Medieval Monday!

@FitzNigel, I'm guessing @VD76 knew the distinction already. Have you been teaching undergrads too long? But Yes, your characterization of the ones from Normandy was some Serious, just Dang it, Prose. I was going to say something along the same lines, before seeing your post.

 

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Belated thanks for that, @FitzNigel. Yes, in antiquarian nomenclature no less than history more broadly, revisionism goes back a Long way. ...But I have to wonder if 'great helm' at least goes back to the Tudors. For instance, when Henry VIII was still jousting when it took a pulley to get him in the saddle. Just as an alternate guess....

 

Medieval Times is not historic, not particularly authentic, but it's fun nonetheless!

Kind of place you go for a birthday, with or without the kids. With the kids, you follow the show and play along, without them you chuckle about the historic inaccuracies while eating and drinking far too much!

 

I was going to save this for Monday ... I'm hoping someone can ID this one as a Richard III fragment but it is likely Edward IV. Any takers?

 

Welcome @malinkyhoy - I struggle with these New style pennies and derivatives. Hopefully someone could come by and help (might need some clearer photos - and with so much of the legend missing, I wouldn’t get your hopes up)

 

Looks like richard III

 

Thanks, one can always rely on a Yorkshireman.

 

mind explaining why you think so? I’m curious

 

I'm no expert, I just compared it to other examples of Richard III and then Edward. Looks more like the Richard III examples than Edwards.

 

As in compared legend or image? I know Richard III coins are notoriously rare, so I am curious what method you used and what tipped you off. Is there a particular guide you referenced like Wren’s book, North, or the Standard Catalogue?

 

Welcome, @malinkyhoy, and thanks for contributing this! Better early than never.

...Sadly, by way of spoiler alert, the news is bad. I'm on the same level as @FitzNigel with this stuff. But, as @Yorkshire implied, not least with the later New Coinage issues, variations in the portraits are one key way of telling the reigns apart.
...Just took another look, and was reminded that, for the mid-later 15th century, the marks in the obverse field are really key. This is especially true of the ecclesiastical mints, York and Durham, along with the quatrefoil in the centre of the reverse. Having gotten no further than Spink (2015), one issue that jumps out at me is of Edward IV's first reign, York under Archbishop Booth (#1987). "Quatrefoils by bust, voided quatrefoil in centre of rev.; mm rose."
I'm working backwards from Richard III, and have only gotten this far. Sadly, there are no Richard IIIs with any marks in the upper part of the obverse field. The field marks for Edward IV and Richard III are legion, and often very helpful. But almost all of Edward's issues, and all of Richard's, only have marks by the neck, if any.
...I'm nowhere near certain about interpreting the mark in your obverse field as a quatrefoil. ...And it might not hurt to look at earlier Henry VII, as well as Henry VI. But the mere placement of whatever that is does effectively rule some things out.

 

Andalusia, 'Ali ibn Yusuf, Murabitid (/Almoravid) Amir A. H. 500-537 /1106-1142
C. E. AR qirat, issued (in part) in the name of his heir, Sir; hence A. H. 522-533 /c. 1128-1139 A. C. E.

Obv. Legend in four lines (Arabic): There is no God except God; Muhammad is the messenger of God. (The Kalimah; the first Pillar of Islam.)

Rev. In four lines (Arabic): Ali [/] Amir al-Muminin [/] wa al-Amir Sir (Ali, commander (/Amir) of the faithful, and the Amir Sir).

Album 467 (cf. 466 for the chronology); Hazard 976, Vives 1768. See also the Tonegawa Collection for an example of this type: http://www.andalustonegawa.50g.com/almoravids_silver.htm

Almoravids Silver - Coins of al-Andalus Tonegawa Collection
Dirham Miknasa 494H with title Nasir al-din 0.92gr 12mm B-Ba1 Proceedings of the XIVth International Numismatic Congress, Glasgow, 2009, pp. 1821-1825.
www.andalustonegawa.50g.com
I'm indebted to the American numismatist Alan Deshazo for the translation of both legends, and transliteration of the reverse.

 

Not quite Andalusia, but close geographically:
Portugal
Manuel I, r. 1495-1521
AE Ceitil, 18.06 mm x 1.4 grams, Group 3.1
Obv.: +IEMANVEL R.P.ET.A. N retrograde. 3rd type shield containing Portuguese coat of arms, annulet left, top, and right
Rev.: +I:EMANVEL.[R.P.ET.A.]. N retrograde. Group 3.1 castle with high open outside wall castle over convex sea
Ref.: MEC 6-1130

 

A reconstructed penny of Alfred the Great. I managed to glue it back together fairly quickly and it’s almost a complete flan.

 

Interesting - reminds me of that shredded Aureus that was up for auction at CNG recently...

 

Brilliant work, @malinkyhoy!!! Congratulations on that, and on finding what you started with!

 

Thanks, tt was an auction find though!

 

...Even at that, I'm impressed. Better someone else broke it with a shovel than that you did. Just having known what you were looking at, as an opportunity no less than interms of the mere attribution, is good enough. Right, AElfred is up there with Charlemagne in the medieval Grail pantheon.

 

Which books do you all use for reference? I recently found a copy of Tony Abramson's "Anglo-Saxon Counterfeits" online. And I have another book from 1963 titled "Coins of The British World".

 

North’s English Hammered Coins is the standard for those specializing in medieval England, but it is a bit dated. The Standard Catalogue of British Coins published annually by Spink is usually up to date, but not too detailed on varieties. For the Anglo-Saxon period, the first volume of Medieval European Coinage for the British Isles by Naismith was released a couple years ago. That’s still only in hardback and is quite pricey. I have never used Abramson’s books, but I know he has several and is considered and authority (and his collection was just recently auctioned by Spink)