A Souvenir from Paris

Recently, my family and I took a trip to France. The trip was a week long and we spent it visiting the towns of Chantilly and Gerberoy, then tasting champagnes in Reims, and a few days in Paris. While there, I decided to stop at CGB, since I'd never actually seen a true coin store.

I've ordered from CGB twice before, and both are show-stopper coins for me. To be honest, I haven't ordered from them as much because I find their prices on the high side, but I'd been eyeing the coin below for some time and, since I noticed I wasn't far from their store, I decided to see it in person.

The guy at CGB was very nice, though I'd envisioned seeing display cases full of cool looking coins, so I was a bit shocked to see a counter, some bars, and a computer. It makes sense. They have a lot of valuable coins so they wouldn't want to keep them within reach. To view the coin I had to give them the stock number from my phone, then they passed it through a safety box like I was at a drive-through pharmacy. I assume for a higher value coin they would have asked for an ID.

I must admit that I went back and forth a bit about buying this Prusias II, but it wasn't that much money and I figured it was more worthwhile buying something I truly wanted vs an Eiffel Tower replica I'd feel bad about throwing away someday.



When I took it home and photographed it, I have to admit that I really like it. The centaur looks nice even though the portrait is worn.

On a different note, I was happy to photograph the Porte de Mars in Reims. This is the largest surviving Roman arch in the world and was saved from WWI only because it was built into a castle. When the castle was torn down, they found the arch and left it.



Overall, the trip was a lot of fun. Below are some more photos I took. You can see the full set here.









Feel free to share your own souvenirs!

 

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Beautiful! Those are incredible photos!

Nice coin too.

 

Great coin and pictures.

 

I know this area in Paris, near the Bourse (Paris Stock Exchange) and the Bibliothèque Nationale (and its Cabinet des Médailles). It may be called the numismatic area, for there are many other coin-shops nearby... Many years ago I used to go shopping there, it was before internet.

I like tourism too, and visiting cathedrals, castles, picturesque villages (like Gerberoy), visit vineyards and taste their production. I don't live far from Champagne and Burgundy, it's just 2 hours drive from my home. One day I even invited my in-laws to the Jules Verne Restaurant, located in the Eiffel Tower. Excellent cuisine and extraordinary view but for the same price I could have had an EF sestertius .

I like visiting small provincial museums who display something unique. I recommend Bayeux, in Normandy, for the museum in which you can see the Bayeux Tapestry. Or Angers, for the Apocalypse Tapestry. The next provincial museum I want to visit (1h30 drive from my home) is the museum in Châtillon-sur-Seine, it displays the Vix Vase, a monumental intact bronze Greek crater, the kind that adorned Greek temples and is represented on the staters of Thebes.

 

Ahhh, I haven't been to Paris since 2001, after seeing those photos, think it's been far too long.

ATB,
Aidan.

 

CGB are really great.

 

Nice purchase, and great Paris photos.

 

Great images thanks for sharing..

 

Nice acquisition and remarkable photos, congratulations!
A little information however: Fortunately for us, France is not limited to champagne and Paris!! In its time, I would have had a great professional opportunity in Paris, but I gave it up without hesitation for this:

 

A wonderful coin and brilliant photos! Most of the pictures I've taken end up blurry, what I call the "impressionistic effect".

 

Cool coin and great pics. And how wonderful that you did it with your family! It's hard to meal plan for a week, led alone a European vacation
For whatever reason they had a hard time keeping the Centaurs face on these coins. Here's mine:

 

Thanks! I'll definitely have to make plans to see these some day. I'd love to take a several-month long trip to France one day since there's so much to see.

 

No coins.
8 miles out into the Atlantic is Skellig Michael, off Ireland. Thirteen hundred years ago monks built the beehive-shaped dwellings on this steep peak jutting from the sea to escape Vikings. Vikings came anyway, eventually the monks went back to the mainland and the puffin population rebounded when they left.

 

Duplicate post

 

I have a lot of souvenirs from Chicago, but the only other that comes to mind is a Nemausus Augustus from H.D. Rauch (Austria).

 

Wonderful coin and wonderful photos, @kirispupis. Your disappointment in the cgb store parallels mine in the Spink store in London a long time ago -- it looked like a bank.

The only place in France I've ever been is Alsace (Strasbourg and Colmar) back in 2018, on side-trips from Freiburg. I'd love to go to Paris someday, but, for now, will have to do so vicariously through my son, who leaves on May 14 for a vacation of almost an entire month in Paris, followed by a couple of weeks elsewhere in France, followed by two weeks in southwestern Germany (Cologne and elsewhere) pursuant to a research grant he obtained in connection with his History of Art PhD program at the U of Toronto. I'm sure he has all the museums he wants to visit in Paris already picked out; I'm afraid he has no interest in numismatics! (Does the BNF have any exhibits worth seeing?)

The one place I've specifically asked him to visit is the Paris Pantin cemetery in a northern suburb (OK in the daytime, supposedly) to photograph the tombstone of my mother's grandmother, who died in Paris in 1944 shortly after her liberation; she had spent four years in French-run concentration camps. We still have cousins in Paris on my mother's side, and my son hopes to get together with one of them.

In addition, my paternal grandfather was born in Paris in 1887, in the Marais in the 4th arrondissement, but the specific street (the old Passage St. Pierre) no longer exists. His parents, who came from Poland and Lithuania respectively but both lived in Paris for a number of years on their way to the USA and married there, left for NYC when my grandfather was 13 months old.

 

Nice pics @kirispupis. Next time come and visit us !!

Q

 

@DonnaML. Maybe your son will bring you back a souvenir like a coin or two minted by the early Parisii.

 

Wow, absolutely gorgeous photos. Thank you for posting them.

 

Thanks for your photos and your memories. My father was a professional soldier and our family was blessed to have lived in Europe. I was only 7 when my father was serving at Landstuhl, Germany in 1954-57.. I went to school on the base, so I had little contact with the Germany people, however, we did hire a maid from that area, and she told us wonderful stories. My mother complain some because we children would speak in German to one another. Our second summer, we toured Europe. When we got to France, it was a wonderful place, however, there was still some evidence of WWII. I was 8 when my father took my older sister and I up the Eiffel Tower. We later went to Italy and I was lucky enough to see the Tower of Pisa (Leaning Tower of Pisa. My sister and I went to the top of the "Bell Tower" and enjoyed the view.
It wasn't until 1964 when I was 17 before we could go back to Europe. Dad was stationed at a military base in Brienne, France. There was not a high school on the base, so we were bused to Verdun to the Verdun Army High School. I was not as impressed with France on my second visit. but, that was 1065-65. I am sure that things have changed significantly since I was there. At 74, I doubt I will ever get a chance to return.
Again, many thanks for your pictures.