Take That Coronavirus, Houston Coin Show Finds

We have had plenty of event cancellations this week: Houston Rodeo, Houston Rockets and Astros games, San Jacinto Day (a bid deal to our coin club)....... Lucky for me (unless I get sick) the Houston Spring Coin Show was open today and will be open Saturday, 3/14. Two of my favorite ancient coin dealers were there.
I found two coins that fit my collecting area and one surprise. The pic below shows my coins for the week. Two are scale coins from Cool Coins, one was a gift from a club member and three are from the show. I decided it was time to buy one of the excellent Owls on the market these days. This one fits the bill: excellent high relief dies, well centered, good metal, no wear, important features on the coin..... I thought @TIF 's shirt made a good background.



Houston's Spring Coin Show
West Oaks Fellowship Event Center
14440 Richmond Ave.
Houston, TX 77082
March 13 (Friday 11am-6pm)
March 14 (Saturday 9am-5pm)
832-444-4808

 

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It's only a matter of time before we see a coronavirus slabbed coin!

 

wow, those are some really nice coins!

 

Grabbed this image from Facebook... well done...

 

does the inclusion of the t-shirt mean you'll be setting that owl free?

 

Were there quite a few dealers there? What about the crowd size? I was wanting to attend tomorrow. Is it right at Hwy. 6 and Richmond? Nice coins.

 

I hope you don't mind but I saved that!

 

Whoa! That Athens tet is outstanding!

 

Those are some nice finds RRdenarius. Was it busy or like a first time un picked coin shop or collection?

 

The show had 6 dealer no-shows out of 40 or so scheduled. There were dealers of US, bullion, foreign, paper and ancient. The crowd was modest, more when I arrived at noon, and not so many near closing. If you want to see Nick at Pegasi on Sat, go before noon.
The show is about a block from Hwy 6 on the north side of Richmond. The event center is good.

 

Looks like a good haul @rrdenarius

 

I'm glad you had a good time at the show and managed to acquire such a fantastic owl!

Also, that's an interesting medieval Sicilian coin. I don't immediately recognize it. Is it Manfred of Hohenstaufen?

 

The tag on the holder says yes. I know nothing about these. I could not find any in acsearch. I did find 2 on ebay.


House of Hohenstaufen (1194-1268 AD)
Manfred, King of Sicily, 1258-1266 AD
BI Denaro, Messina, 1258-1266
0.69 gr. / 14.6 mm

 

The Manfred is very much like this one

You may know but that is a cut Pegasi/Spartan tag.

 

@dadams is absolotulely correct. Your coin is MIR 483 – there are some examples on acsearch, see here. This is not a common coin.

 

The allebroges quinarius is nice as well!

 

I found interest in the fact that I was not the only one confused as to which side is up. Your coin and one from Stephen Album does not see the obverse as an M as do the others on acsearch (from the Orielensis link).
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=1968775

 

That's an interesting observation. Medieval monograms on coins usually are deciphered by comparison with initials in contemporary manuscript illumination. Depending on which side is up, the coin allows for three readings.

Here, the obvious reading would be an "M" for Manfred. The initial below from Morgan Library, MS M.193, fol. 473r (France, ca. 1200–1250) is pretty much a standard letter shape. This is the interpretation I find most convincing:


Secondly, the coin can be rotated by 90 degree, so that the letter appears as a "B". This letter might, for example, stand for Beatrice of Savoy, Manfred's first wife. Yet, Beatrice had died before 1259 – therefore, this is a long stretch. Compare this example from Frankfurt, Städel Museum, 17216 Z (Rhineland, 13th c.):



Finally, it could be rotated by 180 degree and show an ornamented "T." I have no idea what this letter could stand for. The letter shape below is quite typical – it already appears in the famous 11th century manuscript Merseburg, Domstiftsbibliothek, Cod. I, 129 (the second image below).




Maybe more than one of these readings was intended? We can't know, but the idea is charming.