I have had these two coins in my collection since childhood but my numismatic knowledge is limited to U.S. coins. All I know about these two coins is that they were found in Turkey by my cousin in the 1970s. One appears to be made from bronze or copper and the other appears to be a silver coin. I'm not sure which side is the obverse and which side would be the reverse but I took photos of both. I would appreciate any info on them. Thanks.
They both look Armenian. The second coin, specifically, appears to be from Kingdom of Armenia, Hetoum I (1226-1270). Below is a picture, and a link to a site that has many from this period (scroll down to Hetoum-Zabel trams). http://www.mehmeteti.150m.com/armenians/hetoum1.htm
These appear a little newer than ancient. I believe the first is some type of Crusader coin & the other something Medieval. Not really familiar with stuff from that time period, but someone here will be.
I looked a bit more at the first coin, it also appears to be Hetoum I. Browse around on the link I provided above, you might find it.
Yes, you are correct. They are both Armenian coins from the reign of King Hetoum I. Thank you for the link to this site. Do you have any idea what these two coins might be worth? Thanks!
I don't know about prices for these, but wait a bit and someone else on the site might be able to give you an idea. At any rate, they are interesting coins and the aphabet used on them is unique to the Armenians.
Now that I know what I have, I am able to locate more of them. Here is one for sale on Ebay. This auction isn't over but it appears that these coins aren't all that valuable. Oh well, the coins have sentimental value to me because my cousin gave them to me when we were children. I do think the condition of my silver coin looks better than that speciman for sale on Ebay IMO. http://cgi.ebay.com/Hethoum-I-1226-...oryZ4941QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Armenian coins are pretty obscure , so you might expect $50 for the first one, and maybe twice that for the second.
Hey folks, one more question on this. How old does a coin have to be in order to be considered "ancient"? Also, since my coins are only roughly 900 years old does that mean they would be considered "medieval"?
age for ancients Most sources consider coins made before the fall of Rome, 476 AD to be ancients. Although some early Byzantine coins are considered ancient by Roman Coin collectors. While coins made in Europe during the same period are considered Midieval. The change from Midieval to modern is usually consider to be when coins stopped being hammered and started being machine struck. But that is also not engraved in stone. Personally I separate my collection with 1600 till now being modern, 1000 ad till 1600 Midieval, and my ancients anything before 1000 AD. But that is purely arbitrary and done for convienience. JonySky
By age then my Armenian coins would be considered medievil. But I do not know if the Armenians hammered these coins out or if they were machine struck.dd:
I'd second GDJMSP's time frames. 900 allows us to include Islamic and early Byzantine coinage in a definition of ancient coinage (which I think the rightly should be.) 1500 is a nice cut-off for the medieval-early modern break.
Hmmm, not very accepted from my point of view. Ancient usually cuts off around 500 and the fall of Western Rome. It fell in 473, but Anastasius' reformation of coinage around 490 is a good as many to delineate between "Roman" and "Byzantine". Problem with cutoffs is they do not work across all cultures. For Europe, since it was so dominated by Roman Empire, 490 is a good date. For the middle east, I consider Sassanids to be ancient, so I consider ancient to end around 650, and Islamic dynasties to usher in the middle ages. For central Asia, I simply consider the same, Islamic conquests ushered in the middle ages. For China, somewhere around the Tang I consider middle ages until about the Ming. This is the problem with these dates, they only work within a given culture, and were not universal. Compounding the problem is the fact many "ancient" collectors still collect medieval coins in their "ancient" collection. Byzantine coins being the prime examples. Byzantines might be a tougher case, but I have never heard of a Merovingian, Carolingian, Islamic, Ostrogothic, or similar coin being referred to as "ancient". They are always medieval from what I have read. As an easier to remember idea, just think of antiquity as ending under German pressure in the west, and Islamic rise in the middle east, and at the end of the disharmony of multiple states put to an end by the Sui dynasty in China. All of these things happened within 150 years or so, and all three had profound, lasting consequences lasting 1000 year or more. Yeah, ok, maybe that is just easier for ME to remember. Chris
