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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;FitzNigel, post: 2428939, member: 74712&quot;]As of today, I&#039;ve been on the CoinTalk forums for a year!&nbsp; I was planning on celebrating by going out and getting a new coin, except I managed to rip a massive hole in my jeans at work.&nbsp; Rather than going coin shopping, I went home (trying to prevent even more of my students from seeing my underwear...).&nbsp; However, a recent auction win showed up in the mail, so there were coins coming for my CT Birthday after all!</p><p>[ATTACH=full]504372[/ATTACH] </p><p>[ATTACH=full]504380[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>I will need to sit down with a good book to fully attribute these guys, but they are from the Genoese trading outpost of Caffa in Mongol territory.&nbsp; Caffa was blamed by the writer Gabrielle de Mussis for being the origin point for the Black Death, which then spread through Europe (he claimed the Mongols were besieging the city and threw infected cadavers into the city using their catapults - an early version of biological warfare).&nbsp; This is very likely, as this would be Genoa&#039;s main outpost for trading on the Silk Road, and there is a belief that the the plague may have originated in China (and was a sign to the Chinese that the Mandate of Heaven had shifted from the Mongol Yuan dynasty to the new Ming dynasty), and then spread along trade routes to eventually be found in Europe.</p><p><br /></p><p>The bronze coin might be from the time of the plague (likely after), and the two silver coins are certainly after the plague.&nbsp; As I said, I&#039;ll need to get the book and do a little more research (then I&#039;ll come back with some proper pictures).</p><p><br /></p><p>Oh, and I became a supporter.&nbsp; $29 seems like a small price to pay for a year of joy, and I would encourage others to support this excellent site![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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