodes are the direct result of the Crusades. Even with the fall of Acre in 1291 western Christendom did not abandon the idea of a crusade and to take the more narrow view is to impose an artificial distinction that didn't exist. It will be interesting to see what is included in M.E.C. 16 The Latin East.

I'll add a coin from a newly favorite collecting area; the Northern Crusades. Here is a coin minted by the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Knights.

 

It was an incredibly lively auction with almost all lots going for many times over their estimates. As a matter of fact this auction had one of the most conservative estimates I've seen in years. But besides the incredible selection of coins, what I had my eye on was the book collection, which was a real treasure trove for a numismatist interested in the Crusader era and the Italian maritime empires.

 

So, no one got anything in this extraordinary auction?

 

Indeed. It was a very important crusader coins auction over the last few years. Got six coins on auction and few after sale. Including three from Sidon and one Antioch with great provenance - Slocum collection and then Malloy .

 

Congrats, let's see them!

 

Crusaders . Principality of Antioch, Late Anonymous 1250-1268 AE
15.4 mm , 0.32 g.
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
Seltman, NC 1966, p. 61, 2 var.; CCS 132 var.
Ex Slocum Collection, Sotheby's, London, Auction of March 6th, 1997, lot 164 ; ex collection of Alex G. Malloy ; Forum Ancient Coins,April 2013 ; Ex Erich Wäckerlin collection
Ex Münzen & Medaillen GmbH
Auction 47 lot 160 .

 

Crusaders. Lordship of Sidon.Mid- to Late Thirteenth Century.AE-Pougeoise
0.69 g.
Building surmounted by a cross.
Arrow between pellets.
Metc. -, Schlumb. V, 6, MPS p. 156, 6.

Bought from V. C. Vecchi & Sons, London, in Oct. 1977.
Ex Erich Wäckerlin collection
Ex Münzen & Medaillen GmbH
Auction 47 lot 34

 

Not in good shape, but extremely rare
Crusaders . Lordship of Sidon.Mid- to Late Thirteenth Century.AE-Pougeoise
0.55 g.
Arrow between pellets.
Six- pointed star with pellets at the ends of the rays.
Metc. p. 90, 5, Schlumb. V, 5, MPS p. 157, 7.
Ex Alex G. Malloy, South Salem, Auction XI, New York, Dec, 8, 1977, lot 485.
Ex Erich Wäckerlin collection
Ex Münzen & Medaillen GmbH
Auction 47 lot 33

 

I had my eyes on the middle pougeoise, good catch. It's one of the better specs for the type.

 

I have another three of this type in my collection.
Crusaders, Tripoli, Sidon or Other Uncertain Syrian City, 1250 - 1268 .
AE - Pougeoise . 0.63 g
Obverse : Uncertain blundered Arabic legend, cross pommeté, pellets in upper left and lower right quarters.
Reverse : uncertain blundered Arabic legend, six-rayed chrismon

CCS 35 .
Ex Byzantium Coins, Wolfgang Leimenstoll, Gundelfingen, April 2011.
Ex Erich Wäckerlin collection
Ex Münzen & Medaillen GmbH
Auction 47 lot 67

 

Glad to see another fellow Crusader States coinage enthusiast.

 

Are you talking about this one ? Not mine

 

No, I was talking about yours, the one you won from Munzen & Medaillen.

If you are interested in the coinage of Sidon, I have an entry on the denier of Sidon here: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/se...the-kingdom-of-jerusalem.336728/#post-3458118

 

There are not many of us
Here is one of the jewels in my collection