Today, the weather is gloomy and threatening rain so we decided to stay inside and do some history lessons. Thanks to some generous CT'ers, FFIVN has some great new ancients to study. What perfect timing?! FFIVN chose 3 coins at random today and we worked on identifying them and learning a bit of the history behind them. Below are the 3 coins FFIVN chose and a few interesting things that he learned and wanted to share about each coin. Victorinus AE Antoninianus South Petherton Hoard Trier 270/1 AD Obverse: IMP C VICTORINVS P F AVG, radiate cuirassed bust right Reverse: VIRTVS AVG, Virtus standing right, holding spear and shield ex @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix FFVIN especially liked the green coloring of this coin. He didn't particularly care for Victorinus, saying that he sounded like "kind of a jerk". What he did find interesting though, was that this coin was minted in Trier. Trier was founded in the 4th century BC and is considered to be the oldest city in Germany. He also thought the fact that this coin can be traced to where it was found was really cool. This is our first "hoard coin". Up Next... Northern Song Dynasty Emperor Rhen Zong 1023-1063 AD T’ien Sheng Yuan Pao Seal Script 天元聖寶 Hartil 16.73 ex @dougsmit The most interesting FFIVN learned about Emperor Rhenzong is that on 04 July 1054, Supernova SN 1054 was first observed. FFIVN has been watching a lot of Science Channel during this quarantine and just watched a show about super novas just a few days ago. He also found it pretty amazing that Rhenzong became emperor at the age of 12. Only 3 years older than FFIVN is right now. He said "I don't think I'd be ready to be the emperor when I am 12. Perhaps when I turn 16"...lol The last coin we studied today was this one. Again, pulled completely at random but was pretty cool due to its relationship to the previous coin. Northern Song Dynasty Emperor Zhen Zong 1017-1022 AD Tianxi Tung Pao 天禧通寶 Hartil 16.70 ex @dougsmit Emperor Zhenzong was the father of Emperor Rhenzong, coin number 2. We didn't find out much interesting information about Zhenzong besides that he started a peace treaty with the Liao Dynasty that led to 100 years of peace. This cost the Northern Song dynasty 100,000 ounces of silver and 200,000 bolts of silk annually! Pretty expensive peace deal. We plan on pulling out another two or three coins in the next day or two and posting them here. Hopefully you can learn along with us. If you have learned any interesting new facts about coins you've been studying while in quarantine, feel free to post them here!
Sounds like a fun project with the family! I posted a write-up of a coin of Renzong a few months ago, hopefully you may find it interesting: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/how-interesting-can-a-2-coin-be.352550/#post-3972532
Very cool! And with a supernova connection, too! I've been doing background research, too. I've been learning about the city of Gaba, which may or may not be in Trachonitis ... I researched a bit about the city of Pelinna in Thessaly ... I learned about the mint in Antioch during the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus. And about the city of Side in Pamphylia.
My nephew is over today and my sister is busy teaching him things. He also had a zoom session with his teacher and classmates. They are using google classroom to talk about social media. And he ate 15 tollhouse chocolate chip cookies. After that, I wish I could have dropped him off at your house (just kidding). I showed him my new Hadrian drachm with Alexandria on the reverse the last time he was over here. I was trying to explain the concept of a personification to him (9 year old). I remember at that age (8 actually) getting a book on Greek Mythology from Scholastic and reading it cover to cover. I particularly liked (or was fascinated with) Procrustes the stretcher, and the abode of the Gods, Mt. Olympus. I wish they were teaching kids the Classics rather than how to use social media aps on your phone. Times have changed - sigh -
Super cool. Is FFIVN only into ancient coins, or are his interests more wide ranging? I remember seeing his picture in another thread, and he looks about the same age as I was when I started getting interested (I was 9).
He is into anything and everything numismatic. He likes to search boxes of cents from the bank with me. He also has quite the world coin collection. And of course, he is way into ancients. He is 9 now. He and I started collecting ancients together coming up on close to 2 years now? He started accompanying me to the bank to get rolls when he was still in a stroller
So, resurecting a dead thread...FFIVN and I worked on the other coins that were discussed in the first post but the 'Rona Life got the better of us and we didn't post them. It is amazing how much "free time" I have had lately but have had no time to do anything. Anyone else have that problem? Anyways without further ado; today's history lesson: First up: Huangsong Tongbao Northern Song Dynasty Emperor Rhen Zong 1039-1054AD Hartil 16.95 Since we learned about Emperor Rhen Zong previously, we decided to take a further look at super nova SN 1054 that was observed during his reign. Here is an entry by a Chinese astronomer discussing the discovery. Pretty cool that it was visible both during the day and night. It must have been quite the sight to see. Zhihe era, first year, seventh lunar month, 22nd day. [...] Yang Weide declared: "I humbly observe that a guest star has appeared; above the star there is a feeble yellow glimmer. If one examines the divination regarding the Emperor, the interpretation [of the presence of this guest star] is the following: The fact that the star has not overrun Bi and that its brightness must represent a person of great value. I demand that the Office of Historiography is informed of this." All officials congratulated the Emperor, who ordered his congratulations be [back] forwarded to the Office of Historiography. First year of the era of Jiayou, third lunar month, the director of the Astronomical Office said "The guest star has disappeared, which means the departure of the host [that it represents]." Previously, during the first year of the Zhihe era, during the fifth lunar month, it had appeared at dawn, in the direction of the east, under the watch of Tiānguān (天關, Zeta Tauri). It had been seen in daylight, like Venus. It had rays stemming in all directions, and its colour was reddish white. Altogether visible for 23 days.
And another from Rhen Zong's father, Emperor Zhen Zong. Xiangfu Tongbao Northern Song Dynasty Emperor Zhen Zong 1008-1016 AD Hartil 16.59 We had previously read about him as well and he was pretty boring. So FFIVN picked a year during his reign of 997-1023 and we looked up interesting things that happened that year. FFIVN chose 1000 AD and we learned that on/around that year, Leif Ericson became the first European to land in the Americas. He landed at L'anse aux Meadows in modern-day Newfoundland. Christopher Columbus can suck it!
Our last Northern Song coin is from the Emperor Shen Zong. Xi Ning Yuan Bao Northern Song Dynasty Emperor Shen Zong 1063-1077 AD Hartil 16.184 During the reign of Emperor Shen Zong, he received an ambassador from Michael VII Doukas of the Byzantine Empire in 1081. Contact between Rome and China was almost non-existent since the Han era and Three Kingdoms eras. Pretty cool that we have some cross-over between two of our interests, China and the Byzantine Empire. Also of note, Emperor Shen Zong was born on 25 May 1048. So....HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHEN ZONG!
Our last Chinese cash coin comes from the Tang Dynasty. We weren't able to figure out how to narrow it down to a more defined date so this is what we have as our identification. We would be happy to hear from anyone who may know how further identify it: Kaiyuan Tongbao Tang Dynasty 621-907 AD Hartil 14.1 The Tang Dynasty was pretty long and since we couldn't narrow this coin down further we just read about the dynasty in general. In addition to history, FFIVN is also really interested in science and inventing. We honed in on the scientific achievements of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty brought about an astronomical clock that through a series of water wheels and gears would ring a bell every hour and bang a drum every quarter hour. They also invented woodblock printing which made the written word much more accessible to the general public! The last thing we read about was Chinese air conditioning! in 747 AD, Emperor Xuanzong had a "Cool Hall" created in the imperial palace. This hall was cooled by water-powered fan wheels and jets of water spray from fountains. Pretty....wait for it...Cool! All these cash coins are ex @dougsmit who has been amazing at helping to foster FFIVN's love of ancient coins and history. Many thanks! We still have 2 ex @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix coins to post. But I think we will wait til tomorrow to post them. Let everyone digest all this amazing information and perhaps read up on something that piqued your interest.