Hungarian "Madonna & Child" denars: fun and affordable early-dated silver coins

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I like the idea as an entry-way into silver hammered coins for those accustomed to collecting moderns coins by date and mint mark. Other Hungarian coins that came earlier are neat too! I don't have any of those, but do have one if the coins you posted above, which I found in an antique shop for something like $15 (and it's a date you are missing!):


Hungary
Ferdinand I, r. 1526-1564 (1554)
Kremnitz Mint, AR Denier, 15.82mm x 0.3 grams
Obv.: FERDINAND· D·G·R· VNG· 1554·, Coat of arms
Rev.: PATRONA· * ·VNGARIE, Madonna and Child, mintmark K B on either side

 

I bought a few groups lots of these about 20 years ago with the same idea of putting together a date set. I kept the diff dates and sold the duplicates on ebay. I'll have to see how many different dates I have.

 

This is one I picked up to add to my "6 Century Birth Year" Collection. 1552, I paid $10 for it. I wish it had the nice toning yours did but that wasn't my objective at the time.



My 6 Century Birth Year Set. In descending order.

 

Since I was unable to find a coin marked with the actual "date" of 1452, I had to find something that was attributed to that date. Needing a Silver coin was also a challenge. This was the closest I could find that met both requirements.

From my notes:

Condensed version:
1452

Sicily Denaro
Billon Coin containes a trace of silver but mostly copper or bronze.
Believed to have been minted during the reign of Frederick III. Called the Peaceful, he was the Holy Roman Emperor of the House of Habsburg from 1452 until his death in 1493.


Complete version:


"The House of Habsburg (/'hæbs.b?rg/; German pronunciation: ['ha?ps.b??k]), also spelled Hapsburg,[1] was one of the most important royal houses of Europe. The throne of the Holy Roman Empire was continuously occupied by the Habsburgs between 1438 and 1740. The house also produced emperors and kings of the Kingdom of Bohemia, Kingdom of England (Jure uxoris King), Kingdom of France {Queen consort}, Kingdom of Germany, Kingdom of Hungary, Empire of Russia, Kingdom of Croatia, Second Mexican Empire, Kingdom of Ireland, Kingdom of Portugal, and Habsburg Spain, as well as rulers of several Dutch and Italian principalities.

Frederick III (21 September 1415 – 19 August 1493), called the Peaceful, was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1452 until his death. Prior to his imperial coronation, he was hereditary Duke of Austria (as Frederick V) from 1424 and elected King of Germany (as Frederick IV) from 1440.[1] He was the first emperor of the House of Habsburg. In 1493, he was succeeded by his son Maximilian I after ten years of joint rule.

Alfonso V was crowned in 1416 and ruled for forty-two years; in 1442 the Sicilian and Neapolitan crowns were united under him. Henceforth the Kingdom of Sicily was politically linked to peninsular Italy, and one spoke of the kingdoms "of Naples and Sicily" or even the "two Sicilies." But for the most part the rulers remained in Spain; Aragon and Castile were united in 1479 to form the cornerstone of what was to become the Kingdom of Spain. Soon the Spanish kings would send governors and viceroys to administer Sicily on their behalf. Alfonso was a slightly more generous patron of learning and the arts than his immediate predecessors, and founded the University of Catania, but the Sicilians had to bear the cost of his petty wars against the maritime cities of northern Italy."

 

some sweet toning on many of those, very nice.

 

Lovely!

I prefer the crowned shield design of the Mátyás II denars (1608-1619).

Several people in my Hungarian club collect these by date (the 1600s are tougher), including a couple kids. You can also easily expand the set to include the myriad of earlier dateless types, many of which are also very affordable.

 

What a wonderful post, Lordmarcovan! Although this is not my chief area of interest, I too love these denars for all the reasons you have given. I decided to put together a date collection from the first dated denar in 1503 but I stop at 1550. I had to stop somewhere, and decided that after that date...well, the coins just looked more modern to me. I also have what seems to be an unrecorded date of 1500, and I enclose a photo below. If any more experienced students of this coinage can comment on it, I would be very grateful.

First, my coins from 1503 - 1512



Next, my "1500".



and lastly, a comparison of my "1500", with a 1506 and a 1508. Perhaps the last number of my "1500" is a 6? There is something going on with the flan above that last number, but under a loop I can't really see evidence that it is a deformed 6. But as I said, I am neophyte at these, so I would welcome any comments from someone more experienced!

 

Very Nice set. I think the last digit may be a 6 due to the flan problems that you mentioned. Your pictures of the coin next to an actual 1506 was helpful

 

King Matthias (1458-1490).
Denar without the date (such coins were released at 1482-86).

 

While LM is correct that there are no stoppers
in a date run from 1503-1696, dates after 1580-
1585 going toward 1696 will be tough and
sometimes very tough to find if the collector
wishes uniform quality all the way through.
It is surprising how easy it is to find in really
nice shape the first 60 years of these little
treasures. At the 1991 there were two different
dealers that "ZipLock" bags full of them. I went
through 3 different bags that each had over 300
in each bag. There must have been a hoard of
them found a year or two earlier. The ones LM
shows here are some of the nicest I've seen. I
wish I could have bought some for my collection.

 

I have a couple of these I got fairly cheap (<$10) and interesting to have a dated coin from the 1500's.

 

I notice your 1504 uses the old style representation for a "4"

 

That 1516 is probably my favorite. Some really cool coins here!

Although, the ghostly visage of Madonna reminds me of something decidedly more modern:

 

This thread inspired me to get back into my denár set.

I've started posting them here: https://collectivecoin.com/Jaelus/dy1tShkYxacx7VQjtipR

Can't tell as easily from the quick cell phone pics I took, but the 1511 is a superb monster toner. Some of the other coins are nice colorful toners as well.