I put down a proxy bid of 700 Euros for this coin/ ended up winning it for 620E Viennois/ Dauphins AV Florin d'or ND Viennes Mint (Tower mm.) 3.48g. 19.5mm. 6h. .999 Coin struck (hammed) on a flan with stripes Pedigree (Amye Cornu Collection Charles V 1349-64 obv: Fleur-de-Lis +KROL DPHS.V. rev: St. John the Baptist/ standing/ facing/haloed/ dressed in Camel Skin/ holding Cruciform Scepter with Ringlet/ Raising Right Hand in Benediction
Congrats! You have a nice flower of a coin. I was watching a couple of coins in the auction and got up early, for a retired guy, 7AM. I won the first lot after having to reboot my computer during live bidding for lot 1. I am glad I did not wait until the last second to bid. It is my first sting-ray, a quadrans from Hatria.
Congratulations, @panzerman; it's a beautiful coin. As it happens, I purchased a coin from cgb.fr at retail a couple of months ago with the same provenance, namely the collection of Aymé Cornu. The end of the description gives the very sparse information I was able to find about him: Hadrian, Billon Tetradrachm, Year 3 (118/119 AD), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, drapery on left shoulder, AYT KAIC TPAIANOC -AΔΡΙΑNOC ϹƐΒ (clockwise from 5:00) / Rev. Serpent Agathodaemon standing erect right, crowned with pschent/skhent [the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt] , tongue protruding, with coils enfolding caduceus to left and stalks of corn to right; L - Γ (Year 3) across fields. RPC [Roman Provincial Coinage] Vol. III 5149 (2015); RPC III Online at https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5149; Emmett 803.3; BMC 16 Alexandria 665 (at p. 79) (1892) [ill. as RPC Vol. III 5149, specimen 2]; K&G 32.68 (at p. 118); Dattari (Savio) 1541; Milne 918 [ill. as RPC Vol. III 5149, specimen 13]; Geissen 764 [ill. as RPC Vol. III 5149, specimen 18]. 24 mm., 13.81 g., 12 h. Purchased from http://www.cgb.fr July 2021, ex. Collection of Aymé Cornu (1926-2020) (Engineer. - Head of the mass spectrometry laboratory at the Center for Nuclear Studies in Grenoble, France; see https://data.bnf.fr/fr/12598408/aime_cornu/). [Footnotes omitted.] Obviously, his interests must have been very eclectic if they included both Roman Alexandrian billon tetradrachms and 14th century gold florins! He lived until he was 94, so I suppose he had time for all of it.
Great acquisition @panzerman I've followed the auction, and have seen that very coin, as it was sold just seconds before a Gaston d'Orleans gold ecu that I was after (and didn't get in the end) Here's my Jean II le Bon florin : Jean II le bon - Florin d'or - 1358 (Montpellier) Avers : + FRA• - •NTIA• Grande fleur de lis épanouie. Revers : S•IOHA - NNES•B•(heaume)• Saint Jean-Baptiste debout de face, nimbé, vêtu d'une peau de mouton, tenant un sceptre cruciforme de la main gauche et bénissant de la main droite. 20 mm - 3,47 gr Ref : Ciani # 362, Dy # 346 Q
Thanks so much Donna, for your great detective work! I was thinking all day while at work about coins and who M. Cornu really was. I find CGB.fr. is a nice auction firm/ their coins are undergraded/ and I am always happy with their prompt/ courteous service. Congrats on your coin! John
Beautifull coin! I was thinking of you when I saw the Dombes AV Pistole. I lost the Besancon 1655 AV Half Dukat by 50 Euros. I was at work, so only had a proxy bid of 1600 on it. I have never worked as hard in my life/ missed only 2 days since March 29th! The reward is lots of $$$$ for nice coins. John PS: Some really nice material in upcoming Roma event/
