Never Say Never Again (Henry III) Part-2...No, not James Bond!

You're leaving us? Trying to escape the dark side huh? We will drag you back kicking and screaming lol.

 

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Uhm, Indo-Greek coins are still ancient coins. And let's face it, medieval coins also fit in nicely with ancient coins. All are hammered, dies are hand engraved, and the flans prepared in much the same way (despite the time difference). I see medieval as a nice extension of my ancient coin collection...going from truly ancient coins to coins that are not ancient but are definitely not modern either by any stretch.

 

IMHO, you might be the first collector to touch the coin and possibly the first person who will love it for what it is and not what profit it will turn.

Re: Venice: These are common coins but many are poorly struck with one of the faces flat, some legend missing or chippy edges. I see many offered for sale that seem to overlook these points when priced. There are several different people named on the coins but Zeno seems a common one. My level of interest does not make that a fault but I suppose specialists would prefer historically important names or rarities. I'm only into medievals lightly so attractive examples of common coins that played a big part in their economies have a lot of appeal.

My Zeno:


While closer to modern than ancient, I consider the personality (or lack) of Henry VIII worth stretching a point and including in my gathering. The younger profile half groat is better looking and has the initials of the Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (a historical figure of interest) on the reverse. The later 3/4 facing portraits show Henry as an ugly old man and are very popular when in better condition. Mine is a dog but you can still see his ugliness. I recommend finding a clear portrait and full legend one if your budget allows.


I generally allow hammered coins as 'ancient enough' for me but even stretched that point to allow an Elizabeth milled sixpence from her short lived experiment with that method. 1567 is certainly not ancient. In other words, I buy what I like and don't worry a lot about categories.

 

I guess I never saw it that way, but you could be right. Provenance aside, I fell in love with the coin's toning and the expression on Henry III's face. It is a beautiful coin, and one I don't intend to sell (unlike it's previous owners).

I'd definitely love to pick up a groat, and also maybe a few of the more common pennies of other English kings, and maybe a Cnut down the road. I also want to add a few medieval Italian states coins, and maybe some French regional and royal medieval coins, and medieval German states coinage. I think that would probably wrap up medieval coins for me quite nicely. I'm interested enough to want to own a fair representative example, but not interested enough to spend heavily in rarities.