I’m new to collecting ancients (not even sure what qualifies as ancient?). I picked these three coins up and have been working to ID them. After looking through 100’s and 100’s of photos I’m stuck and looking for help. Any info on what these are and maybe more importantly how you can tell is appreciated. Coin #1 is ~0.13g. Cross on one side, face on the other. Thinking maybe Hungarian, 1150-1200? But can’t find a match. Coin #2 is ~0.27g. Cross on one side and cross in circle on the other. Also thinking Hungarian, maybe 1125-1175? Coin #3 is ~0.48g. I believe it’s a Hungarian 1 Denar from 1373-1382. Any help on any of these is appreciated.
Hello @Joe Campbell. Welcome to the world of ancient coins and medieval coins. There are multiple definitions of "ancient" and "medieval" floating around. For me, "ancient" is 499 AD or earlier, and "medieval" is 500 AD to 1499 AD, and "modern" is 1500 AD to the present. I also like to call 500 AD to 999 AD the "Dark Ages". Your coin 2 is similar to my Hungary Bela II silver denar 1131 AD to 1141 AD, but it's not the exact same coin type. I'm not an expert in this coin type, but if I remember correctly, there are multiple Bela II (and perhaps other rulers) coin types that looked similar. I learned this sort of thing, by shopping for ancient coins and medieval coins for years, during which time I saw multiple coins of the type, and I became interested in acquiring a coin of this type, and therefore I did some research on this coin type. You can search www.acsearch.info for the following key words, and perhaps some of the search results will look more like your coin type : "Bela II" denar Hungary. Bela II. Silver Denar. Minted 1131 AD to 1141 AD. Diameter 13 mm. Weight 0.36 grams.
P.S. : The Coin Talk Ancient Coins forum also seems to be the home of medieval coins discussions, because there is no official medieval coins forum on Coin Talk. Perhaps, some discussion of medieval coins also happens on the Coin Talk World Coins forum, but I don't know, because I haven't spent much time there.
Coin #3 seems to show a head with African features and wearing a bandana. This reminds me of the traditional flag and coat-of-arms of Corsica: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_and_coat_of_arms_of_Corsica No idea if this coin is related, but that's what my brain came up with.
Those would be medieval, not ancient. #2 looks like it could be a denar from Hungary, but I'm not sure. Wait for a more knowledgeable answer. Edit- aha! I see @sand already chimed in with something along those lines.
#2: Hungary 12th Century, Anonymous AR Denar. Husz. 76. #3: Hungary, Louis I the Great of Anjou, 1342-1382 AD, AR Denar: Head of Saracen / Double-barred cross. Husz. 547.
