Duchy of Lorraine - Theobald II (1303-1312)

There are many members here who present their coins with wonderfully detailed and informative narrative accounts of history connecting a coin with time in place, which I enjoy immensely! Most times I find myself feeling woefully inadequate in telling much about my coins since whenever I acquire a new one I come to realize I really don't know much. I read and read, but always seemingly I'm down a rabbit hole.

Case in point is this new purchase arrived today which was, no doubt, spurred on by those posters here showing their awesome medieval coins. I've been checking the medieval listings in all the regular places for a coin which I thought might strike my fancy and figured I'd land on an English Richard, Henry, Edward, or some other such more recognizable name, but alas it was this one which struck me.

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FRANCE, Provincial. Lorraine (duché).
Thiébaud II. 1303-1312. AR Double Denier (17mm, 1.02 g, 3h). Nancy mint.
Obv: +T DV X LOTOR ЄGIЄ, knight on caparisoned horse charging right; annulet stops
Rev: MOИЄTA D Є ИAИCЄI, sword flanked by eagles.
Ref: De Saulcy pl.III, 16; Boudeau 1456; Roberts –.
VF, toned, minor areas of weak strike.
Ex. CNG eAuction 373, Lot 509 (April 20, 2016)
Ex. eBay 10/26/2018

I've been reading a little bit over the last few days about Theobald, Lorraine, Duchies, and the Holy Roman Empire and figured out quickly I'm ignorant about this era of history (just as much as I was 2 years ago about Roman History).

As it would be forever and a day you all might be waiting on me to post a good history of Lorraine I'll quote the most concise bit I found direct from the source:

I'm hoping to figure out the actual names of the works in References Cited " Ref: De Saulcy pl.III, 16; Boudeau 1456; Roberts –. " and a big shout out to @Alegandron who taught me the word "Cataphract"

Thanks for looking and post some medieval coins!!!!

 

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This is a neat type

 

What a GREAT coin, with a fantastic portraiture of a Cataphract! Way cool!

LOL, I am always fascinated with the Cataphract cavalries - heavy armor plowing through armies! Cool concept. But, I always wondered why it took armies so long to figure out how to stop them using piked sarissa in a phalanx formation...

Medieval: don't have much at all. That is why I was so shocked to be tagged in this thread, LOL!

Here are a few contemporaries of your fantastic coin:


Egypt Mamluk Qalaun 1279-1290 CE AR Dirham Dianeshq



AYYUBID Caliphate - Saladin al-Nasir Salah al Din Yusuf AH564-589 1169-1193 CE AR Dirham RARE mint (This guy took Jerusalem back from the Europeans).



Bhuvanaika Bahu CE 1273-1284 Æ Massa 3.9g 19mm King throne solar symbol altar flame lotus - King reclining sankh-conch Nagari-Sri Bhuvanaika Bahu MNI 851-52



England Edward I 1272-1307 AR Penny 19mm 1.3g Class 10c 1302-1310 Canterbury facing star - Voided long cross 3 pellets quarters North 1040 ex @Mat (yeah, that Braveheart King guy)



FRANCE PHILIPPE IV LE BEL CE 1285-1314 AR 25mm GROS TOURNOIS À L'O ROND AR 25mm DUPLESSY 213 - Killed off Knights Templar Friday 13 October 1307



Mongols-Ghazna mnt Khwarezm Genghis Khan 1206-1227 CE AE Jital Islamic RARE - only The Just Kahn in title Album 1969 Tye 329

 

That is a fantastic coin. I would love to have one like it. Congrats!

 

I don't usually collect these. Your's is fantastic and one I could easily fall for. Here is one of my only coins that can be called medieval:

FRANCE, FEUDAL, Valence, Bishops of Valence and Die,
Denier
OBVERSE: Stylized angel facing, +VRBS VALENTIAI
REVERSE: Cross annulet in fourth quadrant, +S APOLLI NARS
Struck at Valence, FR, 1157-1276
1.18g, 19mm
Boudeau 1021

 

That coin has fabulous Medieval devices! Well-done.

 

I looked into that type when I was looking for a coin from Nancy, but decent examples were out of my budget. They are not easy to find, and most are not nice. Yours is an exceptional example of the type!

I have three coins struck in Nancy. These two are deniers struck by Ferri III, the Duke of Nancy before Theobald II. The obverse has a knight on horseback, just like the OP’s coin. On both of these, the reverse features the medieval name of the city, Nancei, and a hand holding a sword. This sword motif would be used for the next hundreds of years on the hammered silver coinage of Nancy.



Here is a demi gros struck under René II about 200 years later. Note the obverse (?) has nearly the same design as the reverse on the OP’s coin. I liked the fleur de lis design on the reverse (?) of this coin.



And here are some obligatory pictures I took in Nancy:

This church is the first thing you see when you exit the train station.



Cute chocolates



The city’s earliest basilica.



This castle was one of the more-interesting structures. It was built in 1336 (contemporary with the OP’s coin!), and the cross above the gate is featured on many coins from Nancy.

 

Medieval coins are often difficult to make out. One 13th Century denier looks pretty much like any other to me, anyway, and the inscriptions can be murder to read but yours is a fantastic example of how some medieval moneyers could produce a work of art, which your coin is.

 

What a great coin. Thanks for sharing it.

 

I love those @dadams, what an awesome coin! Super cool how the knight isn't constrained by by the dotted border of the legend, like the sword on the reverse.

This bracteate is one of my favorite medieval coins.






Bela III - Bela IV of Hungary, 1172-1270 AD, AR Bracteate

Head right, reverse incuse of obverse. Unger 122. 16 mm, 0.4 g

 

Here is my favourite medieval coin of the moment. It is a penny of John with a great provenance.



John (1199-1216), Penny, class VIa2, London,
Walter, walter · on · lvn, 1.40g/4h
(SCBI Mass 1755, this coin; N 974/2; S 1353).
Good fine, dark-toned
J.D. Brand Collection [from Baldwin October 1960];
J.P. Mass Collection, Part I, DNW Auction 61, 17 March 2004, lot 355 (part);
J. Sazama Collection, Part I, DNW Auction 93, 26 September 2011, lot 1140 (part)
The collection of the late ray Inder
DNW Auction Coins tokens and Historical Medals September 18-20 2018, lot 192.

 

If I had the money I would collect medieval coins too. That coin of yours is fantastic.

 

Lovely coin! That wouldn’t happen to be an ex-SteveX would it?

Here is a relatively recent purchase I haven’t posted yet (been doing some research on it and trying to pull together a write-up):

Kingdom of Sicily
Frederick II, r. 1197-1250 (1243)
Brindisi Mint, BL Denari, 18.64 mm x .07 grams
Obv.: +F●ROM●IPR’●SeP●AVG. Bare head right.
Rev.: +R●IERSL’●ET SICIL’. Eagle facing with head r.
Ref.: MEC 14.555-7

 

There's a lot to write about there.

 

I also have a Frederick II.

GERMANY. Nuremberg. Friedrich II (Holy Roman Emperor, 1220-1250). Pfennig.
Obv: Crowned head facing; annulet to left right; all within border of lis.
Rev: Figure standing facing, holding lis and banner.
Erlanger 21.
Condition: Very fine.
Weight: 0.9 g.
Diameter: 19 mm.
Ex: Numismatik Naumann, Auction 50 Lot 798 05/02/2017
Ex: Numismatik Naumann, Auction 67 Lot 874 0107/2018

 

With regard to @dadams's question on references, they are:

de Saulcy, F.; Recherches sur Les Monnaies des Ducs Héreditaires de Lorraine (Metz, 1841), the classic old standard work on Lorraine coins
Boudeau, E.: Monnaies Françaises Provinciales (Paris, undated but a long time ago)
Roberts, J.: The Silver Coins of Medieval France (476-1610 AD) (South Salem, NY, 1996)

 

Thanks for all the replies and posts!! I love seeing all the coins.

I greatly appreciate the pictures taken in Nancy by @TypeCoin971793

The more I look at this coin the more enamored I am becoming and it is definitely now one of my favorites.

↑ you may not have many but that Genghis Khan is pretty cool - I've read a couple of the Genghis books by Conn Iggulden and one bio by Leo de Hartog- and he's on my want list.

I didn't know Steve had one of these until I started digging a bit to learn more about mine and ran across this thread started by @Mat which is where I discovered the word "Cataphract" - Here is Steve's coin:

The John penny @Orfew posted is of the type I suspected I might have started with and to land on Theobald II from France was unexpected, but opportunity and aesthetic appeal forced me not to pass. I'm more than pleased.

Many thanks to @talerman for the reference titles - I dislike citing references when I don't know what the heck they are and I found myself having difficulty tracking them down!!

Hope all of you keep on coinin' and thanks again!!!

-Doug

 

The Nurnberg pfennig is part of a series that was minted around 1235 to 1240. Very interesting and aesthetically pleasing series.

 

When I saw the OP I thought it was Steve's old coin but it is still in Pierre's store.

 

I love your coin very much @dadams
Thanks for sharing

Same as the one shown by @Alegandron


Philippe IV "Le Bel" (1285-1314) - Gros tournois a l'O rond Atelier de Lille ? (2 petits points a droite du lis superieur du revers)
+ BNDICTV SIT NOME DNI NRI DEI IhV XPI dans le cercle exterieur, +PHILIPPVS REX dans le cercle interieur, croix au centre
TVRONVS CIVIS + dans le cercle interieur, chatel tournois au centre, bordure de douze fleurs de lis a l'exterieur
4.13 gr
Ref : Ciani # 203

Q