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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;willieboyd2, post: 2603329, member: 4910&quot;]I have heard or read several variations of this &quot;old coin&quot; story:</p><p><br /></p><p>A man living in New York has just returned from a trip to Istanbul and throws a party at his apartment.</p><p><br /></p><p>He pulls out a plastic bag of large dirty old copper coins and tells his guests that he walked by a construction site where the wives of some of the workers were selling bags of Byzantine coins found by workers and bought a bag for a few dollars.</p><p><br /></p><p>At the party, he opens the bag and hands out the coins which still have dirt on them.</p><p><br /></p><p>He then begins talking about the coins of Justinian and having determined the time the coins were buried to around 540 to 550 AD.</p><p><br /></p><p>His guests are passing the coins around while the host explains that there was a plague or &quot;black death&quot; epidemic in the city at the time and that whoever dropped the coins was probably dying horribly of plague.</p><p><br /></p><p>By now all of the guests are running to the bathroom or kitchen and scrubbing their hands with soap, detergent, cleaning powder.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.brianrxm.com/posts/post_byzantine_justinian_follis_ant.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Byzantine Justinian (AD 527-565) AE Follis</p><p>Obverse: Diademed, draped, and cuirassed bust right / D N IVSTINI-ANVS PP AVG</p><p>Reverse: Large letter &quot;M&quot;, star left, cross top, cross right, Gamma under large &quot;M&quot;, CON in exergue</p><p>Bronze, 30mm, 17.98gm, Catalog: Sear 158</p><p>Struck: AD 527-538 Constantinople</p><p>Grade: PF-30 (Plague Free)</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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