The recent talk and sharing of Vandal coins prompted me to actively search for another Vandal coin to add to my collection, specifically one I can attribute to them with certainty. Fortunately I was able to find this very nice example. This may look like an anonymous unofficial imitative ("barbarous"), but the style of it pretty much matches (at least in my view) that of known cross-within-wreath coins of Hilderic, such as those below (first is from Tantalus and second is from Coinproject): On closer inspection of my coin, I also believe I see the letters IL from the obverse legend HILD REX. My coin's attribution: Hilderic, Vandal Kingdom AE nummus Obv: HILD [REX], pearl-diademed, draped, cuirassed bust right Rev: Cross potent within wreath, ring above Mint: Carthage (struck 523-530 AD) Ref: BMC Vandals 9 Size: 9 mm wide Hilderic ruled as King of the Vandals and Alans, who ruled a post-Roman Germanic realm in North Africa, with the capital at Carthage. He was the grandson of the famed Gaiseric, and son of Huneric, and Eudocia, the daughter of Western Roman emperor Valentinian III, meaning Hilderic was of Roman descent in addition to being Vandal. He ascended the throne in 523 when he was in his 50s or 60s, and his reign is marked by improved relations with his Catholic Christian Roman subjects (Hilderic and the Vandal nobility were Arian Christians) and by extension the Eastern Roman Empire and its ruler Justinian, who was a very good friend of Hilderic. After becoming king, Hilderic converted to Catholic Christianity, the same religion as his mother, and soon other members of the Vandal nobility converted as well. Other nobles were not pleased by this, however, and soon a coup occurred, led by Hilderic's cousin, Gelimer. Hilderic and his family were imprisoned. Emperor Justinian did not take kindly to what Gelimer had done, and after unsuccessfully negotiating for Hilderic's restoration, sent his forces to invade the Vandal Kingdom. Unfortunately Justinian was too late to save Hilderic, who was executed by Gelimer in 533, but his invasion of the Vandal Kingdom was successful and, as a result, for the first time in a century Roman rule was returned to Carthage and the rest of North Africa.
Nice acquisition! I agree that the style seems to match the attributed coins, particularly in the wreath.
A speculation: I wonder if the "I" at the bottom of the wreath could be the denomination, since it is a 1-nummi coin. It does happen to be from the time period when the Vandals placed the denominations on their bronze coins (4 nummi, 41 nummi).
I don't know these coins, so I'll ask a stupid question: how does a denomination of 41 nummi happen? I can understand a 9mm coin being 1 nummi, and then multiples like 2, 4, 8 etc., but why 41?
I know I read about that somewhere but I can't for the life of me remember the source or why they made a 41 nummi . I'll have to look that up again. I think it had something to do with being able to exchange well with the silver denominations (I could be wrong though).
i remember reading something about this as well. Although I am pretty sure the number 42. I believe it came up in a previous post about Ostrogoth revalued Imperial coins. There is a school of thought that believes that those issues are Vandalic rather than OstroGothic. On the basis that it works with their established monetary system. While the other school argues that the 42 was as you said easier to exchange with silver denominations. All very very fascinating.
Wow Jango => sweet pick-up, my cool friend ... Ummm, but you know that I'm gonna bring this everytime that I hear Vandal, right? VANDALS IN CARTHAGE, Æ 21 NUMMI SOLDIER / HORSE HEAD Attribution: MEC 45 Date: 523-533 AD Obverse: Soldier standing facing Reverse: Head of horse left, XXI in exergue Size: 20.26 mm Weight: 6.28 grams
Sorry guys. When I was thinking about the Vandal denominations I couldn't remember exactly the denomination for Steve's coin type so I took a quick look and for some reason thought XX was 40. Didn't help that I mistakenly thought I remembered a 41 nummi type. Thanks for posting your coin Steve.
Here's a great webpage showing examples of the Vandal denominations: http://www.romancoins.info/Vandals.html
