Quarantine Diary

Day 71: Naples, 5 Tornesi, 1798, 30 mm version

This series ran from 1755-1798, but it was actually only minted for 3 years of that:
1755, 1756 and 1798. They also simultaneously made a 26-27 mm version, "size varies," in 1797-1798. Not sure what they were up to.

Naples system in the 1700s:
12 Cavali = 2 Tornesi = 1 Grano
10 Grana = 1 Carlino
20 Grana = 1 Tari
100 Grana = 1 Ducato
120 Grana = 1 Piastra
But for some reason there was also a 50 Grana coin listed as 1/2 Piastra for 1784-5
And Sicily had it's own equivalent Piastra with different subdivisions.
OK, I'm confused now.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Day 72: Russia, 2 Kopek, 1814 ИМ, ПС (Pavel Stupitsyn), Izhora Mint

It has a huge dent in the rim, but that's OK with me. I believe these were copper
rather than bronze, so they are pretty soft. 1814 would have been a couple years
after Napoleon's invasion of Russia, during the War of the Sixth Coalition. Russia
participated in that campaign, getting its revenge on Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig.

 

Are you sure that's a dent and not an incomplete planchet?

 

Good question! No, I'm not sure. I was just assuming it was a dent because
my other Russian coppers also tend to have edge dents, and I've heard that they
are pretty soft. Is there a way to tell if it was an incomplete planchet by looking?

 

Day 73: Utrecht, 1 Duit, 1767

 

If the metal has been squashed in then it must have gone somewhere, so I'd expect to see some swelling round the dent. Yours doesn't seem to show any sign of that so I'd lean towards a clip.

 

Day 74: 2 Hamburg 1 Schilling Billon (0.375) coins, 1726 (top) and 1841 (bottom)

In spite of being made over 100 years apart, the official weight and fineness are
unchanged. The castle for the city arms is a little different, though.
One enjoyable thing about going back to sort and photograph old purchases like
these is the chance to make comparisons between coins which were bought at
completely different times and places.

 

Day 75: From Hamburg to Hamm

Hamm City, 3 Pfenninge, 1719

I don't believe that Hamm was a free city, but it did issue its own coinage. The
ruling line died out in the 1600s and Hamm was absorbed by Brandenburg-Prussia.
It continued making local copper coinage until 1749. I believe Hamm only minted 3 pfenninge coins in the 1700s, though there may have been more variety earlier.

This particular coin has a distinctly oval shape. It looks like a grape. The one on
Numista and in my coin catalog are more circular. The coin doesn't look like it has
been stretched out after manufacture, and the border dots track the shape fairly
well. I'm not sure if this was meant to be oblong or just had an oddly-shaped
copper blank before minting. It also has a hole, which is odd, as copper coins were
not usually made into jewelry.

 

Day 76: They started lifting the coronavirus restrictions just in time to instate a
curfew for the rioting/protests... So still mostly stuck at home.

1 Duit, Province of West Frisia (Friesland), United Provinces of the Netherlands, 1754

 

Day 77: Span 8 Maravedis (8/34 reale), 1820, Ferdinand VII

He was the king who was forced by Napoleon to resign so that Napoleon could put
his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne. He was restored to power in 1813.
By most accounts, he was a pretty terrible king.

Below: 4 reales, Joseph Napoleon, Spain, 1812

 

Day 78: Bohemia, 3 Kreuzer = 1 Groschen, 1645, Prague Mint, Ferdinand III

A coin from the tail end of the Thirty Years' War. The star over a crescent moon with
4 dashes (a hand?) indicates it was made at Prague Mint under Jakob W. Wolker. I
believe this was part of a collection of mostly Polish silver from the 1600s from which I picked up about 3 examples. They weren't fully attributed, and only one turned out to be from Poland proper (well, Poland-Lithuania). The other two were from Livonia and Bohemia (today's example).

Ferdinand III was also Holy Roman Emperor, and he had numerous holdings--King
of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia, Archduke of Austria, etc. He was a Habsburg, but
Poland was under rule of the house of Vasa (of Swedish origin) during the 30 Years'
War, under Sigismund (Zygmunt) III and later Ladislaus (Władysław) IV.

Obverse: FER III D G R (3) IMPERAS A
Reverse: G H BOHEMIAE REX 1645
Something like "Ferdinand III, by the Grace of God, Roman Emperor, Archduke of
Austria (GH = Großherzog) and King of Bohemia, 1645"
Here's the example on Numista, which honestly looks pretty weakly struck.
I feel inordinate pride if my example looks better! I'm mostly a low-grade coins guy.

 

Day 79: Honestly, when I started this diary, I didn't know the shelter-in-place would
drag on for quite so long. Some things are starting to open up, and others (like
schools for my kids) aren't even sure if they will be opening up by the fall. So this
thread has dragged on for a while too. If people are still enjoying it, I can keep
posting indefinitely, though I've already posted most of my good stuff. I still have
quite a bit of unsorted stuff I can photograph and post. For example, my "early
1800s loose coppers" bin:

Anyway, thanks for reading, and let me know if you've all had enough!

Today: 2 Empire of Brazilian copper 40 réis, with and without 20 réis counterstamp
Top: 40 réis, 1827
Bottom: 40 réis, 1826, "20" réis counterstamp, 1835
The whole coin is rotated at a strange angle as the 20 countermark was not aligned
to the to the coin's orientation at all. You can see the counterstamp pushed through
enough to damage the pattern on the reverse too.

My understanding is that copper coinage was vastly overproduced, especially in the provinces, causing copper to not be exchangeable at par for silver coinage. The
government demonetized the old coppers, but allowed them to be traded in at half
face value to be counterstamped to regain legal status. Brazil had a lot of problems
with inflation in the 1800s (and the 1900s too!), which make for a fascinating
variety of early coinage.

 

I've been tuning in daily and wondering how long you could continue. I'm always happy to see more, you've posted some interesting stuff.

 

Thanks for the encouragement! I can keep finding new-old stuff for quite a while--
It will just keep getting lower and lower grade as I run out of better coins. The
limiting part is finding time to take half-decent photographs and look up the
attributions.

Day 80: Duchy of Lorraine, 30 Deniers, 1728-9 (date worn), Leopold I, 0.166 Billon


Lorraine was one of the regions Germany and France kept fighting over in the 1600-
1900s. The reverse has a Cross of Jerusalem indicating Leopold I's claim to the
Crusader-Era Kingdom of Jerusalem, as a descendant of Godfrey of Bouillon. Thus
he called himself a king even though he only ruled a duchy.

Obverse: LEOP. I. D. G. D. LOT. BAR. REX. IER (Leopold I, by the Grace of God,
Duke of Lorraine and Bar, and King of Jerusalem)
Reverse: PIECE DE XXX DENIERS
Legends from Numista, as mine are too worn to read easily.

This was from an unattributed lot of "old but not ancient" coins I got for $4-5 each.
Some of them I did pretty well, and some of them even $5 might have been a bit
much. But I prefer buying coins in person to online, and I'm not likely to see many
of them again soon, so I am content.

 

Day 81: Norway, 2 Skilling Courant, 1810, Frederik VI


Another Napoleonic Era coin, from the tail end of the unified Kingdom of Denmark
and Norway. I believe Norway and Denmark had separate coinage, though. The
crossed hammers are the mint mark for Kongsberg ("King's Mountain"), site of a
massive silver mine and the mint which produced much of Norway's coinage. The
2 Skilling was a silver coin until 1807, and then this large copper type was
introduced in 1810. Denmark-Norway had serious economic problems due to the
reciprocal trade embargoes of France and the UK during the Napoleonic Wars, and
Denmark went bankrupt in 1813.

Initially, Denmark-Norway had tried to remain neutral in the Napoleonic wars. As
the situation on the Continent worsened for the UK, it preemptively attacked
Denmark and sunk/captured its fleet at Copenhagen to keep the fleet from being
used by France. Thus provoked, Denmark sided with France and joined the
Continental System. The UK responded by blockading Denmark, which resulted in starvation in Norway shortly thereafter. Norway was not nearly self-sufficient in grain, and could not obtain enough food through overland trade.

Russia had changed sides during the wars, briefly allying with France so that it
could attack the UK's ally, Sweden. Russia conquered Finland from Sweden in
1808-9. Having gained what it wanted, Russia soured on its alliance with
France, and began loosening its restrictions on trade with the UK. (The loss of
trade had greatly harmed Russian financially.) Both Russia and France began
preparing for another war. (They had fought against each other in 1807 when
Russia had joined the Fourth Coalition against France.) Napoleon would respond
with his disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812.

Anyway, in spite of its loss of Finland, Sweden was on the winning side of the
Napoleonic wars. As Sweden and Russian were nominal allies in the Sixth Coalition,
Sweden could not expect to regain Finland as part of the peace settlement. So the
allies promised it Norway instead. Thus Norway was ruled by Sweden for almost
100 years, from 1814-1905. Norway had resisted this transition, with the crown
prince of Denmark arriving to agitate in the name of Norwegian self-determination,
and declaring himself King of Norway. After a brief war in 1814, Norway was forced
to accept Swedish rule.

As a side note, Sweden had a very capable military commander during the war,
because they swiped him from France. Jean Bernadotte was a Marshal of the
French Empire, but was offered the position of Crown Prince of Sweden to
provide an heir to the childless Charles XIII of Sweden. Bernadotte was seen as a
capable military commander, who would put Sweden in a safer position with regard
to potential future conflict with Russia. He ruled Sweden and Norway as King
Charles XIV John, and the House of Bernadotte is still the ruling family of Sweden.

 

Day 82: Russia, 1814, Poltina (50 Kopeks), Aleksandr I

Obverse: МОНЕТА ПОЛТИНА МФ 1814
(Poltina Coin, Mikhail Fedorov Mintmaster)
Reverse: ЧИСТАГО СЕРЕБРА 2 ЗОЛОТН. 10½ ДОЛЕЙ С. П. Б.
(Pure silver, 2 Zolotnik, 10 1/2 Dolya, SPB = St. Petersburg Mint)

1 Zolotnik = 1/96th Russian pound = 4.27 g = 96 Dolya
A zolotnik is also a measure of purity comparable to a karat with 96 zolotniks = 100% pure. So 1 karat = 4 zolotniks.
But on Russian coins it's just used as a measure of weight.

 

Day 83: Papal States, 10 Soldi, 1867, Pius IX Year XII

Ob: PIUS IX PON. MAX. A. XII
Rev: *STATO*PONTIFICIO* 10 SOLDI 1867
This one has both a Papal year and an AD year. Some Vatican coins only have a
Papal year. I would naively think that of all countries, the Vatican would be one of
the most likely to use the AD years for dating. But not always so.


Bonus: Some 20th Century Vatican coins

From top L:
Johannes XIII An II (1960), 100 Lira
Pius XII An XIX (1957), 100 Lira
Pius XII An XV (1953), 10 Lira
Pius XI An XV (1936), 20 Centesimi

 

Day 84: Two 1790 coins for the Netherland East Indies, Utrecht Arms on front.

I've read that some of these were restruck in the 1800s with old dies, but I
don't know which ones. L one is ~26 mm, Right is ~22 mm. I assume they
are a double duit and 1 duit.

 

Day 85: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, 3 Polker, 1622, Sigismund III Vasa


For comparison, here's the 1623 3 Grosze I posted earlier.


I believe "pol" means 1/2 and "poltora" 1 1/2.

I'm still trying to make sense of the Polish monetary system. There are spelling
variations used across books (poltura = poltora = półtora), and similar-sounding
but different coins (poltorak = 3 poltura), as well as confusing singular and plurals
(1 grosz, 1 1/2 grosze, 6 groszy). Some of the entries in my Krause seem to use
Hungarian or German terms for Polish denominations.

If I can sort it out I'll post a table.

 

Day 85, Continued: My attempt at a chart of Polish 1600s monetary units (not all of
which were made as coins). Please feel free to point out any errors!

Sources: Numista, Krause 1600s and 1700s guides, Various online Polish
dictionaries. I'm pretty sure my Krause has multiple errors and inconsistencies
in these sections!


An example of the editing quality of my Krause Guide (1700s, 5th edition, 2010):