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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Conduitt, post: 5186747, member: 109923&quot;]I bought these for under $25 - the list would have been longer but the exchange rate has gone a little in my favour very recently. With the exception of the first coin, they all came in under $25 including postage, which was often free (a benefit of collecting cheaper coins).</p><p><br /></p><p>Crusader coins are often cheap (and have a turbulent history surrounding them). $50 gives you quite a wide range, but $25 is still possible:</p><p><br /></p><p><b>&#039;Crusader&#039; Charles II of Anojou (Charles the Lame), Denier, 1285-1287</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1213658[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>$24.15. Clarencia, Achaea. Silver (billon) tournois, <b>18mm, 0.73g</b>. +.K. R. PRINC ACH - Cross. DE CLARENTIA - Castle (Metcalf 942).</b></p><p><br /></p><p>The Crusader-sympathising Cilician Armenia also produced a lot of interesting coins. Again, $50 gives you a good selection (or better examples), but $25 is enough:</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Leo II, Kardez, 1270-1289</b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]1213664[/ATTACH]</b></p><p><b>$12.50. Sis. Bronze, 21mm, 2.6g. Lion walking left. Cross.</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Coins of the Mongol Golden Horde are a little scruffy but incredibly cheap, given the history of that empire (and they&#039;re all named and dated). Coins of Genghis Khan himself cost a little over $100 but that&#039;s not bad for the leader of the largest contiguous empire the world has ever seen.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Berdi Beg Dirham, 1357-1358</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1213674[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>$14.27. Azaq (now Azov near Roston-on-Don). Silver, 1.26g. AH759. Obverse: Ber di Beg Khan. Reverse: Mint of Azaq (Sagdeeva 271).</b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Tokhtamysh Khan Dang, 1391-1392</b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]1213678[/ATTACH]</b></p><p><b>$8.92. Qrim (Crimea). Silver. Obverse: Sultan Toqtamysh. Reverse: Kalima, AH794 (Sagdeeva 386/387).</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Another area that can be cheap to collect is the Roman barbarous radiate. They are crude and sometimes ugly, but interesting and perhaps a little crazy. (I have a lot of these under $25, but won&#039;t post them all!)</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Tetricus I, Barbarous Antoninianus, 270-280</b></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1213684[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>$20.17. Laetitia standing, holding rudder and cornucopea. Found in Britain</b></p><p><br /></p><p>And if whole medieval coins are too expensive, you can always go for the cut versions. These were cut by the mint, as they only struck whole pennies and needed to offer smaller change. Sometimes you don&#039;t get the half with the face or the mint, but hey, you can get a coin from one of the most famous and romanticised Kings of England for $20.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Richard I the Lionheart, Cut Halfpenny, 1189-1199</b></p><p><b>[ATTACH=full]1213694[/ATTACH]</b></p><p><b>$20.16. London. Silver, short cross, Class 4b. + hENRICVS REX. +FVLKE ON LVN (S 1348C).</b> The mint is not on the coin, but the only moneyer named Fulke was at London. (The fact that it names the king &#039;Henricus&#039; instead of Richard is another story, but suffice to say both Richard and John were named &#039;Henricus&#039; on their coins because they didn&#039;t bother changing it after Henry II).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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