Merry Greetings on this cheerful occasion. My seller claims that this coin was struck during the Crusaders reign. It has a wide cross on the obverse and a standing lion on the reverse. Hope he's right on this Christmas Eve. The coin weighs exactly 2 g. Thanks for your kind opinions.
Hi @7Calbrey the coin is from the Lusignan Kingdom of Cyprus. The large cross on the reverse, the Jerusalem cross, was used on their coins for two centuries or more. The obverse, with the lion is somewhat legible, and it looks to me that it starts with +IACO which probably spells out IACOMUS or IACOBUS, Latin for James. There were several James that ruled Cyprus, so it's hard to say which one minted this coin without more research. The coin though is definitely 14th or 15th century, long after the fall of the Crusader states in the Levant.
Thanks. I'll make research easily now. As for IACOBUS, it's Latin for James and Jacob as well. Will post the result of my search in about an hour or less.
The French feudal family of Lusignan reigned mainly abroad in Cyprus from 1192 till 1489 and gave birth to 4 kings in Jerusalem. James II (The Bastard) of Cyprus also known as Jacques II de Lusignan was crowned king of Cyprus in 1463. On July 30 1468 he was seeking political support in Venice where he was acquainted with Catherine Cornaro and married her in 1472 after she travelled to Cyprus . A few months later, James died amid suspicions that he was poisoned by agents of Venice, possibly by Catherine's uncles. Catherine became regent of Cyprus in 1474 and the island turned into a colony of the Republic of Venice in 1489 until 1571. There's also James I de Lusignan before James. I don't know under which of them my coin was struck. I was frankly interested in the curious historical approach.
See my post regarding the Jacques II sizains here: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/ja...-lusignan-rule-in-cyprus.304529/#post-2881591
