Alms for a newbie...

Well it was lucky really. I had gone to York to visit the coin shop to buy an Henry VI groat for £175 (which i felt a more than a little guilty over) as it turned out the dealer had gone on holiday and the shop was shut. So i went racing around to the other. £115 didn't feel so bad after that!

 

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What's good about those is that firstly they are the only coins of Richard I with his name on them (all the ones in England said HENRICVS) and secondly Richard spent more time on the continent than he did in England (he reigned from 1189-99 and he was in England for half of 1189 and a few months in 1194). Richard preferred France and thus a coin from his French dominions is much more fitting.

 

Well from the looks of it it's a decent coin at a decent price. If i had been you though i would have held out either for a King John penny (these turn up here, there and everywhere... but they are a bit like buses; you have to wait a while and then they all come at once).

A cheaper option for Henry II and Richard I is to buy cut-half pennies (basically round pennies that were cut in half to make up small change, this was common practice). These often look better (condition/grade wise) with clearer design and clearer legends. Depends how you feel about them though.

 

GD that's not the War of the Roses though! That's the Hundred Years War!

 

`Make mine a light beer'

 

Nice one!! Great piece of history you have there.

 

lol! In this case second choice probably worked out as better choice.

York is one of my fav cities. Each time i've been there i've tried to spot coin shops, but it's difficult when you are accompanied by your partner who keeps on insisting that "we didn't come here just so that you could look for coins!" - " Yes, of course not dear....." . So far i've only come across one in the centre of town and it was selling modern coins (tourist trap kind of place). Where are these two shops you mention? I might pay them a visit next time I get a chance.

Ian

 

York Coin shops.

Well the only one that is actually a shop is the one on the Shambles run by John Smith. The Shambles shouldn't prove too difficult to find. (Although i can't for the life of me explain exactly how to get there!).

The other two 'shops' are actually permanent stalls setup in the York Antiques Centre, which is on the same street as the central Post Office (which is the street that runs parallel to the one that has MacDonalds/Starbucks on it). They're all not too far away from the Minster though so start there!

 

Yes. It was the one in The Shambles I visited. Lots of proof sets but little else from what I saw, but maybe he had his better stuff elsewhere out of view. The shop was crowded with tourists (like me).

Thanks for the data on the indoor market. Haven't been there yet. I did however take a trip to York Coin Fair at the racetrack a couple of years ago. There wasn't one single silver french jeton in the hall. Very disappointing. Still any trip to York is always worth the effort in my books

 

Smith's won't have any French stuff, he just does British... emphasis on Early Milled. He had a full sixpence run (which is where i cherrypicked a few of mine from) and tons of halfcrowns. Also some gold guineas, five guineas etc. Hammered is pot luck, but i got my Stephen penny from him.

He only keeps the proof and mint sets in stock for the tourists. (Especially the euro sets, which he doesn't like very much, but he says because the tourists want them he'll stock them [mostly German tourists i've noticed] )

In the antiques centre the one that'll interest you a little bit more is the one that is called Brigantia. They deal with coins from Ancient Greece and Persia through Celtic, late Anglo-Saxon and upto the end of the hammered series. But they also sell all manner of archaeological artefacts Greek pottery, Roman pottery and statuettes, Egyptian ammulets. I think they were selling medieval keys last time. I however was particularly struck by a crucifix (one of those with Christ on it) i dunno how old it was exactly.

They also had some Athenian Owl Tets. (Along with several other Greek coins) and Roman gold.

 

thanks

Well, I have a feeling that it may not be the last one I buy. I bought this one for the history - I really wanted to have something from that time period that looked hald decent. Don't forget, here in the US there's not a lot of interesting history (from my perspective) going back a thousand years or more. No castles, knights, kings - none of the good stuff!! If I buy more, I suppose I will need to have some actual knowledge behind me!

 

You're someone after my own heart, you know that? I buy coins for the same reasons, and to me history is all about kings, dates and battles. Throw in a few knights, peasants, a monk or two and a castle and i'm all ears.

As you can tell i watched alot of Robin Hood as a child.

Although unlike all those people in those Robin Hood stories i actually like King John. Evil barons making him sign the Magna Carta, and inviting the French over to take the English throne! If Richard hadn't have kept going on these Crusades and getting caught then John wouldn't have had to tax as harshly in the first place! (well up until 1199 that is!)

This hobby is very rewarding to someone interested in history. Alot of people interested in Ancient history find coins a good way of understanding further and appreciating Classical culture. Ancient coins have a fairly decent audience in the US.

Us medievalists are however, a bit thinner on the ground. In the US there's not that much for sure.

Many people are put off from medieval coinage not just from the design perspective but also from the historical perspective. Some people find it hard to relate to the medieval period. I've known some people fascinated by ancient history (that have studied Classics, which incidentally i have studied as well) that said at best they couldn't get their head around the medieval period at all, or at worst they couldn't care less. So they studied Classics and Modern history and swept everything that happened between 400AD and 1800 under the carpet. Weird.

How could you find medieval harder to relate to than ancient?

That does puzzle me.

 

Now THAT sounds interesting. Must find an excuse for getting my butt down to York

Ian

 

Lol nice! Thanks! Perfect phrase for a college kid to learn!

 

Finance?! Bah humbug!

I don't know how anything could be more interesting than this period in history! I am also looking (unsuccessfully) for a ring from this time period that I can wear all the time as a reminder. I, unfortunately, studied finance in school - could anything be more boring?!

Don't forget to read Pillars of the Earth if you haven't already - one of the few good books about this time period in my opinion. Has the whole cast of characters - Stephen and Matilda, Henry, an evil bishop or two, the building of a cathedral, lot's of action. The author gets into a a great deal of detail - makes you feel like you are there...

 

I'll look out for that! (Who's the author?)

The evil bishop being the Bishop of Winchester again no doubt.

 

Thenauthor is....

The author is...and I'm almost embarrassed to say it because I hate authors who mass-produce novels...Ken Follett.

If you want to read it, I would be happy to send it to you.

Not nearly as detailed, but still a good read for the battles is Bernard Cornwell's grailquest series, starting with The Archer's Tale. Although a novel, it is historically accurate, focusing on not only the grail, but on the long bow and its role in the Hundred Years war...

 

I'm sure i'll be able to source a copy! (if i can't i know who to ask!)

 

Nevermind!