Quarantine Diary

Since I won't have the chance to go out and get anything new for a while, I've been sorting through some recent photos of coins I got years or decades ago. I'll try to post periodically to this thread. Today: Second groat of Henry VIII (1526-1544) Feel free to post any of your own coins to this thread if you like, especially old purchases.

 

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I just got back from walking my Rottie. We, here in Ottawa/ Orleans can do whatever, but "social distance". Meaning you don't hug and kiss strangers.
Here is one of mine...from the home of Dracula/ Vlad Tepes aka "The Impaler"

 

Awesome coin as usual, but Vlad ruled in Wallachia!

 

Transylvania struck some awesome gold coins, love the 100 Dukaten from Michael Apafi 1678. Some had amazing shapes like stars/ half moons.....

 

True!Some monster coins were struck , i remember the star shaped piece!It's not a surprise though, considering the gold and silver mines, in the end it's why the romans, HRE and others wanted so much those regions!

 

Day 2: Two different Revolutionary Era 5 franc coins, purchased at different times and places. Top: L'An 5 (1796-7), Bottom: An 12 (1803-4), with Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul, shortly before he crowned himself Emperor in 1804.

 

Another Baroque coin....
Holy Roman Empire/ Hungary
AV Dukat 1633 K-B Kremnitz Mint
HRE Ferdinand II 1619-37

Ferdinand II was elected HRE after death of Matthias II in 1619. The Thirty Years War had begun in 1618, Ferdinand being a devout Catholic felt it was his duty to God, to stamp out the Reformation. This resulted in Denmark/ Sachsen/ Sweden sending in their armies to counter the Imperial forces. Later, even Catholic Cardinal Richelieu of France would betray the Emperor and ally France with the Protestants. Bloody prolonged warfare would completely devastate much of the Holy Roman Empire. He died in 1637.

 

She was as nasty as her Dad. She had lots of her enemies hung/ drawn/ quartered Should have been nicknamed, "Mean Lizzy"

 

While we are on the Tudor Dynasty, here are two more of mine:
Top: "Bloody" Mary groat, 1553-1554, before her marriage to Prince Philip of Spain
Bottom: Elizabeth I 6 pence, 1581 (5th issue)

Here are some better examples on Numista: Mary Groat, Elizabeth 6p

A couple notes--Both of the reverses have a shield over a long cross with the quadrants having lions representing England and Fleur-de-Lys representing France.
At the time of the earlier coin, England still controlled Calais on the mainland, though it would be lost later in Mary's reign with the Siege of Calais in 1558. The Crown still controls the formerly Norman Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, which were acquired by conquest in reverse when the Normans conquered England in 1066.

Elizabeth's coin still makes the claim to the lost territories in France, calling her "ELIZAB.D.G.ANG.FR.ET.HIB.REGINA" (Elizabeth, by the grace of God, Queen of England, France and Ireland).

Scotland wouldn't be part of the kingdom until the personal union under Elizabeth I's successor, James VI of Scotland/James I of England. The United Kingdom came still later in 1707 and is still hanging on for now in spite of Brexit!

Mary and Elizabeth were half-sisters and rivals, neither of whom were initially expected to inherit the throne because of their younger half-brother, who ruled as Edward VI, but died unmarried at age 15. Henry VIII and Edward VI debased the currency from 92.5% silver during the Great Debasement of 1544-1551. The sisters inherited a kingdom in poor economic condition, divided by religion, and with near-constant rebellion by various nobles. However ruthless, Elizabeth must have been very shrewd to keep it all together! She reportedly stayed unmarried to play various factions off against each other. Strange to think that if Mary I had birthed a male heir, history might have seen a Catholic England in personal union with the Kingdom of Spain.

 

Day 4: Here's something a little different--a hammered square silver dirham.
The attribution says "Ganada 1390-1491" but I'm not sure I trust it. I can't find
anything like it from Islamic Spain, but it looks similar to the Berber silver dirhams
from the Almohad Caliphate in North Africa, such as this one.

I can't read Arabic, nor am I an expert on this region of the world. Any comments are welcome, or feel free to post some of your own coins.

 

Vijayanagar Empire
Hari Hara II 1414-45
AV Pagoda ND
At this time, India was invaded from Ghazinavids. They swept thru Pakistan/ Afghanistan then invaded the N. Indian Hindu Kingdoms. There they established the Delhi Sultanate. The future Sultans from Delhi eventually conquered 90 percent of India. In the extreme Southern Deccan, a Hindu General started the Vijayanagar Empire. It was the last Hindu stronghold to oppose the Delhi Sultanate. They would get a repreive when another Muslim conqueror Timur the Lame would lay waste to Afghanistan/ piillage the Delhi Sultanates Capital.

 

Day 5: A silver obulus (1/192 forint) of King Vladislaus/Ulászló the Second, King od Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia, 1490-1516. I believe the obverse is a coat of arms representing his various holdings: stripes and a double cross above for Hungary, two leopard heads for Dalmatia (lower left) and a lion for Bohemia (lower right) plus a Polish eagle in the center. The reverse is hard to make out, but it has the Virgin Mary cradling an infant Jesus with the mintmark K-h on the sides. Here is a similar but slightly different one on Numista.

 

Day 6: Here's a 1521 half groschen coin by King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia, the son of Vladislaus II from yesterday's entry. He became king at age 9 and ruled until age 20. He picked a fight with the Ottoman Empire and died in Battle of Mohács in 1526. The loss of Hungary opened the way for Suleiman I "The Magnificent" to besiege Vienna three years later in 1529, and to the furthest extent of Ottoman conquest in Eastern Europe. Bohemia and a small remaining portion of Hungary came under Habsburg control after the end of Louis' Jagiellon Dynasty.

Obverse: CIVITAS.SWIEN:1521 (City of Schwiednitz, then part of Bohemia, now part of Silesia, Poland)
Reverse: LVDOVICVS.R.VN.ET.BO (Ludovicus = Louis, king of Hungary and Bohemia)

 

And a bonus diary entry for today:
Since the last 2 entries were about Kings of Bohemia (and other places), here's part of a deck of playing cards from around 1875, brought from Bohemia by my great-grandfather's great-grandmother. It's the only physical object I know of connecting my family to the "Old Country."

 

Louis Napoleon was elected first President of the Second Republic in 1848 following the 1848 Revolution that forced King Louis Philippe I to abdicate.

In 1852 Louis Napoleon declared himself Empereur of France. He started off good/ modernized the French economy/ expanded French overseas Territories/ Colonies.
In 1853 he sided with Great Britain in the Crimean War vs Russia. He also got into the Franco-Austrian War in Italy, defeating the Austro-Hungarians/ annexing Lombardy-Piedmonte region. In 1864 he invaded Mexico/ putting Maximilian I on throne as his proxy ruler. Then things turned bad.....by 1867 the Mexicans under Juarez overthrew Max.
Then he got worried by Prussians attempts to have unification of a German Reich. In 1870 his armies invaded Prussia, but got beaten back. Then Prussia with better tactics/ training/ leadership crushed the French. Finally at the Battle of Sedan the French army where annilhilated and surrendered. Thus Wilhelm I became German Kaiser/ Napoleon became unemployed.

 

Day 7: Three early coins from the USSR.

Top: 1 Ruble, 1924, 90% silver, single year type (link)
Middle: 50 Kopek, 1922, 90% silver, made 1921-1922. Issued by the RSFSR (link)
Bottom: 5 Kopek, 1924, bronze (before and after an oil dip to attempt to remove the green corrosion), single year type (link)

The USSR only issued silver coinage for circulation for a few years. I believe the smaller denominations were made of silver until 1931. Even a lot of the large bronze 5 kopeks were melted down for their copper value.

 

Day 8: A couple more Russian coins, from the 1800s this time.
Top: Silver 1 Ruble, 1818, Aleksandr I
Bottom: Copper 5 Kopek, 1858, Aleksandr II

 

Day 9, Three more English coins from the late 1600s:
Top: Charles II Farthing ("CAROLUS A CAROLO" = Charles son of Charles), 1672
Middle: William and Mary Farthing, 1694
Bottom: William III groat, 1698 when he ruled as sole monarch after Mary II died.
The coin still asserts the English claim to the throne of France: "GVILLMUS.III.DEI.GRA" "1698.MAG.BR.FRA.ET.HIB.REX" (William III, by the Grace of God. 1698 King of Great Britain, France and Ireland).
The UK would only give up its claim to France after the French Revolution made it a moot point by removing the King of France. As part of peace negotiations, Republican France's envoys insisted that the UK drop the claim to the throne. The fleur-de-lys was quietly dropped from the UK's Royal coat of arms.


I hadn't realized that Mary had the stronger claim to the throne than William. William insisted on being co-monarch, so he did rule on his own after she died, but the throne passed to Mary's sister Anne, not William's relatives, after he died.
Anne had no children who lived to adulthood, so the Stuart Dynasty ended with her. Afterward George I, a more distant relative from the House of Hannover, became king. Their primary qualification seems to have been that they were Protestant, as many closer relatives who were Catholic were excluded from the succession.

 

Day 10: A Frankfurt 10 Kreuzer from 1762