Featured Medieval - William II of Norman Sicily

That is outstanding! I am going to pass this information to Kiss Jozsef Geza as he would be interested in this. The following paper by Kiss and Toth would be helpful as it goes through some of the sigla marks and variations on these coins. It is in Hungarian unfortunately, but Google Translate helped immensely:

Classification of the Cufic-like Copper Coins of Béla III

 

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interesting, thanks for that info!

 

To add more 12th century coins to the thread, here is one I purchased way back in 2000 when I was first getting into numismatics, and wasn't yet sure of my interests (but I still love the 12th century, so it works).



Crusader Principality of Antioch
Bohemond III, r. 1149-1201
Billon Denier, Class B
14mm x 1 gram
Obv.: +BOANVNDVS, bare head right
Rev.: +ANTIOCHIA, cross in circle;
Note: Sellar suggests this was during Bohemond's minority (1149-1163 A.D.)

 

In terms of medieval coins, I mainly concentrate on Eastern Europe and somewhat everything east of that, so I can relate to the Crusader coins. I don't have many, but here are a few that spans multiple campaigns (and hence not isolated to the Levant):

Crusaders: Bohémond III (1163-1201) AR Denier, Antioch (Metcalf, Crusades-378)

Obv:+ BOAИVHDVS, helmeted and mailed head left; crescent before, star behind
Rev:+ AИTI:OCHIA, cross pattée; crescent in second quarter




Kingdom of Thessalonica: Theodoros Comnenus-Ducas (1224-1230) AE Trachy, Thessalonica (Sear-2168, Sommer-73.6)

Obv: Facing bust of Christ Emmanuel with scroll
Rev: Emperor with labarum and globe cruciger; manus dei above; Legend around - ΘΕΟΔWPOC ΔECΠOTHC KOMNHNOC O ΔOVKA/C




Latin Empire of Constantinople: Anonymous (ca. 1204-1261) BI Trachy (Sear-2036)

Attributed to Baldwin de Courtenai by Malloy in Coins of the Crusader States

Obv: IC XC barred in field, Bust of Christ, beardless and nimbate, wearing tunic and colobion, hold gospel in l. hand.
Rev: Full length figure of Archangel Michael nimbate, wearing short miltary tunic, breastplate, and sagion, holds in r. hand jewelled scepter and in L. Globus cruciger




Empire of Nicaea: John III Ducas-Vatazes (1222-1254) BI Trachy, Thessalonica (Sear-2131; DOC 11)

Obv: Facing half-length bust of St. George, holding spear and shield
Rev: Facing half-length busts of John and St. Demetrius, holding between them staff surmounted by cross in circle

 

Here are a few coins that we don't run into much. Seems there really isn't much of a "mainstream" interest in these

Can anyone guess what the first two coins are modeled after?

Bulgaria: Georgi Terter II (1322-1323) AR Grosh (Raduchev & Zhekov 1.10.1)

Obv: Christ enthroned facing, IC XC across field
Rev: Georgi and St. Mark standing facing, holding banner between them




Bulgaria: Mihail Assen III Šišman (1323-1330) AR Grosh (Raduchev & Zhekov Type 1.11.3)

Obv: Christ enthroned facing, IC XC across field
Rev: MICHAEL ASENX (S retrograde), Mihail and St. Mark (?) standing facing, holding banner between them; I/P to left of banner




Bulgaria: Ivan Aleksandar (1331–1371) Æ Trachy (Youroukova & Penchev-105var)

Obv: Cross set on acanthus base; IC XC in upper quarters; triple pellets above each of the leaves
Rev: Imperial double-headed eagle facing, with wings displayed




Bosnia: Štefan II Tomaševič (1461-1463) AR Dinar (Jovanovic-62.2)

Obv: crowned and veiled helmet left set on royal coat-of-arms; R and five-rayed star set in six-rayed star on either side of helmet; Legend around - STEFAn •CRAGL
Rev: St. Gregorius standing facing, raising hand in benediction and holding crozier; Legend around - S GREGO RI • PAPE




Serbia: Stefan Uroš V (1355-71) AR Dinar (Dobrinic-8.1.2; Dimitrijevic-39)

Obv: Stefan enthroned facing, holding cross-tipped sceptre and akakia; Legend on either side - VOIIb - YPb
Rev: Helmet facing left with crest; Legend around - VROSIVSI MPERATOR

 

I wouldn't bemoan that fact - more for you. Take a gander at my website to see where my most erudite interests lie...many of us have specialties that only a handful of collectors in the world can appreciate.

Nabataean Numismatics

At any rate, I very much enjoy your coins, and can only apologize for not having the knowledge to say anything intelligent about them.

 

My family is from Sicily and we Sicilians are eternally grateful to the Normans for running the Arabs out of Sicily.
There are some Sicilians with red hair and in Sicily they are joking called decedents of of the Normans.

 

welcome "newbeginning004"

 

Welcome to CT and this was a great post, packed with the history of a very historic region

 

Thanks Seraf - I was a little surprised by its resurrection, but this is a time and place that quite interests me. More so in England than souther Italy, but the Italian branch of the Normans are a fascinating bunch in their own right

 

Here's a bunch of Sicilian coins from the 12th and 13th century. The largest measures only 15 mm, the light brown follaro of William II (1166-1189). They were all cheap, the price of a few beers each, and the (tiny) gold ones the price of a single dinner in a restaurant with one Michelin star (with a good bottle of wine, naturally).

I really love Norman Sicilian coins because they are on the raw edge between Islam and Christianity. In the twelfth century many coins show Arabic writing and signs that were Christian, but a bit mitigated. For instance, the 9 mm coin with a T (tau) on both sides, a billon kharruba dating from about 1100 AD, is thought to be a coin that was acceptable to both Christians (tau = an ancient form of a cross) and the Arabs (a cross that was a bit low-profile), a people living in Sicily but just conquered by Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger I of Hauteville, end of the 11th century.
Coins are meant for trade, and the trade was with muslims, too.
See Philip Grierson: Medieval European Coinage: Volume 14, South Italy, Sicily, Sardinia (1998), p. 87-88.

 

Rather than showing things shown better above, I'll add the two 12th century coins i have that are different.
Delhi Raja, Ananga, 1130-1145 AD AR jital


Zengid, Sayf al din Ghazi 1173 AD

 

That's a nice jital with elegantly snouted stylish bull and the rider in a stovepipe hat.

 

=> I always try to copy whatever Mentor does, so here are a couple of my 12th century sweeties ...

Islamic, Anatolia & al-Jazira (Post-Seljuk),
Zangids (al-Mawsil), Saif al-Din Ghazi II
Æ Dirhem
AH 565-576 / AD 1170-1180
Dated AH 567 (AD 1171/2)
Diameter: 30 mm
Weight: 13.21 grams
Obverse: Draped young male bust facing slightly left, wearing hair in foreknot; above, winged figures flanking; AH date to right and left
Reverse: Name and titles of Saif al-Din Ghazi II in five lines and in outer margins
Reference: Whelan Type I, 174-5; S&S Type 60.3; Album 1861.1



Cilician Armenia, Royal. Levon I.
AR Tram (Coronation issue)
1198-1219 AD
Diameter: 22 mm
Weight: 2.75 grams
Obverse: Levon seated facing on throne decorated with lions, holding cross and lis-tipped scepter
Reverse: Two lions rampant back-to-back, each with head reverted; between, cross pattée set on spear
Reference: AC 289

 

Back to that jital, there's a bit of red in the horse side of the coin. I suppose that's sindoor powder from the Diwali festival, at some time or another sprinkled on coins as part of a Hindu ritual. Don't wipe it off!

 

Since I have a somewhat of a bad habit of only posting coins that I have transcribed, I didn't post this coin earlier since I didn't finish the work. It takes A LOT time but it is worth the effort. So, going back to the original topic of this thread, here is another Norman Sicilian coin that hasn't been posted yet:

William II (1166-1189) AR 1/3 Apuliense, Palermo (Spahr-112; MEC 397-8; MIR 440)

Obv: Palm tree with dates between •W• Rx and two pellets
Rev: +TERCI APVLIENSIS:I, in center, Arabic legend - الملك غليليم الثاني (al-malik Ghulyalim al-thani, with pellet on Gh as diacritic sign)

 

An excellent coin, I still don't have it. Pretty.

 

Remind me of this post if I ever complain about not learning something on Coin Talk.

 

Been trapped indoors like the rest of the North Eastern CT members. That sindoor is quite common on gold coins. First time I am seeing this on a silver coin that has no deity in it. Interesting...